He was 19 years old when he first arrived in Aspen – the ultimate town for any ski bum at that time.
He was in search of all those things that ski bums everywhere search out – good snow, good friends, good times and a job that let him ski as much as possible.
Now that former ski bum still loves to ski but he has other things to worry about as the mayor of the Resort Municipality of Whistler.
But Mayor Hugh O’Reilly still remembers what it was like to arrive fresh-faced in a new town full of expectations about the coming season, and just counting down the days for the snow to fall.
"I was them," he said simply of the hordes of seasonal workers who have descended on Whistler this year, just as they do every other year at this time.
That’s why Mayor O’Reilly will be just one of the hundreds of locals welcoming Whistler’s 2003-04 seasonal employees to the resort during the brand-new Whistler Welcome Week which runs from Nov. 10 to 15.
It was an idea spearheaded by Whistler Community Services Society.
"The key is to show the new people that there is a community in Whistler," said Tessa McLoughlin, a community outreach worker with WCSS.
"We want them to think beyond the ‘party town.’"
Whistler Welcome Week is designed to make newcomers feel like they’re a part of the resort community and let them know that Whistler would not be the world-class resort it is today without its seasonal workers.
In return, the hope is that if young people feel connected to the resort and an integral part of this community, they will be less likely to get into trouble during their time in Whistler.
"(Welcome Week) is designed mainly to make that community fabric," said McLoughlin.
There are many ways this will be done throughout the week.
One way to make connections and answer some of the questions is at the Livingroom Live event at Millennium Place on Wednesday, Nov. 12.
There newcomers can check out the volunteer fair which will have information about the Food Bank, the SAFE clinic, drug and alcohol counselling, among a host of community social services.
"The sad fact is that a lot of these people do require help at some point during their stay in Whistler," said Rob Schwartz, general manager of Maurice Young Millennium Place.
Eventually Schwartz would like to expand on the living room live concept at Millennium Place to make it a place where people can go to chill out as they kill time in the village. It could be a place to read the newspaper and check out the latest art exhibit.
In the meantime he said Living Room Live is a great opportunity for people to learn that Millennium Place isn’t just the arts and culture centre of the community, just as Whistler isn’t just about drinking and partying.
"The whole idea is to say... there’s more to Whistler than just the party scene, that there is a vibrant, thriving community that would like to welcome you," he said.
"If you want to know about where you’re living, this is the place to do it."
The Livingroom Live concept will go one step further in the form of a Scavenger Hunt on the afternoon of Friday, Nov. 14.
Organizers want 150 newcomers to join in the large-scale hunt that will span one end of Whistler to the other for a crash course in community services.
The hunt will take them to the Meadow Park Sports Centre in Alpine, to the Re-Use It Centre in Function Junction and everything else in between.
"Through the course of this really fun event they’re going to know what services are available to them," said Greg McDonnell, Whistler’s other community youth outreach worker.
Other fun events during the week include the local snowboarding video premiere, Gong Show, at Millennium Place on Monday, Nov. 10. Gong Show will kick off Welcome Week and it’s guaranteed to get newcomers excited about the coming season.
Another event called Moist will take place at Meadow Park Nov. 13 from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. It’s a late night beach extravaganza at the pool, complete with food, juice, hot tubbing and a sauna.
"We’re trying to promote other alternatives than hanging out at the bar," said McLoughlin.
McLoughlin and McDonnell want people to join in, get involved and experience the other layers of Whistler.
Welcome Week will culminate in a dinner party Nov. 15 with more than 400 guests, called the Community Welcome Dinner.
More than 100 locals will host tables and answer any questions that newcomers may have about the resort.
"The main thing is to get the locals to socialize with the newcomers," said McLoughlin.
The dinner, which is a free event, will also showcase a slideshow on Whistler’s history starting in the early 1900s with the trappers and fishing lodges that were Whistler’s foundations.
"Those people really roughed it," said history buff and long-time local Florence Petersen, who put together the slideshow.
"They were pioneers. They walked up from Squamish after taking the steamship from Vancouver.
"I think that the contrast of those people coming here and setting up their lifestyle as they wanted it differs so much from today’s that (newcomers) should appreciate what they’ve got today. It’s so easy."
Whistler has always embraced its seasonal employees every year through an event called Spirit Day. Last year the event was cancelled because of the extensive renovations at the conference centre and the board of the Chamber of Commerce was considering revamping the Spirit Day program. Then they were presented with the idea of Whistler Welcome Week and so they jumped on board.
Where Spirit Day was once very business oriented, Welcome Week has a more wide scale community feel to it, said Brent Leigh, president of the chamber.
"We’re all concerned that 3,000 people come into the resort every year and we’d like them to respect the resort and know the optimal opportunities in the resort," said Leigh.
Businesses will still be involved though not to the same extent as in Spirit Day.
"You just sense that the whole community can be involved and that’s a much stronger message to the newcomers," said Leigh.
And there may be room to expand the business component as Whistler Welcome Week grows throughout the years.
In the meantime, as the first year gets underway, locals and newcomers are poised for a huge welcome unlike Whistler has ever seen.
Looking back, Mayor O’Reilly said that if there was anything he could have done differently back in Aspen when he was a ski bum it would have been to get out and volunteer in the community. And that’s his advice to new Whistlerites.
"They’ll enjoy their winter experience that much more," he said.
For more information about Welcome Week contact Whistler Community Services at 604-932-0113. Tickets are available at Glacier Housing, Millennium Place and the Employment Centre.
