The Vancouver Island Floating Boat & Marine Show is always a fun event, and this year was no different. You couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful day to head downtown, grab a bite to eat and view some of the most impressive boats on Vancouver Island!
We’re already looking forward to the 7th Annual Floating Boat & Marine Show!
All photos © Aidan Moher, 2010.
Join Tourism Nanaimo n Thursday, June 3rd from 10am – 4pm, for our second annual “Nanaimo Bar Open House” at the Port of Nanaimo Centre Kiosk (located in the bottom floor of the Vancouver Island Conference Centre). If haven’t yet come down to see our newest location, or if you haven’t met Jon Nicholson and our summer staff, now is your chance! We’ll have FREE NANAIMO BARS on hand, and would love to meet you!
Have you picked up a Passport to your City yet? If so, you’re already enjoying all the great discounts and deals offered by over 40 Nanaimo-area businesses and attractions! If you haven’t, what are you waiting for! You’ve got just 5 more days to enjoy Nanaimo, save a bunch of money and enter to win the Grand Prize, a $1000 Nanaimo Staycation!
Visit Tourism Nanaimo’s official Passport to your City website for more information!
We love Nanaimo for many reasons, photos like this are just one of those:
Do you have any great photos of Nanaimo? If so, send them to aidan@tourismnanaimo.com and it might appear on the Harbour City Howler!
Don’t forget to check out these amazing events all happening next week in Nanaimo:
Tourism Nanaimo is proud to bring you Stuart Ellis-Myers, aka: Twitchy, to the Beban Park Social Centre on Monday, May 31st from 5:30pm – 8:30pm. Come out and hear this dynamic motivational speaker, filmmaker, author & consultant as he winds you through his world of Obsessive Compulsive Sales. This one-time event is FREE to members as well as the general public, so don’t forget to bring a guest or two with you! RSVP to megan@tourismnanaimo.com
Our first annual Tourism Tradeshow is happening on Tuesday, June 1st from 2pm – 6pm at the Pioneer Waterfront Plaza. This event is geared towards educating Nanaimo’s frontline staff on all the amazing activities, transportation, eateries, and accommodators we have to offer. Over 20 exhibitors will be there to answer any questions your staff may have. Please send them down to this FREE event! (*NOTE: in the event of inclement weather, the tradeshow will be moved inside to the Beban Park Social Centre. Watch for more information on Monday, May 31st)
Piggy-backing on the tradeshow, also happening on Tuesday, June 1st from 4pm – 6pm is our annual Kick-off to Summer Event. This popular members-only event will also be held in the Pioneer Waterfront Plaza, directly following the tradeshow. Come out and mingle with your fellow Tourism Nanaimo members while enjoying food, drinks, raffles and prizes. RSVP to cathy@tourismnanaimo.com (*NOTE: in the event of inclement weather, the summer kick-off will be moved inside to the Beban Park Social Centre. Watch for more information on Monday, May 31st)
On Thursday, June 3rd from 10am – 4pm, Tourism Nanaimo brings you our second annual “Nanaimo Bar Open House” at the Port of Nanaimo Centre Kiosk (located in the bottom floor of the Conference Centre). If you still have yet to come in and see our newest location, or if you haven’t met Jon Nicholson or any of our summer staff…now is your chance! We will be offering FREE NANAIMO BARS and would love to see you out. This event is also open to the public.
The Floating Boat & Marine Trade Show kicks off on Friday, June 4th from 11am – 7pm. The show continues throughout the weekend on Saturday from 10am – 6pm and then on Sunday from 10am – 4pm. Tickets are $4/day or $8 for the weekend. OR – since it is the last week for the Passport Program, use yours to get free entry on any one of the days! For more information, contact the Wharfinger’s office at 250-754-5053.
West Coast Adventures is a television program that showcases the best the west coast of North America has to offer. It didn’t take them long to find Nanaimo, and they loved what the Harbour City has to offer! As part of West Coast Adventure‘s second season, they visited Nanaimo and, with Tourism Nanaimo’s help, explored some of the great opportunities in-and-around our city. These include:
With a line-up like that, It’s no wonder they had such an enjoyable experience in Nanaimo!
There are various ways to watch the program:
West Coast Adventures can be seen twice weekly in various PBS stations throughout the Norhwest, reaching viewers in British Columbia, Alberta and Washington State, plus parts of Western Montana, Northern Idaho, and the Northeast of Oregon. The show can also be seen nationally across Canada via satellite providers Shaw and Bell Expressvu which carry the flagship PBS station KCTS 9 (based out of Seattle). West Coast Adventures has a potential of reaching approximately 12.8 million viewers.
In BC and Washington State, it airs on KCTS 9 (Check your local listings.) The show is also available in High Definition for those who have a HD cable package.
