What’s Happening in Whistler? Where to find your local Whistler Events

Ever wonder how anyone in this town finds out about local whistler events? You heard about that awesome DJ hitting up Maxx Fish over the weekend, but you missed it. Or maybe that mountain film you have been dying to see a screening of, but you only found out about the event a week too late.

If you are visiting for a weekend or staying for a season, you’ll need to sort out where to find out about our small-town events pretty quickly. Unless you plan on missing them all. Why not take it from the experts about where to find local events in Whistler? After all, we live here and we’ve been around the block a few times!

Here are our top suggestions for local event listings in Whistler. Whether you are looking for top tourist attractions, big-club nights, or a bit of local community action – we’ve got you covered. This is the why, the who and the what of Whistler events.

Whistler Tourism

Why do people use this?

This website, set up by Tourism Whistler, is an easy-to-use way of discovering some of the larger and more tourist-oriented events Whistler events.

Events in Whistler advertised here vary from sports-based events (e.g. marathons and relay races), to food-and-wine based events to cultural events. You won’t find any club nights, food specials or happy hours here.

Who uses it?

While this website is helpful for tourists and locals alike, this website is definitely aimed more at visiting tourists trying to entertain their families, than locals. It’s a good hub to find upcoming festivals and big sporting events.

Some events advertised for the next few months:

Whistler Wine Walk: Art Galleries. Sip on BC wines while sampling hors-d’oeuvres for the Whistler’s Wine Walk. Occurring every Friday night in October at different public and private galleries, this event is an excellent opportunity to casually imbibe while getting to know the various galleries around town.
Whistler Film Festival kicks off November 28 and lasts till December 2. In its 18th year, this festival will bring new films and special guests to Whistler.

Arts Whistler

Arts Whistler is the place for all your arts and craft workshops.

Why do people use this?

This Whistler events calendar focuses on arts and cultural events in Whistler and more generally along the Sea to Sky corridor.

Users can narrow their searches to find relevant classes and workshops, kid-friendly events, films, tours, exhibits, music, and festivals. Pop onto this website, and we bet you’ll be surprised by the number of workshops, classes, and exhibitions available across Whistler and in the Sea to Sky region.

Who uses it?

Locals and visitors alike. This website allows readers to access a more creative, less gimmicky, and more inventive list of Whistler events. This website is particularly great for those Whistler locals who are starting to feel the itch for big city life. If you are missing the cultural events in Vancouver? Browsing this list you’ll find a selection of Whistler events, like those listed below, which one might assume would usually be present only in larger municipalities.

Some events advertised for the next few months:

Youth Improvisation and Acting Classes: October 25 at the Maury Young Arts Centre and led by a professional improvisation coach will immerse 12-17-year-olds in a wide array of fun and collaborative activities.
Zero Waste Living Workshop: Natural Living with Joanna Runciman falls on November 15 at the Whistler Public Library and will introduce its participants in effective and innovative ways to lead more sustainable lives and with a new appreciation of re-use potential.

The Pique News

The Pique is jam packed with local action

Why do people use this?

Pique is special in that it has a dedicated ‘Community Listings’ subsection in their events section. This includes Whistler events related to local politics (such as council meetings and mayoral candidates), neighborhood development (such as cohousing meetings), and local Toastmasters events.

This website also has subsections referring to music, art and entertainment, food and drink, events and festivals, mountain, sport, and conferences. This Whistler events calendar applies to those occurring in Whistler, Pemberton, and Squamish.

Who uses it?

Again, both locals and visitors can benefit from this extensive resource, yet due to the attention given to community events in Whistler this resource certainly is a draw to Whistler residents.

Here you’ll find an extensive list of local club nights too, which aren’t often featured on other events websites. Repeating events, such as trivia nights and ‘FVCK Mondays’ (that’s Maxx Fish nightclub for ya), is featured on Pique’s Whistler events calendar.

Some events advertised for the next few months:

Cask Night every last Wednesday of every month at The Brewhouse Pub where a cask is ceremonially tapped to celebrate the end of each month.
Heavy Hitting Horrorfest on October 30 at the Maury Young Arts Centre. This is an independent- and infamous- film festival which will be sure to bring some excitement to Halloween in Whistler.

Eventbrite Whistler

Why do people use this?

