Who is taking up the tourism development leadership in Fort Frances and across the district? Over a period of more than eight decades, various groups have organized to attract tourists to our side of Borderland.
Reaching back to the late 1930’s the Fort Frances Jaycee began attending sport shows in the US attracting them to the Rainy Lake area and the surrounding area. The Fort Frances Chamber was involved. The Northwestern Ontario Tourism Association has been important. The Rainy River Future Development Corporation most recently has played an important role. The Town of Fort Frances has often let others promote the community and the tourism potential of our region.
In the 1920’s and 1930’s American tourists would arrive by train to International Falls and cross the border and would then use Watson and Lloyd to be outfitted and then transported to destinations on Rainy Lake. They would be ferried to the Cascades and other locations where canoes and tents had been set up for a week’s holiday.
The Jaycees in their wisdom had a sign erected over the Church street entrance to Fort Frances saying “Welcome to Canada”. It was the first greeting that pedestrian and vehicle traffic received after clearing Canada Customs then located on the Bridge. Around 2000 that welcoming sign was demolished and hauled away.
The Fort Frances Chamber opened a information centre in a white building at the corner of Church and Portage in the late 1940’s and began petitioning the Province of Ontario to fund the summer attendants. It wasn’t until the 1970’s that the Province agreed and the Chamber transferred ownership of the building to the province and a year round operation began.
The province realized that the building was not suitable for winter use and then acquired the Emperor Hotel where the green roofed building stands. That became the new Ontario Tourist Information Centre. Sometime in the not-too-distant pass, the province determined that such centres in non-Liberal ridings was a waste of taxpayers money and chose to cease operations. For several years, Fort Frances operated the building as a tourist information centre in partnership with Sunset Country. When Covid closed the border, Fort Frances chose to cease its operation and the building was sold by the province and today is idle.
In early 2002 an ad hoc group began a process to welcome Americans to Canada and Fort Frances. Their proposal included a mural on the Lap Building, (Now Demolished) and a scrolling billboard with messaging to arriving visitors. The mural turned into six large photographs promoting the region. It was completed in time to mark Fort Frances Centennial. Through weathering and lack of funding, the large cloth photographs became faded and torn and were not replaced, though the sign continued to welcome visitors until the mill was demolished, and it too was removed.
Today the welcoming to Fort Frances, Ontario and Canada is minimal. Fort Frances has signs on the east and west edges of Fort Frances welcoming visitors to our community. A sign at the corner of Church and Mowat lists the hotels and motels in Fort Frances.
Thunder Bay, Atikokan, Kenora, Dryden have welcoming centres in their communities. They are staffed and maintained by the communities. Who is assuming that task in Fort Frances?
What are the future plans to welcome visitors from the US to Fort Frances and Canada.? BMI Group, Ziibi Investments and the Aazhogan Limited Partnership, presented the first conceptual images and plan for the future of the former mill grounds last year. They are ambitious and hopefully will make the entrance to our community and Canada welcoming.
Former Publisher Fort Frances Times
