Fernie Chamber

The Fernie Chamber of Commerce is excited to announce the appointment of the new Executive Director, Wendy McDougall.

Wendy and her family moved to Fernie in August 2019. After visiting the town on weekends and holidays for over a decade, they decided to make the move to Fernie permanent and have never looked back. Over the last 3 years they have become fully entrenched in the community, taking in all this mountain town has to offer.

Over the last three and a half years, Brad Parsell has been the Executive Director at the Fernie Chamber of Commerce, supporting the business community and our community in general. We are sad to lose Brad, who has accepted a position as Executive Director with Tourism Tofino (well-done), not only a valued community member but also as one of our writers! 

The Fernie Chamber in partnership with the City of Fernie and The Arts Station are excited to bring you a fun filled evening to kick off the holiday season and get your shop-on, locally! On Friday, November 25th spend minimum $25 at a Fernie business and be entered to win a $1000 gift card to a Fernie business of your choice! Winner will be announced the week of November 28, must have receipts to claim prize.

The 2022 Fernie Business Excellence Awards were held Friday night at a special awards gala at the Rusty Edge attended by over 100 people from the Fernie business community. Trophies were given out over twelve categories in a fun-filled night that was the first awards gala to return to a pre-pandemic format.

The Fernie Chamber of Commerce is announcing that Brad Parsell has resigned from the organization effective mid-November. Having started the role in April 2019, Brad Parsell has served as Executive Director for the Fernie Chamber for three and a half years.

The Fernie Chamber of Commerce is excited to announce that voting is now open for the 2022 People’s Choice Award. Given out every year at the annual Fernie Business Excellence Awards, any business or organization that is nominated for any award will be in the running to win the People’s Choice Award.

The Fernie Chamber of Commerce is excited to announce that the annual Fernie Business Excellence Awards will take place again this year on Friday 21 October at the Rusty Edge. Nominations from the public are now open! The nominations period will run from today until 5pm on Friday 2 September 2022.

To nominate your favourite business, organization or individual across the categories – please head to https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/fernieawards2022 to cast your nomination.

I am writing my column from Prince George where Chambers of Commerce from across British Columbia are gathered in-person for the first time in three years for the BC Chamber AGM and Conference. It has been an awesome week – packed with amazing presentations from government officials, business analysts, and industry leaders. And of course, being in the mix and networking with people who do my role around the province is worth the price of admission alone. There has been a lot of valuable information that I can’t wait to bring back to Fernie and put in action in our local Chamber. 

Summer has finally arrived y’all! And unlike the past two summers, this year we can dare to look forward to a full-scale return of Fernie’s signature festivals, events, races, and activities. Events are such a key part of what makes our mountain town so vibrant, and it’s been tough to see many of them sidelined or significantly scaled down for years on account of the pandemic. But it seems the light has finally appeared at the end of the tunnel.

The Fernie Chamber of Commerce is announcing the line-up of speakers for the Housing Information Session being hosted as part of the Annual General Meeting (AGM) in-person event on Thursday April 21st. Celebrating 120 years since incorporation, the Fernie Chamber is excited to return to an in-person format at the Cast Iron Grill (Fernie Golf Club) after two years of virtual AGMs.