Duane Hicks
Fort Frances will host the Heart of the Continent Partnership quarterly meeting here in June, showcasing the area to at least 50 delegates.
Annely Armstrong-Thorstad, manager of the Fort Frances Chamber of Commerce, learned the news Friday while attending the Thunder Bay launch of the HOCP National Geographic geotourism website (traveltheheart.org).
The meeting will be held June 25-26, to be followed up by the annual Boundary Waters Dragon Boat Festival on June 27.
It will draw representatives from Thunder Bay, Duluth, and all points in between on both sides of the border.
Armstrong-Thorstad estimated 50 delegates usually attend the quarterly meetings. But because it’s here during the summer, it’s possible some also might bring their families.
“It’s so exciting to be hosting this group,” she enthused.
Armstrong-Thorstad, along with Bob Hamilton of the Little Beaver Cultural Centre here, has been the local representative on the HOCP geotourism website design committee for the past two years.
“I’ve got lots of great ideas of what we would like to have them do,” she noted, adding she has a “big list” of suggestions for the HOCP steering committee to decide from.
Armstrong-Thorstad said HOCP meetings not only are a chance for stakeholders to get together to network, but a time to fully explore the host community—focusing on the tourism, geotourism, and culture of each area.
“Normally when we go to these places, we don’t stay in hotels,” she pointed out.
“We’ll stay at the Wolf Ridge Environmental Learning Centre or we’ll stay at Sleeping Giant Provincial Park.
“It’s going to be incredible,” echoed Greg Thorstad, Armstrong-Thorstad’s husband and vice-president of the local Boundary Waters Dragon Boat Club.
Not only will it be a chance to showcase that growing event, but he hopes to see the HOCP attendees put together a team of paddlers.
Armstrong-Thorstad noted the HOCP design committee, which determined the top 10 attractions to include on the site, was “absolutely taken with the dragon boats races because they’re international and they’re held in international waters.”
“Jim [Dion] from National Geographic said, ‘That’s amazing. That’s a unique festival to have,’” she remarked.
“He thought we should be making a lot bigger deal out of it.”
Armstrong-Thorstad added both Thunder Bay and Fort Frances were competing to land the HOCP meeting but Fort Frances won, in no small part due to the dragon boat festival.
She noted other local favourites of Dion included the Kay-Nah-Chi-Wah-Nung Historical Centre and Betty’s—the latter for both its history as a family business and the stories Blair and Doug Anderson tell customers when they come through the doors.
Tourism boon
With the traveltheheart.org officially launched, the site holds great potential to draw visitors from all over the world to Borderland and the surrounding area by focusing on geotourism, history, and culture matched with a sense of environmental awareness and stewardship.
“It will really spotlight tourism and we really need to grow that,” stressed Chamber president Jennifer Greenhalgh, who also is president of the Boundary Waters Dragon Boat Club.
“That’s one of the ambitions of the Chamber is to really grow tourism because, until we find a wonderful industry that comes in, that’s probably our best option,” she added.
“And [tourism] is one of the fastest-growing industries in Canada anyway so why wouldn’t jump on that?”
Thorstad said this area has been known for its fishing and hunting for years, but this has drawn groups of mostly male tourists who don’t stay in Fort Frances or International Falls while passing through.
“This is helping to turn that corner, and make Fort Frances and International Falls the destination,” he noted.
Thorstad also said a paradigm shift in tourism is taking place, and this area has to be ready to offer something different for all members of families to do.
Armstrong-Thorstad pointed out that last year, the local Chamber fielded 3,800 inquires from tourists—yet only 239 had to do with hunting or fishing.
“They want to go canoeing and shopping at the same time,” she remarked. “They want to stay at resorts but they want wi-fi.
“They want to go see pow-wows.”
The new website makes it a lot easier for Armstrong-Thorstad to explain what there is to do locally.
“If they say they love the outdoors, the first thing I do is say, ‘I need you to pull up traveltheheart.org,’ and we go through [it],” she explained.
“It really sells people on our area,” she stressed.
“When you see what’s here, how can you not love it?”
The new site also offers an efficient means to reach tourists anywhere in the world and let them know about our area, echoed Greenhalgh.
“Europeans love this wild country,” she remarked, adding she personally knows that friends and family she has overseas are fascinated with aspects of Canada, especially First Nations’ culture.
Armstrong-Thorstad said eastern Newfoundland is one of the other National Geographic sites, and she inquired as to how that affected tourism there.
“I called a couple of the nominees on there and they said they couldn’t believe it,” she recounted.
“At first it was kind of quiet, and then the amount of the European tourists started increasing.
“Now they’re spending dollars and catering to European tourists,” she added.
“I love people coming up from Texas but the world’s a big place,” reasoned Greenhalgh.
“People travel more than they used to and the Europeans, they go everywhere.”
Future nominations
The new site features quite a few local sights, attractions, services, and businesses, but this number is bound to grow down the road.
Armstrong-Thorstad and Hamilton both have received training, and are available to help those who want to nominate their business, activity, or event for the site.
She said it’s not too late for businesses, for example, to get on the map but pointed out there is a “nomination” process that must be followed.
For example, nominees must nominate themselves, provide supporting materials such as high-quality photos, and also fit certain criteria.
They must be unique entities (not franchises) that fit into local history, and represent the feel of the community.
Armstrong-Thorstad said local businesses such as Betty’s and From the Grind Up are two such examples.
She noted some people have had questions about what is and isn’t on the site.
In some cases, the nominees did not use the proper format. In others, the site designers determined the nominee as “not ready” for tourism at this point.
In other cases, there has been a choice to not showcase something out of respect for cultural tradition, such as the case of the pictographs in Quetico Provincial Park.
Armstrong-Thorstad brought back from Thunder Bay “window clings,” which identify businesses as being on the HOCP map.
They even have a QRC code, which visitors with smartphones can scan to access more information.
Later this year, a high-quality HOCP map will be released by National Geographic.
For more information, contact Armstrong-Thorstad at 274-5773 or via e-mail at thefort@fortfranceschamber.com
