Earlier this year, the Huntsville community voiced its support – loud and clear – for the Huntsville Lake of Bays Chamber of Commerce’s (HLOBCC) Community Marketing Initiative. It started in January, when the Town of Huntsville announced that it wouldn’t financially support the program in its 2016 budget. At a forum held that month, about 200 people showed up to stress how much they felt the program is needed. (Read that story on Doppler here: If anyone is opposed to the Town’s $50,000 investment in Chamber’s marketing initiative, they weren’t at this meeting.)
That led the Town to reverse its stance, with conditions: $25,000 was contingent on receiving a business plan from the Chamber that identified clear and trackable results; the other $25,000 would be dispersed based on matching corporate sponsorships to the Chamber.
In April, the Chamber put a call out to its members asking for their support, stressing that it needed at least $25,000 but hoping for as much as $136,750. Almost 100 businesses stepped forward in support, pledging a total of $34,850. (See a list of those businesses and their pledged amounts at the end of this post).
When added to the $50,000 from the Town, $40,000 from the federal government, $39,000 from the province of Ontario, and $10,000 from RTO12/Explorers’ Edge, with more perhaps pending through other partnerships, that gives the Chamber total revenue of $173,625 for the program and other initatives. It has earmarked $87,000 of those funds for development and support of two annual signature events – Girlfriends’ Getaway Weekend in November and the Muskoka Maple Festival in April – and $50,000 for various project management tasks, leaving $36,625 for digital marketing.
A new digital marketing committee
The Chamber has since appointed a committee whose job it will be to carry out the digital marketing efforts outlined in its strategy. On that committee are: Jon Burnside (Hidden Valley Resort), Steve Carr (Comfort Inn), Jerry Feltis (Mill on Main), Les Gayne (Norseman Walker Lake Resort), Ron Gostlin (Town of Huntsville), Trish Kruusmagi (Digital Office Solutions), John A. MacDonald (Christmas Tyme/Two Horse Gallery), and Jeff Suddaby (3 Guys and a Stove) with four positions still available.
Marketing initiatives will begin in the fall to highlight Huntsville’s assets, says Kelly Haywood, HLOBCC Executive Director. “It will be up to the committee to identify those – things like the ice trail, events, our murals, the artistic community. More than likely we’ll be working with a firm to help us develop exactly what we’ll market.”
The goal is to market Huntsville and support economic growth by increasing visitation and drawing more tourists. We are still going to focus on the shoulder seasons and low environmental impact activities.
Kelly Haywood, HLOBCC Executive Director
Read the HLOBCC Tourism and Event Tourism & Events Community Marketing Business Plan here (PDF).
A new tourism booth on Highway 60, but still no permanent home
If you’ve driven down Highway 60 this summer, you may have noticed the new tourism information booth next to 3 Guys and a Stove.
“There were so many people who were part of it,” said Haywood, adding that the construction was donated by Bruce Fitter at South Mary Lake Contracting and 3 Guys and a stove donated the land.
The objective is to draw more people downtown. Thousands of people go down Highway 11 and then Highway 60 and they don’t even know what exists in our community. If they stop in, we can let them know what’s happening downtown.
Kelly Haywood, HLOBCC Executive Director
But the Chamber itself still doesn’t have a permanent home. The building it is in now at 8 West Street N has been sold and the office will be closing at the end of August. The CN Rail Station had been an option until air quality concerns in the building surfaced. (Read that story on Doppler here: Citing air quality concerns, the Chamber won’t be moving in to the train station after all.)
“We had spent so much energy on trying to develop the partnership with the Culture Station. With the problems it is facing and the uncertainties around what Council is going to invest, people might question if we are considering it. I would say yes, except I’m not holding my breath because I think it’s going to take an awfully long time for them to decide, and the remediation is going to be costly and lengthy. Unless something drastically changes we kind of have to move on.”
A short-term solution
The Chamber is investigating options for the short term while looking for a long-term solution, said Haywood. “I don’t have an exact plan of where we’ll go long term.”
She’d like to partner with a private business that is ideally located. “What does that mean? I’m open to Highway 11 but that’s challenging because there’s not a lot of real estate on Highway 11. It more likely would be Highway 60. The plan is to put together an expression of interest to say here’s what we need, here’s our desired geography. We are prepared to enter into a long-term lease and we have some money for leasehold improvements. I think there’s a huge opportunity for someone to host us because we draw close to 6000 visitors per year.”
Haywood added that three local business owners have expressed interest in building a location for the Chamber, but they’re still in very early discussions.