No Eventbrite is not just a website through which you purchase event tickets. It also functions as a decent Whistler events calendar. It doesn’t tend to list recurring events, as the Pique does, but it does cover a wide selection of one-off Whistler events.

Have a browse, and you’ll notice educational events (such as employment training), arts events, festive food, and drinks events as well.

Who uses it?

This Whistler events calendar is especially relevant to locals considering its strong presence of educational and personal development related events.

Some events advertised for the next few months:

LEGO Serious Play Methods: An ‘unconference’ on October 23 both baffles and intrigues us. It’s an educational event which allows attendees to learn more about the serious play methodology. We’re not sure what that is… but it sounds pretty awesome.
Rapper Andre Nickatina performs on November 18 at Garfinkel’s. This should prove to be a high-energy, high-entertainment performance.

Facebook group Whistler Winter 2018/2019 (or Whistler Summer 2018/2019)

Why do people use this?

In Whistler for a month, or a lifetime – the Whistler Winter Board is where the locals hang out

This locals facebook group is the perfect place to mingle with the locals. If you are in Whistler for a season or a lifetime it’s the place to find the most up to date happenings in this small town. It’s also a place to vent about local politics, post celebrity sightings, or look for your lost wallet from last night. Its 30 percent locals complaining, 30 percent job postings, and 30 percent community events listings.

Who uses it?

These two Facebook groups, one for Winter and one for Summer, are for locals. By local, you might only be here for a month, but we highly recommend joining. If just for the laughs, you’ll get a lot out of the antics. You should hopefully find out about an upcoming film screening, a new happy hour, or maybe score a sweet local only deal. We always post our league information here, as well as any special events we host.

Some events advertised for the next few months:

Forged Axe Throwing – Season Six League: back and bigger than ever before is our sixth season of’ axeing’ off. This season we are introducing a team element, supported by the launch of 81 Score the novel new way to track your axe throwing statistics.

A classic example of a local’s posting on the Whistler Winter board

Major Whistler Events: a Month by Month Overview

Grab your calendar, grab your pen – get planning the rest of the year!

To conclude, we’ve brought together a selection of some of the key Whistler events you can expect throughout the year and across all seasons. This list isn’t meant to be exhaustive, but it’s just a glimpse into the many events in Whistler that you can experience.

January: Australia Day (January 26th) and Whistler Pride and Ski Festival (we’ve written about the latter here). For both of these events expect good times, plenty of drinking, and plenty of costuming opportunities.
February: Peak to Valley Race. This is a unique team race on Whistler Mountain where teams of four race over a two-day period, descending over 1,445 meters in total. This is the longest GS (giant slalom) race on the planet.
March: No big events lined up at the moment- but expect a lot of great skiing and snowboarding.
April: World Ski and Snowboard Festival.
May: Gaper Day. Gaper day celebrates the end of the winter season. It’s often sunny by the day the Gaper Day weekend comes along, so expect excited riders to be wearing hilariously tiny costumes as they drink beers at the summits and then hurtle down the slopes.
June: Tough Mudder and Tough Mudder Half. It’s not everyone’s ideal way to spend their time or their vacation. A full tough mudder is an endurance event in which participants go through 10-12 mile long obstacle courses that seek to test their mental and physical fortitude.
July/August: Wanderlust Whistler. If you like yoga, wanderlust is a fantastic time to visit Whistler. You’ll be able to attend various yoga and wellness workshops and lectures.
August: Crankworx. This has got to be one of the best times to be people watching in Whistler. Oh, and mountain biking. Grab yourself a seat at the GLC to have great views watching world-class mountain bikers speed down Whistler mountain. It’s also a great time to spot famous bikers wandering around the town.
September: RBC GranFondo Whistler. This is North America’s largest GranFondo. What is a GranFondo I hear you ask? It’s a type of long-distance road cycling which means roughly “big ride” in Italian.
October: Whistler Writers Festival. This festival takes its festival-goers through a variety of workshops and events, from Self-publishing 101 to conversations with authors.
November: Cornucopia. This is a massive, opulent, and stylish celebration of food and drink of the Pacific North West. Events include signature tastings, drink seminars, and masterclasses from local top chefs.
December: Whistler Film Festival. Right, when Whistler gets pretty chilly, Whistler Film Festival rolls in with fresh films and talks with special guests.