Volunteers at the Alberni Valley Visitor Centre are giving tourists a reason to stop in Port Alberni.
The Yellow Jackets are back.
The Alberni Valley Visitor Centre’s ambassador program, known for the distinctive yellow jackets and polo shirts worn by volunteers, began several years ago as a way to steer visitors to the area towards Port Alberni and the surrounding area, rather than just watching them pass by on their way to Ucluelet or Tofino. An estimated one million tourists pass through here each year on their way to West Coast holidays.
The ambassadors take turns pairing up in Cathedral Grove during the week, handing out Alberni Valley adventure maps and guiding people to the visitor’s centre at the junction of Highway 4 and Redford Extension in Port Alberni.
“This is completely volunteer-run. We have no funding or sponsorship support this year,” said Jolene Dick, CEO of the Alberni Valley Chamber of Commerce. The Ambassador Program is a chamber-led program.
“Our ambassadors are incredibly dedicated and we are grateful.”
Dick said the program was put on hold last summer due to an extended closure of Highway 4 between Port Alberni and Whiskey Creek around Cameron Lake. The Cameron Bluffs wildfire reached the highway on June 6, 2023, forcing a three-week road closure in the area, with daily closures for cleanup efforts into August. Cathedral Grove was off-limits to the public for several months.
Ian Stayton and a small group of volunteers revived the Ambassador Program on July 15, 2024 at Cathedral Grove (McMillan State Park).
Stayton and Peter Kaegi have volunteered together as “Yellow Jacket” ambassadors for four years, including before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down travel and tourism for several years. Stayton said he loves showing people the Alberni Valley and what it has to offer, adding that it’s always exciting to meet people from other countries.
“Peter has been with me for four years and has never met anyone from Switzerland. He met a Swiss family of four (last week) and he was over the moon,” Stayton said.
“I ran into someone the other day who was on honeymoon in Tofino from the Czech Republic, and the only thing they had heard of and been told was a must do back home was to go to Tim Hortons.”
Volunteers meet at the chamber’s visitor center 30 minutes before their shift and carpool to Cathedral Grove, where they receive a key to the Grove’s tourist kiosks and any other information they need. Shifts typically start at 9:30 a.m. and run until 12:30 p.m., then from 1 to 4 p.m. “I work how people want their shifts,” Staton said. “We provide all the training.”
This year, volunteers are taking people to visit the train and McLean Mill National Historic Site. “Anything we can do to bring people to town, that’s our goal,” Staton said.
Dick hopes the program will expand, suggesting she may add another state park to the list of ambassadors later this summer. “We’ll determine when and where they’ll participate in community events,” she added.
The ambassador program will run through Labor Day.
Anyone interested in volunteering as an ambassador can call the Alberni Valley Chamber of Commerce Visitor Centre at 250-724-6535.
