While some Whistlerites likely celebrated a job well done in whatever role they played in hosting the 2010 Olympic Winter Games by taking a long winter’s nap, it was all high fives and tens at the Tourism Whistler (TW) offices on Monday (March 1).

Barrett Fisher, TW president, said with everyone at the organization involved in hosting the Games, “the morning after” the gold medal hockey game and Closing Ceremony was a time for congratulating efforts, celebrating achievements and reliving special Olympic moments.

At the same time, Fisher and others at TW are already starting to look forward — to the Paralympics, and to building on the success of the Games and the media attention the resort received, she said.

“This is just the beginning,” Fisher said Tuesday (March 2). “If we can pull off this big of an event with this much planning and coordination, we’re now capable of really hosting just about anything.

“The world is our oyster as we look forward.”

As the days of the Olympics drew to a close, resort leaders repeated the sentiment that the Games experience in Whistler exceeded expectations.

Mayor Ken Melamed said the Games were a “defining moment for Whistler.” The ability to fulfill the promises made to the community, the community pride, the sense of jubilation among everyone in the Village — “It was Whistler at its best,” he said.

“I wasn’t expecting it to go as well as it has gone.”

Melamed spent most of Monday catching up on correspondence and discussing with others at municipal hall ideas to formally recognize the Olympic athletes and to honour luge athlete Nodar Kumaritashvili who was killed Feb. 12 in an accident at the Whistler Sliding Centre. As well, invitations for speaking engagements are already coming in, he said.

Instead of feeling the letdown that some anticipated would come after Sunday’s Closing Ceremony, Melamed said he was feeling “quite fantastic.”

“Obviously a part of me is sad that the Games are gone, but it was a lot of effort and… we knew it was a finite period of time,” he said. “I’m tremendously excited about what’s coming for the Paralympics.”

Melamed said one of his most special moments during the Olympics was the first Whistler Victory Ceremony and cauldron lighting on Feb. 13. It was “such a hard fought achievement” to be able to award the medals in Whistler Village, he said — a reality that almost didn’t come to pass after VANOC removed the ceremonies in early 2009 and then reversed that decision, allowing the Village medals presentations to occur.

Another highlight was feeling the community connection when he got to interview Whistler’s own ski cross champion Ashleigh McIvor and teammate Julia Murray as part of Whistler Live programming, Melamed said.

“I’m not their father but I kind of felt like a proud father,” he said. “I knew their parents before they (the athletes) were born.”

Melamed said all the years of planning to host the Games were well worth it. What’s more, the municipality has been able to deliver its share of the Olympics within budget, he said. There may even be a small surplus.

“We have very much stayed within our budgets,” he said.

With the provincial and federal investments in everything from the highway upgrades to Medals Plaza construction and even a CT scanner for the health centre, it’s hard to “find a negative to this,” Melamed said.

While Olympic visitors tended to stick mostly to the Village Stroll, frequenting those restaurants and shops, Chamber of Commerce President Fiona Famulak said she believes Whistler’s “business community as a whole has benefited tenfold” from the Games.

“Everyone got a little piece of the pie, which I’m very happy to report,” she said during a press conference on Saturday (Feb. 27).

The success of the Olympics can’t be judged on the results of 17 days in February, Famulak said — “it’s the impression we created in those 17 days that’s important.”

TW exceeded its target of reaching 90 per cent occupancy in resort accommodations through the Games, with 95 to 99 per cent occupancy in week one and 92 to 95 per cent in week two, Fisher said. Whistler.com agents have already been receiving calls from people around the world who have seen Whistler on TV and in other media and want more information on visiting, she added.

At municipal hall, discussions have begun on plans for a community party to mark the achievement of hosting a successful Olympics, Melamed said. The party will likely be scheduled for April or early May, with a date to possibly be announced before the end of the Paralympics to give people time to plan to be here, he said.

“We need to celebrate the success,” Melamed said. “We’re going to have a party.”
— with files from Megan Grittani-Livingston, The Question.