Golden initiatives

Golden Area Initiatives recently produced a film location resource guide and assisted in establishing a youth centre

Golden Area Initiatives occupies the striking B.C. Visitor Centre building in Golden, B.C. — Photo courtesy Golden Area Initiatives

The town of Golden, B.C., has many resources available for its residents, and the majority of those are accessible through Golden Area Initiatives (GAI). GAI's secondary name is Community Economic Development Services, and it serves the Town of Golden and Area A of the Columbia Shuswap Regional District.

“We support both community groups and business groups,” said Denise Wheelhouse, who is with GAI. “We collaborate closely with the chamber of commerce.”

Since March 15, 2013, Wheelhouse has been GAI’s sole paid employee, and she is well prepared for her all-encompassing role. She attended the University of Waterloo in Ontario, where she obtained a bachelor’s degree in recreation in business and a master's in tourism policy and planning. She has lived in Golden for five years.

Attracting attention

Increasing interest in snowy locations for movies has turned the attention of filmmakers to B.C.’s mountain communities. With this in mind, GAI recently produced a professional-quality film location resource guide that showcases the amenities available in Golden and area as well as the spectacular mountain setting.

“We’re really happy with the brochure,” Wheelhouse said. “We have been approached by film production companies quite a few times, and part of the most recent Jason Bourne movie was filmed at our airport. There was also a Sport Chek ad filmed here recently.”

A commitment to community support

There’s more to Wheelhouse's job than glamour, though. GAI’s resource library shows a surprising number of community support projects that have been completed in the last year, and more that are works-in-progress. GAI helped to get the new youth centre up and running; it partnered with Tourism Fernie to do a transportation study; and GAI's migration and investment campaign, Make Golden BC Your Backyard, won the 2012 Marketing Canada Award for online community outreach.

GAI has just begun an initiative called Hotdesks and Coworking @ GAI. This initiative provides office and/or meeting space as needed for small businesses, at a low cost. The space is available by the hour, day, week and month, with amenities that include computers, phones, shared copiers and office kitchen facilities.

“We recently completed a business support services review, and we have shared the results of that,” said Wheelhouse. “We are in the process of launching a business attraction strategy, and we will be attending a tourism show with Tourism Golden to raise the profile of Golden for our migration and investment strategy. There’s lots going on for us in 2013.”

Lots, indeed—especially for a staff of just one full-time employee supported by a volunteer board of directors.