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Give yourself a pat on the back, Atikokan, you really impressed "the city folk". From Sunday, June 17th to Tuesday, June 19th, Atikokan hosted a media familiarization (FAM) tour. Local businesses came together to provide three intense days of sight-seeing and experiences for a small, but very appreciative group of media people (television, radio, print, video) from Thunder Bay and Winnipeg.
The group covered many kilometers, from White Otter Castle to Stanton Bay to Outers Island, by van, canoe, 36 foot voyageur canoe, airplane, and motorboat, experiencing some of the best that the region has to offer. Accommodations and (extraordinary) meals for the group were provided by the Radisson Inn, White Otter Inn, the Native Friendship Centre, Snow Lake Fish Farm and Quetico Centre. Participating businesses included Canoe Canada, Soft Wilderness Adventures, Snow Lake Fish Farm, XY Co., Fletcher Canoes, Souris River Canoes, Orion Packs, Outback Canoes, Kashabowie Outfitters. Participating organizations included Friends of Quetico, interpretive staff from Quetico Park, the Atikokan Native Friendship Centre, Voyageur Wilderness Program, and the Outers Program. The itinerary was jam-packed with excursions to White Otter Castle, the Fish Farm, canoe trips to French Lake and the Pines, with equipment demonstrations, a plane ride to Eva Lake, and finally a presentation about the Canoe Heritage Centre by Dennis Brown and Dave Maynard. This was followed by an informal discussion of the success of the tour. There was unanimous agreement among the participants that the tour was a great success, showing leadership and vision in finding a superlative way to get the message out that the region has a great variety of tourism experiences to offer visitors. All of the participants were impressed by the passion the business people showed for their products, be they canoes, paddles, packs, outfitting tours or providing sight-seeing commentary. They thoroughly enjoyed meeting everyone. Again agreement was unanimous on the tour being a great way to explore northwestern Ontario, with the investment returning itself through future articles and promotion in the various media. The participants marveled at the way everything flowed and how the businesses worked so well together to provide a flawless experience. They commended the organizing committee (Robin Reilly - Quetico Park, Linda Braun - Chamber of Commerce and local business people) for bringing the whole thing together. (And they did it in a relatively short space of time.) The local business people who donated services and equipment were commended as well for their foresight in supporting something that could have wide-ranging benefits for the community. The canoe theme was stressed throughout the three-day tour, which parallels the recent strategic planning sessions in which the canoe theme was adopted for the community. The real measurement of success? All of them said that they would return, and most of them said they would be back to buy a canoe. All of them have had the opportunity to see, for the first time, the landscape we live in the middle of, every day. We know that northwestern Ontario is beautiful and now, we have shared this wonderful secret with people who can write about it or broadcast this reality widely. |
 Group with Dennis Fredrickson near site of old logging railroad |
 Dennis Brown talking about the Canoe Heritage Centre |
 Beautiful landscape of Eva Lake |
 Eva Lake 2 |
 Eva Lake 3 |
 Leaving White Otter Castle |