Buzz crucial

The Fort Frances Canadian Bass Championship is now just two weeks away yet you’d be hard-pressed to see any signs—or excitement—that our major community festival is fast-approaching.
Sure, local motels and camps will soon see an onslaught of out-of-town teams hitting Rainy Lake for pre-fishing, if they haven’t arrived already. And there’s no doubt residents will turn out for the parade of boats and the weigh-ins, as well as the nightly entertainment like “Quest for the Best,” once “Bass Week” is upon us.
But there’s been little advance promotion of the FFCBC to date, which is troubling.
The organizing committee obviously has plenty of details to worry about as the tournament looms, but creating a buzz around the event is equally important. One can’t assume residents know it’s coming up, nor simply rely on word of mouth to get them to attend. That’s especially true if one hopes to entice visitors from beyond the town’s boundaries to come and spend money here.
Frankly, waiting until the week before to “market” an event is too late and a big missed opportunity.
It’s a problem that isn’t limited to the bass tournament. The annual “International Tug-of War” between Fort Frances and International Falls has such potential to really put Borderland on the map yet, again, precious little resources is put towards marketing it, particularly on our side of the border.
The same was true of the inaugural dragon boat festival on Canada Day organized by NCDS here. They did get nine teams out in the end, but promoting the event beforehand came across as last-minute and haphazard.
That will need to change if a dragon boat festival is to blossom into a major annual event here.
The Fort Frances Folk Festival—another grand idea—failed to grasp the importance of marketing and quickly withered away.
Marketing isn’t cheap, of course, but it is key to the success and sustainability of any event. It certainly cannot be sloughed off as an after-thought or too expensive.
“If you build it, they will come” was the mantra from “Field of Dreams.” But that’s only true if you let people know you’ve built it—and constantly keep reminding them.