Pender Harbour, British Columbia

Pender Harbour (ḵalpilin)
Harbour
Nickname: 
Venice of the North
Pender Harbour (ḵalpilin)
Location of Pender Harbour in British Columbia
Coordinates: 49°37′30″N 124°02′00″W / 49.62500°N 124.03333°W / 49.62500; -124.03333
Country Canada
Province British Columbia
Area code(s)604, 778
Websitehttp://www.penderharbour.ca

Pender Harbour (ḵalpilin in she shashishalhem) is a harbour on British Columbia's Sunshine Coast, on the east side of Malaspina Strait. The name Pender Harbour also refers collectively to the surrounding unincorporated communities of Madeira Park, Kleindale, Irvines Landing, and Garden Bay, within the Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD).

The harbour itself is an intricate amalgam of bays and coves that encroach inland for 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) and provide over 60 kilometres (37 mi) of shoreline. Once a vibrant shíshálh village site, steamer stop, a fishing village, and an important logging and medical waypoint, it is now home to a population of under 3,000, with over 40% of property owners being non-resident (one of them Joni Mitchell, since the early 1970s).

Tourism is an important part of the local economy. The area has an arts community and several annual music festivals. It hosts the second-oldest May Day celebration in British Columbia and the biggest and longest-running downhill longboard race in Canada, Attack of Danger Bay.