Businesses have been shut down since Sun Peaks Resort closed Mar. 18 (Image Credit: CFJC Today)

By Chad Klassen

COVID-19

No new COVID-19 cases at Sun Peaks, but resort dealing with economic fallout

Apr 14, 2020 | 4:44 PM

SUN PEAKS, B.C. — The village at Sun Peaks is deserted, at a time when ski season would just be wrapping up.

“Obviously everything’s shut down. It’s pretty eerie. It’s almost like a ghost town,” noted Sun Peaks mayor Al Raine.

It’s been that way since the resort closed Mar. 18 — three weeks early — due to COVID-19. Sun Peaks was hit with a couple of confirmed cases of coronavirus, including Dr. Chip Bantock, and other presumptive cases. Mayor Al Raine says that mini-outbreak woke up the community to the virus.

“For some of the younger people, I think they thought ‘this is something that’s going on in Europe and China, a long way from us.’ All of a sudden, you realize the coronavirus was here in Sun Peaks. It got everybody’s attention,” said Raine.

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Raine says there have been no new cases at the resort, but as a result of the pandemic, hotels are all shutdown, resort employees laid off, and the majority of businesses closed.

One of the few that has remained open is Mountain High Pizza, offering take-out and delivery to locals. But even it’s operating with fewer hours and a significant drop in business.

“Our hours have been reduced by 85 per cent,” said owner of Mountain High Pizza Ryan Schmalz. “We’re usually open 11:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. during the week, 11:00 a.m. until 1:00 in the morning on the weekends, and we’re just opened 5:00 to 9:00 right now.”

Many of the business owners, despite major losses, say the timing of the outbreak may have saved them.

“The good is, this didn’t happen in November or December,” noted Schmalz. “The bad is that every day of the winter season is very valuable to us, so this last weekend of Easter is a very busy weekend for us, and there was literally nobody around.”

Through all the adversity, however, the community spirit has come out. A group has launched what it’s calling a ‘community cupboard’ for anyone struggling to make ends meet and needing food.

“Some people might run into scenarios where, if they didn’t get their money from employment benefits, they might run out of resources,” said Robert O’Toole, a member of Sun Peaks Community Helps. “So our focal point was to make sure that, if and when that were to happen, there was going to be something on hand.”

Anyone with questions about the Community Cupboard can email the group at spcommunitycares@gmail.com or call (236) 822-0550.

Meantime, residents and businesses at Sun Peaks are optimistic some of the restrictions around COVID-19 may be eased in time for the summer tourism season in late June and early July.