In the meantime, Haywood says a motion will be presented at next week’s Council meeting (August 22) which, if passed, would see the Chamber temporarily relocate to an office on the main floor of Town Hall.
HLOBCC member contributions to the Community Marketing Initiative
3 Guys and a Stove $750
Aben Graphics Ltd. $500
Active Chiropractic and Massage Centre $200
Algonquin West ATV Club $150
Armstrong Dodge $250
Arrowhead Inn Corporation $50
Autosave $100
BDO Canada LLP $250
Beauview Cottage Resort $500
Best Western Muskoka Inn $200
Billie Bear Lodge Housekeeping Cottage Resort $100
Billingsley Funeral Home $300
Blue Spruce Inn $500
Bondi Village $100
BreezeMaxWeb $200
Brendish Computers $100
Briggs Pumps & Plumbing $225
Brokerlink $200
Campbell Bus Lines $150
Canadian Tire $250
CCV Insurance & Financial Services Inc. $100
Cedar Grove Lodge $500
Chartwell Muskoka Traditions $150
Classic Towing $225
Comfort Inn $750
CORE Health $200
DaviCor Construction Inc. $250
David A. Ryan, Barrister & Solicitor $250
Deerhurst Resort $3,000
Digital Office Solutions/Xerox $200
District of Muskoka Community Services $150
Downtown Huntsville BIA $5,000
Dr. Drew Markham Dentistry $200
Drive Credit Canada $250
Duncan Ross Architect $300
Dwight Village Self Storage $100
Edmonds GM $500
Fairymill Guest House $200
Family Place Restaurant $500
Farm Business Consultants $250
Farmer’s Daughter $250
Festing Toyota $100
Fireplace King $225
First General Services Muskoka $225
Grandview Golf Club ‐ The Mark O’Meara Course $500
Harrower Properties $300
Hidden Valley Resort $1,500
Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites $1,250
Huntsville Animal Hospital $200
Huntsville Festival of the Arts $500
Huntsville Home Hardware $250
Huntsville Inn $200
Huntsville Soccer Club $150
Hutcheson Sand & Gravel $250
Ideal Supply/NAPA Auto Parts $225
Impact Marketing $300
Jacked by Lisa $250
Jason Armstrong’s Huntsville Honda $250
Jason Armstrong’s Hyundai of Muskoka $250
Kawartha Credit Union $250
Kimberly‐Clark $250
King William Inn (Rodeway Inn) $500
Lake of Bays Brewing Company $100
Le Nails $200
Les Stroud Productions $200
Lumina Resort $500
Maplebranch Property Management $200
MBRP $250
McFadyen’s Stone Quarry $200
Michael A. Hardy Professional Corporation $250
Mixed Mediography $200
Motel 6 $750
Muskoka Brewery $200
Muskoka Guest Nest $200
Muskoka Rent All $200
Near North Business Machines $200
New Vision Unlimited (The HUB) $200
Norsemen Restaurant $350
Pet Valu $300
Peter Smith Construction $200
Port Cunnington Lodge $500
Portage Promotionals $250
ProActive Rehab & Sport Injury Centre $200
Progressive Waste Solutions $200
Rainbow Inn $200
RBC Royal Bank $250
Sands Formed Hot Glass Inc. $200
Scotiabank $250
Sugarbush Hill Maple Farm $200
Superior Propane $250
The Garage $200
The New Bickley Ford $200
The Table Soup Kitchen $150
Van Dyk Natural Stone Supplies Inc. $225
Westside Fish & Chips $300
Whimsical Bakery $200
Window Quilt (Muskoka) $50
Grand Total Committed = $34,850.00
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Personally, I’ve always envisioned Rivermill Park as the potential hub of our community. In the early planning stages, I certainly do not recall it as two parks separated by a parking lot. When these forty-odd parking spaces are replaced elsewhere in town, the tourism booth should be in the park, directly at the end of the one-way street (just sufficiently off Dara Howell Way to ensure pedestrian safety).
Picnic tables should be placed between the accessible playground and the band shell area to attract even temporary tourists, heading to the four points of the compass. Shade trees will be required for the elderly, and nobody can fail to at least notice the information centre. Leading the horse to water is truly our only responsibility.
The Chamber does a fantastic job of marketing the events of Huntsville as evidenced by the Girls Getaway weekend and the amazing Maple Festival this year. Both of these events were shown on Facebook (when I first saw them) and both were extremely well attended, even though they occurred earlier than the traditional start of the tourist season. From the Facebook advertising, the residents jumped in and spread the word even farther, free advertising from all of us! Kudos to all involved for their success