You can also watch Episode 6 of West Coast Adventures, featuring Nanaimo, on their website!
Tourism Nanaimo has teamed with Leadership BC and businesses throughout Nanaimo to bring you fantastic discounts and exciting opportunities. We open the doors for you to explore what’s in your own backyard, right here in Nanaimo.
Buy a Passport to your City for just $5 at any of the following locations:
Use your passport for discounts to more than 40 area attractions, local businesses, and special activities between May 16 and June 6, 2010. To begin your exploration, start by going over all the discounts within your passport. Decide what discounts and attractions you are going to visit and start planning your adventure. **One passport per person. Get from place to place with the Regional District of Nanaimo Transit System. FREE day passes are available at the Beban House Visitor Centre, while quantities last.
Looking for the ultimate staycation? Use your passport to explore what Nanaimo has to offer, have your passport stamped by at least one attraction in all four categories, and enter to win a $1,000 Nanaimo Staycation package with the form located of the right hand side of this website.
Please note you must have your passport present to claim your prize.
For more information visit the Official Tourism Nanaimo ‘Passport to your City’ website or contact Tourism Nanaimo at 250-756-0106 or by email at info@tourismnanaimo.com.
Welcome to the new home of Tourism Nanaimo on the web! If you’ve visited us before, you’ll notice that everything looks different (and better if you ask us!), If you’re new to the site, we hope you like what you see.
At Tourism Nanaimo, we work hard to find the most effective ways to promote the City and region we love and call our home. One of the most powerful tools to do this is the Internet. So, when it came time to redesign our website, we had a lot of great ideas on how to make our website a better and even more useful experience for our members and visitors.
Here’s a look at some of the improvements and features you will find on our new website:
In addition to the new website, we also have a few other fun ways to stay up-to-date with all of our endeavours at Tourism Nanaimo. You can follow us in a few different ways:
Beban House has a reputation as a haunted house. It has been featured on Creepy Canada and several paranormal societies have investigated the odd events that have happened here. Around Easter time in 2009 the Tourism Nanaimo staff at Beban House witnessed a very weird occurrence.
On this particular long weekend in April 2009 the staff closed up the Information Centre on Thursday night as usual. We were going to be closed Good Friday, open Saturday and closed again Easter Sunday and Monday. Every night before we leave, Slater, our black house cat is put in the front office with his food. Back then, the door to this office would not stay shut unless it was dead bolted and since there was only one key to the office and people were in and out on a regular basis the key was left in the deadbolt in the door at all times. On Saturday morning (after Good Friday) our summer student opened up the Centre and unlocked the office to let Slater out for the day as usual. Before she left at the end of the day she picked the cat up, put him in the office, made sure to give him enough food to last until Tuesday, and then locked the door behind her. She set the alarm at approximately 4:00pm that day. Minutes later the janitor arrived, disarmed the security system, and completed his usual Saturday night cleaning. When he left Beban House he specifically remembered picking Slater up, putting him back in the office, locking the door (leaving the key in the deadbolt), arming the security system and locking the premises as usual.
On Easter Monday morning our Executive Director came in to check on Slater because he didn’t like him being alone for too many days in a row. When Mark went to unlock the office door he noticed that the key was missing and the door was locked. Assuming Slater was locked inside he turned to go and find the key. As he turned around, looking up at him was Slater – outside the door. Now Mark was in a hurry to find the key since he did not know how long Slater had been out of the room with out water, food and most importantly a litter box! He looked everywhere and could not find the key and as a last resort he decided to try the windows. Surprisingly the window to his office was unlocked and he was able to climb in and unlock the office door from the inside.
The next morning Mark called the weekend employees to try to determine where the key might be. Both staff swore they left the key in the door and neither knew where the key might be. Mark then called the alarm company to see if anyone had been in or out of the building between the time the weekend staff had left and he arrived. Nobody had been in or out of the building. We tried to rationalize how this event might have occurred and, while it’s possible it may have been human, the behaviour would be highly illogical and just plain strange. Why would someone come in through a window, open an office door from the inside, remove the key from the other side, close and lock the door, and climb back out through the same window? Why not just leave through the door? Nothing had been moved or taken from the office or from the rest of the house. And all of this would have occurred without setting off any motion detectors — which would be virtually impossible.
The following week comes and goes and we gradually dismissed the incident from the previous weekend. We were still closing Slater in the office overnight but we were unable to lock the door since the key never materialized. All is normal until the following weekend. On Friday as Mark prepared to leave for the weekend he made sure to check that all the windows in his office were locked (something he had apparently neglected to do the weekend before). He closed the door and left Slater for the night. On Saturday morning our summer student arrived and let Slater out of the office for the day. At the end of the day she filled his bowls full of food and water (more then he could possibly eat in two days), closed the door and left. That night our janitor arrived, completed his work, and made sure to close the office door with Slater in before left. Of course the door was not locked because the key had never materialized.
