To celebrate International Women’s Day (March 8), the Alberni Valley News is honoured to profile four women of influence in the Alberni Valley. Writing and photography by freelance journalist Heather Warren.
Stefanie Weber chuckles as she recalls how quickly she became a volunteer in Port Alberni. It was 2001 and she and her husband Tim MacLean had just moved from Terrace, B.C., to take possession of the Tim Hortons franchise on lower Johnston Road.
Port Alberni was due to host the BC Winter Games in 2004 so the hunt was on for volunteers.
“Kelly Mann was the CEO of the Winter Games at that time and Dewayne Parfitt, he was the bank manager and he was going to chair the games. I think I’d been here for a day and he showed up and said ‘Can you work on this with us?’”
Weber had come from a career of working in media, mostly radio and television, so she agreed to take on the promotions portfolio.
“I had done probably about five different games by that time. They used to have the Northern Games and BC Winter and Summer Games…we had stations all over the place so it seemed to me everywhere I went I ended up dealing with BC Games.”
While she had experience with BC Games, she was new to the hospitality business. Initially they looked at franchise opportunities in towns they were familiar with or had connections to, but there were very few available. When the Port Alberni franchise came up, they decided to apply for it.
Weber said the city was having a bit of a decline when they moved here but it didn’t really affect them because West Coast tourism was picking up steam in a huge way.
“So in the summer the volume picks up fairly substantially… even from local traffic because people come in for cold drinks, and the Iced Capps have a higher price point.”
Things have improved in the city, so much so that Weber and her husband decided to invest in two more franchises, a drive-thru higher up on Johnston at the Shell gas station and the other at Redford and 10th Avenue.
“The city has changed for the better in many respects… it’s really turned around now as far as housing and those type of opportunities, and jobs,” she said.
She and her husband support minor sports teams through the Timbits program, and they’re both very involved in the local hockey scene. They’ve spent a lot of time in the stands watching their boys play. The youngest, Brett, plays for the Junior B Port Alberni Bombers and his brother Jason is in North Dakota on a hockey scholarship. Weber and MacLean are part of the owners’ group of the B.C. Hockey League Bulldogs Junior A hockey team and the Bombers Junior B team.
With such a packed schedule, Weber still finds time to act as treasurer for the Alberni Valley Curling Club, and is often approached to write business plans for events for various groups.
Does she ever say no?
“Oh, I always take on too much,” she said. “It’s that old story of give the job to a busy person and they’ll get it done.”