The Pender Harbour and Egmont Chamber of Commerce
The voice of business from Pender Harbour to Egmont here on British Columbia’s Sunshine Coast. This area at the northern end of the Sechelt Peninsula, appreciated for its spectacular beauty, is undergoing significant growth and with this growth comes business opportunities. We encourage all businesses and interested community members to join the Chamber to showcase products and services, to network and build contacts, and to help influence and shape our future. Let us work together for a better tomorrow for both our businesses and our communities.
Madeira Park
Madeira Park is an unincorporated community located on the Sunshine Coast of BC. Collectively, Garden Bay, Madeira Park, and Irvine's Landing are known as Pender Harbour. Madeira Harbour is located off of Highway 101 in Pender Harbour. Travelers from the Lower Mainland should take a ferry from Horseshoe Bay to Langdale, and then drive 50 kilometers northwest on Highway 101. Pender Harbour is the most popular diving spot on the Sechelt Peninsula. Hire a guide or rent a boat and go exploring around Fearney Bluffs, Nelson Rock, and the Anderson and Charles Islands. Enjoy relaxing walks down easy paths, or go on more difficult hikes through the area surrounding Pender Harbour. The routes to Pender Hill and up Mount Daniel are popular with experienced hikers, their summits providing spectacular views overlooking the harbour.
Pender Harbour is well‐known for its salmon fishing. Other fish to be caught here include cod, flounder, and snapper, as well as surface‐feeding trout. The Pender Harbour Blues Festival & Pender Harbour Jazz Festival both feature concerts held in all three local communities, Garden Bay, Madeira Park and Irvines Landing. The Blues Festival kicks off the summer and the Jazz Festival takes place annually on the third weekend of September.
With fewer than 3000 residence, Pender Harbour offers a surprising array of amenities. The Painted Boat Resort and Spa with its world class restaurant and marina adds a touch of class to this charming sea‐side village. The Pender Harbour Golf Course offers 9 challenging holes at very reasonable rates with memberships available. The Pender Harbour Health Clinic includes a full time Dentist and Medical Clinic as well as offering a variety of other services including chiropractors and physiotherapists. Shopping includes an IGA, the Oak Tree Market (great butcher!), liquor store, pharmacy, RONA, tool rental yard, handi‐craft s and furniture stores, as well as and art gallery and book &gift stores. Restaurants, pubs and coffee shops round out the rest of the business community. Pender Harbour also features a pre‐school, Madeira Park Elementary School (K‐6) and Pender Harbour High School (7‐12).
Madeira Park is a safe and secure community with access to some of the finest boating and kayaking anywhere in the world!
President’s Message
I would like to welcome you to the website of the Pender Harbour & Egmont Chamber of Commerce. You’ll find information here on upcoming events and meetings. Members who have links invite you to check out their services through their own websites.
Being a Chamber for a small, unincorporated community means that we function somewhat like a town council. Members can provide input into the direction the Chamber will take, and have opportunities to serve on the Board of Directors.
So what does 2009 look like to me?
The world economy is in turmoil, and we are by no means exempt from the fallout. Declines in revenues from industry and tourism are being felt up and down the Coast. Here in Pender Harbour, other problems are surfacing: an aging population, youth leaving after completing school and not returning to the community, and high real estate costs. We can’t change our ages (as much as we would want to!) and, although real estate values have moderated, they are still up there.
What can we do about our youth exodus? To maintain a healthy community, we need to have more for the youth: jobs, homes, entertainment, and security are all things that are needed and wanted.
What can the Chamber do? We need to develop a community-wide “visioning process” that not only looks at today but at where we will be years from now. To that end, I propose a series of meetings with Chamber members to “blue sky.” I hope these meetings will lead us to a series of goals that will be achievable over the next decade.
You can help. Add your input. Call me if you want to discuss the Chamber and its goals—604-883-3678—or email me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
Rick Harmer
President
For visitors to our site looking for tourist information, we invite you to view our Visitor Info page listed in the navigation on the left.