On Monday morning when Mark arrived he went to open his office door and discovered that it was inexplicably locked! This time Slater was meowing like crazy from inside the office. Mark was 99% sure the windows would be locked but decided to try them anyway before he called the locksmith. Once again, inexplicably, the window slid open and Mark was able to climb through the window and unlock the door from inside the office. Once again, the key was nowhere to be found and nothing had been moved or stolen. Strangely, however, every morsel of cat food and drop of water was gone. Follow up phone calls to staff and alarm companies provided no enlightenment as to how these events could have occurred.
We still can’t explain these events but many of us think perhaps Slater has a ghostly friend that can operate doors, windows and keys? For more thrills and chills of the paranormal kind, visit Beban House for an update on the story or maybe you can have your own ghostly encounter!
With an increasing desire to watch your budget and stay closer to home, planning to get away can be a challenge. There is a travel alternative that’s easy on both time and money: Be a Tourist in Your Own Town.
Even if you don’t have glamorous travel plans on the radar for the year ahead, being a tourist in your own town offers you a chance to have some fun and see your town in a whole new way. Explore the affordable, eclectic and unsurpassed mix of dining, shopping, history, art and nature that is Nanaimo. All you need is the intention to do it and a sense of fun and adventure.
Being a tourist in your town is easy. Start with a call, e-mail, or visit Nanaimo’s Visitor Information Centre. Get the information you need from one of our friendly staff or friendly volunteers, and then make your plan. It can be a series of day trips or a true vacation where you get away without having to go away.
Include all the touristy basics in your plan:
Being a tourist in your own town gives you the flexibility to see it all. Try it! You’ll not only gain a greater appreciation for Nanaimo but you’ll enjoy yourself as well!
To start your plan contact us:
Phone: 250-756-0106 or toll free: 1-800-663-7337
Email info@tourismnanaimo.com
Address: 2290 Bowen Road (Beban House), Nanaimo
Last year, Amanda took a trip to Ammonite falls, one of Nanaimo’s best destinations for hikers of all levels, and brought a camera along. Here’s the result!
Ammonite Falls is located on the outskirts of Nanaimo, just off of Jingle Pot Road on Jameson Road. The first bit of the trail is wide and easy. You walk along this part for a good 15 minutes until you see a sign pointing you down in the right direction.
This is where you begin your hike down. The trail narrows and can be a bit steep for some people. Be sure you are wearing proper hiking shoes or running shoes. The trail can be slippery in spots just after rain or snow. Once you reach the bottom of the trail there is a rope on the right hand side to help lead yourself down to the bottom of the falls. This part can be very slippery and needs to be tackled with a bit of caution, especially during the wetter seasons.
The falls are great! Be sure to watch where you step, because there are many frogs in the area. Don’t forget your camera and picnic lunch. There are some giant rocks to sit on the side and enjoy scenery.
Amanda on the climb back up to the top. In and out takes about 2 – 3 hours depending on your own personal level. We definitely recommend this trail to anyone looking to stay close to Nanaimo but still looking to get out and find some free adventure.
If you’re looking for day trip ideas around the Nanaimo area for yourself or visitors, check out these YouTube video tours and photo tours of some of our favourites-courtesy of the Living Forest Oceanside Campground & RV. Each one is 2 to 3 minutes long and will give you a sense of what you’ll see if you go. The guests at our 300 site campground are always asking us where to go and what to do, so we’ve created these photo and video tours to help them choose, and thought we’d share them with Tourism Nanaimo webpage visitors.
For a Google Maps driving directions to each place from Nanaimo, click HERE. When you click on one of the following YouTube videos, be sure to click the HD box at the bottom right side of the YouTube video timeline so you can watch it in Hi Def (slower to load, but worth it).
This blog post was written an compiled by the lovely folks at Living Forest Oceanside Campground and RV.
Everyone knows that Vancouver Island is known as a premier destination for whale watching, but who thought we’d see a pod in our own Nanaimo Harbour? These photos were taken by Graeme Ellis, an employee at the Pacific Biological Station, on April 10th, 2009.
This particular pod of 13 is “transient” and are usually found in Alaska. After these photos were taken, the pod travelled as far as Dodd Narrows, into Nanaimo Harbour, then headed north again, up past Winchelsea.
Whales sighted in Nanaimo Harbour and Dodd Narrows!
Whales sighted in Nanaimo Harbour and Dodd Narrows!
Whales sighted in Nanaimo Harbour and Dodd Narrows!
Whales sighted in Nanaimo Harbour and Dodd Narrows!
