(Facebook/Sun Peaks Resort).

By Aaron Schulze

Sun Peaks Summer

Sun Peaks eager for regular summer programming following Step Two of B.C.’s Restart

Jun 16, 2021 | 12:15 PM

SUN PEAKS, B.C. — Resort municipalities across the province were thrilled as B.C.’s Restart entered Step Two on Tuesday (June 15).

Step Two arrived just in time for Sun Peaks. The resort’s opening weekend for summer 2021 is Friday (June 18) and now it can market toward the entire province instead of only Interior and Northern Health.

“In the summer it is absolutely crucial we’re able to include the Lower Mainland; that’s a big source for our summer visitation,” Tourism Sun Peaks CEO and President Arlene Schieven said. “If we are able to move to Step Three, then we would add Alberta to the list. That’s probably as far as we would go in any summer anyway. Then moving into the winter, that’s when we have a lot of Canada-wide, U.S., international visitation… it’s crucial that we get beyond Phase Two for the winter.”

For now, Sun Peaks Golf Course is open, mountain biking and lift access hiking opens Saturday (June 19), and Market Days returns June 20. Pending B.C.’s Restart entering Step Three as early as July 1, Schieven said a lot of smaller events, such as CircusWest shows, could take place with a maximum of 50 spectators.

But for regular summer programming, Schieven said Step Two will allow Sun Peaks to operate smoothly.

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“Everyone is really excited to get things going again and welcome our visitors,” she said. “We’ve already had a summer of operations where we’ve had all of these procedures in place. Because we had some success last summer with a lot of new visitors from the lower mainland who had never been to Sun Peaks before, some businesses last year had record sales in July and August.”

Tourism operators are facing challenges with bringing back enough employees to handle pent-up demand, and Sun Peaks is no different early on. Schieven said the uncertainty as to when some businesses would be able to open, or how many visitors they could allow, made things challenging.

“There are still people looking for staff, but I do think they should be able to fulfill what they’re looking for in the summer. In the winter we need to work on staffing and staff housing to make sure we’ve got a full staff to operate at the best of our ability.”