Monday Morning Musings

Posted on July 14, 2014 under Monday Morning Musings with 2 comments

R.C.M.P. Pipes and Drums

Why do I love Antigonish?

There are so many reasons to love where I live. I’ll start with the obvious stuff. First of all, we are safe. By the luck of geography, we are generally not prone to natural disasters although last week’s tropical storm has left some people without power for over a week. Politically , we live in a reasonably stable part of the world. While we might not like the choice of political leadership on any given day, we elect people democratically and don’t have to worry about armed guards at the polling stations. We don’t get up in the morning worrying about mortar attacks. Our air is clean and we still have fish in our rivers and lakes.

Ok. Those are the macro issues.

This past week has left me with my head shaking. The amount of human energy expended ( 99% of it voluntary ) to host different events, is mind boggling. ( Sometimes I wonder if it wouldn’t be better to spread some of these events out over a number of weeks. ) One tourist I spoke to,  was lamenting that they wished they could clone themselves in order to attend more than one event happening at the same time.

Here are just a few of the things that were going on in a small geographic area last week: The Highland Games; the Evolve concert ( which attracts thousands of visitors ); an international rowing regatta ( congrats to the folks in Lochaber ); Strathglass Farewell ( a musical production ); The Antigonish Art Fair; Doctor’s For Nova Scotia bike tour; The Kilted Golf Tournament; the Street Fair; lobster and salmon suppers galore; the hockey school; strawberry festivals,; the Farmer’s Market; a soccer tournament ( I’m sure there was probably a ball tournament too ! ); and if you were still bored you could have gone to one of our spectacular beaches, one of the many fine hiking trails or gone out to the Keppoch and gone trail riding.

It certainly helped that the weather was perfect all week long. When a province relies so heavily on tourism, good weather is so important. It lifts people’s spirits and it just makes hosting events ( especially outdoor events ) so much easier.

I am not the first nor will I be the last to propose the following as a tourism strategy. The province spends millions of dollars every year trying to market itself in other parts of Canada, the United States, and more and more to our European neighbors. I don’t think that this is necessarily a poor way to spend our tax dollars but I think that there is another market that is closer with a less expensive marketing budget: Nova Scotia.

Why doesn’t the province try and get Nova Scotians to explore their own province? I’m sure they do to some extent but when you think about the tourism dollars that leave the province every summer, keeping a small portion of it here would make a lot of sense.

I also believe the province needs to spend some money on an “ambassador program.” The best promoters and cheerleaders of Nova Scotia are Nova Scotians. I’m not bragging but me, along with some other people I know, go out of our way to welcome tourists. Here is a small example of how one encounter can add tourism dollars. I met a couple from Virginia  on Saturday on Main Street. They were trying to find their way back to the Trans Canada highway. They had come off the highway earlier on their way back from the Cabot Trail. We got chatting. They were at the east end of town near Chisholm Park. When I told them what was going on at the west end of town ( The longest running Highland Games in North America ), they decided on the spot to stay overnight and attend.

Do the multiplier on that one. What if we made it part of our collective psyche to market our community and province in simple ways like this? I believe it would have a profound effect on tourism.

I feel blessed to live in Antigonish. I happen to feel that it is one of the best small towns in Canada.

Have a great week.

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