Pete' Marina is right in the town of Invermere, about 100 metres north of the north end of Lake Windermere, on the Columbia River. From here one may head downriver for some river boating, or upriver and almost immediately find themselves on Lake Windermere.
Pete's has been in business at this location for 34 years now, renting boats and watercraft to the tourists, mostly from Alberta, who descend on Lake Windermere each summer. This is a full service marina, offering rentals, parts, service, mooring, winter storage, fuel and oil and pretty much anything else the ill equipped boater may find themselves in need of.
When we visited it was still a little early in the year and all the boats were still in storage and the place was locked up tight.
Following are excerpts from a news article that was published in 2006 by the Columbia Valley Pioneer in 2006, relating a bit of the story of Pete's Marina and of Pete himself.
Pete’s boat rental business
buzzing along for 23 years
May 19, 2006
Pete’s Marina will open this May long weekend for another season.
The small building beside the creek is almost the first thing visitors see when they drive down the long hill into Athalmer.
From there Pete Furgeson and his fiancée Norma Hansen rent a variety of boats and watercraft to visitors, mostly from Alberta, who enjoy hitting the lake on their holidays. Pete started renting and repairing boats 23 years ago, and he says over the years the business has evolved.
He started the business himself with one tiny rental boat and now has seven employees.
He now performs repairs at his new service shop in the industrial park, located near Te Papa Nui Antiques. “We had outgrown our repairs location at the marina, and needed more room to expand,” says Pete. Pete says the new location gives him more room to work on boats and allows that side of the business to expand. “Now I won’t have to be fixing boats outside when it’s raining,” says Pete. He is braced for a busy long weekend.
Pete says the rentals area is the biggest revenue generator for the business, but repairs are beginning to increase as well. In the rental area of the business, Pete says he rents top-of-the-line equipment.
The marina business relies on the weather – much like farming, says Pete.
Pete’s day might be full of rental customers, but as soon as it begins to rain many of them cancel.
“It’s like watching your field get totally wiped out when people cancel,” says Pete. After many ups and downs in his life, Pete seems very optimistic about the future of the business. “We’ve been doing really well,” says Pete. “The business is exploding.”
From the Columbia Valley Pioneer