Opening a hotel is rarely a perfectly choreographed affair. Building one on the edge of the continent, in a remote coastal community, was an undertaking all its own - an ambitious dream the McDiarmid family was determined to bring to life.

The Wickaninnish Inn was originally intended to open in June of 1996. As construction continued and June slipped away, the opening moved to July. July soon became August, until finally a date was set: August 9, 1996.

Ready or not, we were opening.

Not every last detail had fallen into place. Some finishing touches were still underway, equipment was still being connected, and one rather important guestroom amenity had yet to arrive: the lamps.

As daylight faded on that first evening, calls began coming down to Guest Reception. Our first guests discovered that there were no lamps in their rooms. Amid the countless moving parts of opening day, we had simply forgotten they hadn’t arrived - a small detail that suddenly felt much larger after sunset.

The solution was wonderfully simple. Members of the team went home, gathered lamps from their own houses, and brought them back to the Inn, ensuring each guestroom had a warm light for the evening.

For opening night, the Inn quite literally borrowed light from the people who had worked so hard to bring it to life.

Meanwhile, The Pointe Restaurant was having an opening night of its own.

Opening Restaurant Manager Bruce McDiarmid and opening Chef Rod Butters had agreed that, with the dishwasher not yet connected and plenty of other pieces still coming together, they would cap dinner service at a manageable fifty covers.

That was the plan, and then the community arrived.

Locals came out in numbers to support the Inn on its first night, and Bruce simply could not bring himself to turn anyone away. The support provided by the Inn's first guests, along with the local community, meant the world to the McDiarmid family. By the end of the evening, the team had served over one hundred covers - more than twice what they had planned. Food was prepared à la minute, while every plate, glass and piece of cutlery was washed by hand.

It may not have been the seamless opening night one imagines when opening a new hotel. But in many ways, it was the perfect beginning.

When something was missing, someone found a solution. When the plan changed, the team adapted. When more was asked of them than expected, they rallied together and got it done - with generosity, ingenuity and a shared determination to care for the people who had walked through our doors.

Thirty years later, those borrowed lamps have come to represent something much larger than an opening-night oversight. Their light is a reminder of the people whose care and dedication have shaped the Wickaninnish Inn from its very first evening.

Buildings evolve. Plans change. There will always be unexpected moments in hospitality. But the instinct to step forward, help one another, and find a way to care for our guests remains much the same.

Thirty years on, that light is still aglow - and lighting the way ahead