The yellow jackets are back.
The Alberni Valley Visitors' Centre ambassador program — known for the distinctive yellow jackets and polo shirts volunteers wear — started several years ago as a way to direct visitors to the area into Port Alberni and surrounding areas, instead of watching people drive through on their way to Ucluelet and Tofino. Estimates are that one million tourists pass through every year on their way to vacation on the west coast.
Ambassadors pair up during the week for shifts at Cathedral Grove, where they hand out adventure maps of the Alberni Valley and direct people to the visitors' centre at the junction of Highway 4 and the Redford Extension in Port Alberni.
"It's completely volunteer run. We don't have any funding or sponsorships helping out this year," said Jolleen Dick, CEO of the Alberni Valley Chamber of Commerce. The ambassadors program is a chamber-led program.
"Our ambassadors are very dedicated and we're grateful."
The program paused last summer because of the extended closure of Highway 4 between Port Alberni and Whiskey Creek, around Cameron Lake, Dick said. A wildfire at Cameron Bluffs reached the highway on June 6, 2023, forcing closure of the road for three weeks in that area and daily closures for cleanup work until August. Cathedral Grove was closed to the public for several months.
Ian Staton and a small group of volunteers resurrected the ambassadors program on July 15, 2024 at Cathedral Grove (McMillan Provincial Park).
Staton and Peter Kaegi have been volunteering together as "yellow jacket" ambassadors for four years, including before the coronavirus pandemic closed travelling and tourism for a couple of years. Staton said he loves introducing people to the Alberni Valley and all it has to offer. It's always exciting when they meet people from other countries, he added.
"Peter has been with me for four years and he's never met anyone from Switzerland. He met a family of four from there (last week). He was over the moon," Staton said.
"The other day we ran into someone from the Czech Republic that had been on their honeymoon, heading to Tofino. The only thing they heard of and were told at home they need to do was to go to a Tim Hortons."
Volunteers meet at the chamber of commerce visitors' centre half an hour before their shift so they can carpool to Cathedral Grove and pass on any information as well as keys to the tourism kiosk at the Grove. Shifts typically start at 9:30 a.m. and run until 12:30 p.m., then from 1–4 p.m. "I work with people however they want to do a shift," Staton said. "We provide all the training."
Volunteers this year are directing people to check out the train and McLean Mill National Historic Site. "Anything to get people into town, that's what it's all about," Staton said.
Dick is hopeful the program will expand, hinting that they may add another provincial park to the ambassadors' list later this summer. "We'll figure out when and where they will be for community events," she added.
The ambassador program will run until Labour Day.
Anyone interested in volunteering as an ambassador can call the visitors' centre at the Alberni Valley Chamber of Commerce at 250-724-6535.
