Back in 1952, a sharp-eyed speculator with a weakness for good conversation and a bracing glass of wine stumbled into a sweetheart real estate deal in the North Vancouver rainforest.

His name was Rae Mitchell and he had friends in high places.

Half a century later, Mitchell’s daughter, a former social worker, continues to reap the rewards. Of course, Nancy Stibbard, owner of the spectacular tourist mecca known as the Capilano Suspension Bridge, inherited more than her share of her father’s business smarts.

Originally built in 1889, the North Shore bridge and other enterprises in Stibbard’s mini-empire – including the Moraine Lake Lodge, Cathedral Mountain Lodge and retail operations in the Canadian Rockies – bring in millions in revenue every year.

Bayne Stanley, Business Edge
Bayne Stanley, Business Edge

And all because the sociable Rae Mitchell got chummy with the French-Canadian proprietor of a spooky, wobbly, 135-metre bridge of planks high in nosebleed country, suspended 70 metres above the churning Capilano River (locals pronounce it Cap-a-LYNE-o).

“My father liked to stop and have a chat and maybe a glass of wine with this man. Finally, he offered to buy the bridge,” Stibbard recalled of the origins of the Canadian tourist industry’s Business of the Year for 2003.

“He saw the potential and had a flair for the business.”

So does Stibbard, who grew up in a log house on a clifftop, a kilometre and a half up the canyon from the swinging, swaying bridge.

Though she declines to share current sales figures, the 11-hectare park and bridge pulled in a reported $14 million in annual revenue as far back as 1996. And thanks to Stibbard’s ability to get her message across, this certified tourist magnet has graduated to the upper echelons of a crowded B.C. tourism market that features dozens of competing attractions.

Things weren’t always so prosperous. Fifty years ago, visitors dropped by so sporadically that the admissions gate was usually left unattended.

“There was a bell there. When someone came by, the bell rang and someone would go down and collect their dollar and a quarter, or whatever it was,” Stibbard laughed.

The bridge and surrounding park, which sits adjacent to some of the most valuable real estate on the coast, now attracts 700,000 people in a busy year. That’s almost seven times the trade it generated in the early 1980s, when Stibbard first took control of the family enterprise.

Stibbard attributes her marketing success to a natural affinity for networking.

She describes herself as a “good joiner” who knew zero about sales when she turned her back on social work to concentrate on getting the most out of her fascinating property.

“I joined every tourism association I possibly could. I met people who had been in the industry a very long time and learned that if you asked questions, they were happy to offer advice,” said Stibbard, who eventually learned enough to take over as chair of Tourism Vancouver.

Intelligent sales and marketing attacks paid off, too, as did joint promotional programs in partnership with North Shore hotels and other attractions.

Stibbard also made a point of spreading the word while attending trade shows in the U.S. and Europe where, she had to admit, she never ran across another attraction with the same pizzazz as her wonderful bridge.

Then, too, Stibbard’s company has spent millions bringing park facilities up to 21st-century standards. That includes assembling a much-admired collection of original totem poles, one of the largest in the province.

As many as 170 employees staff the park during peak summer months and the place is crawling with entertainers, aboriginal totem carvers and story-tellers, plus guides who lead trekkers on nature walks through the tall cedars.

Apart from the undisputed main attraction, the park draws significant revenue from a busy retail trading post, as well as high-end restaurant and banquet facilities.

Buoyed by the park’s success, Stibbard cast an eye eastward more than 10 years ago, first branching into Banff where she took over the Great Northern Trading retail store on Banff Avenue.

Shortly thereafter, she bought (and subsequently rebuilt) Moraine Lake Lodge in 1991.

At the moment, Stibbard is midway through similarly high-end renovations at Cathedral Mountain Lodge, near Lake Louise.

By the way, Rae Mitchell, who died a year or two ago, would be pleased to know the family business seems
destined to stay that way.

Stibbard’s son, John, is deeply involved in the business and has declared an intention to follow in his mother’s – and his grandfather’s – footsteps.

(Tom Keyser can be reached at tomk@businessedge.ca)