the legend's of
dusty's past
When we say Dusty’s is full of legend and lore, we aren’t kidding. Dusty’s Bar & BBQ was named after Dusty, a stuffed horse that rode into Whistler in 1979 in the back of a pick-up. He was placed in the bar, and for almost a decade, watched over the regulars as they partied the nights away. One full moon Friday, legend has it a female partier stripped totally naked and jumped on Dusty’s back. Dusty bucked into life, burst through the bar doors, shook the shocked nude woman into a snowbank and galloped off into the night, never to be seen again. The moral of the story? This is a place that will put the Wild back into the West.
a horse with no shame
"One of the greatest legends of our time, our namesake's origin is as much a mystery as his whereabouts today.
Some say Dusty bred on a farm owned by the local druggist in the town of Hope. It was said this pharmacist was the best in the Fraser Valley, and upon Dusty's untimely passing, the kindly druggist had him stuffed and placed in front of his store.
Others believe Dusty was a Hollywood stunt horse. His trainers were forced to shoot poor Dusty when he threw a certain trailer-turned-actress into the middle of her 30's. It is said that Dusty, a rock-and-roll horse at heart, couldn’t take it when the star stopped singing that Broadway tune. The actress had Dusty shot.
At any rate, when Dusty rode into Whistler in 1979, in the back of a cherry half-ton, he was definitely dead and stuffed, so everyone thought. He was installed in a corner of this very establishment, and for years, a dozen drinks later and paraded out as one of their own. One full moon Friday, a female punker stripped naked with reckless abandon and leapt upon Dusty's head! At that very moment, Dusty sprung to life, burst through the doors, and galloped into the night, casually towing his would-be Lady Godiva into a snowbank. Was it the full moon, a flashback, or just the tequila fumes? No one can say for sure."
The Deadhorse
Since Dusty's is one of the oldest bars in the valley it should come as no surprise to anyone that it has had different names and different looks over the years. In the seventies it was operated as Le Club, a happening night-spot that has been mentioned in a previous column. In the eighties the mountain took over the operation of all food service outlets, ousted the Greeks, and changed the name of the little bar at the bottom of the mountain to Dusty's. They may have re-named it Dusty's, but it rapidly became known as the Deadhorse.
Now the Deadhorse may seem like a really strange name for a bar but that's what everybody called it. They called it that because the centerpiece of the bar was, no kidding, a dead horse. The poor animal was forever frozen in a bucking position, back arched and legs extended. He was dressed in his saddle and tack.
This dead animal came from the southern United States. He had been a famous Texas bronco horse in the 1920's. His name was Dusty. Apparently he liked to travel.
He arrived in the valley after Whistler Mountains' manager of Food Services, Werner de Filla, completed a tour of the south-western U.S.searching for new menu ideas. The Giceks were a hard act to follow. Werner came back with a Santa-Fe/Mexican menu and a dead horse. Werner might have thought that since Roy Rogers had stuffed Trigger such a thing was fashionable. Tasteful, even. Many in Whistler thought it was just weird.
A stuffed dead horse can't help but attract attention in a ski town bar. The management quickly found it had to come up with a rule about riding the horse because some people apparently found it impossible to leave the bar after two or ten beers without first mounting the old bucking bronco. The rule was that anyone who got on the horses back - with their clothes on - had to buy the house a round.
Of course the corollary of that rule was that anyone who got on the horse without clothes did not have to buy the house a round. That led to some interesting bareback rides. The last one was probably made by a newly hired, and rather attractive, marketing type. She enthusiastically rode the bucking bronco, bouncing up and down completely topless, to the enthusiastic approbation of all the men in the room. Much to the disappointment of the aforementioned men who had hoped her ride would often be repeated her employment was terminated shortly after her first, and last, midnight ride. Apparently mountain management did not approve.
The horse figured in some April Fools Day pranks. He pretty much had to, didn't he?
He ended up on top of a tower on the Little Red Chair one year. It can't have been dasy to get a stuffed horse on top of a lift tower but somebody managed it. No one ever admitted to that prank but doesn't it stand to reason that the horse wasn't carried up to the Little Red line on someone's back?
Skiers loading up the Red Chair on another April First were treated to the sight of the dead horse frozen in mid-buck on, well where else would they put him? Once again, it's unlikely that he was carried half way up a run by people on foot. And for anyone who doesn't know the frails on Whistler, they put him on Pony Trail, of course, of course. Towards the end, he also managed to get himself up to the Peak.
