Winner of Canada’s Best Hidden Travel Gem by the Canadian Tourism Commission

Bruce County is now Winner two years in a row for both 2009 & 2010 of the top vacation spots across Canada!

Who knew you were so close to two of Canada’s Best Hidden Travel Gems? Just a few short hours away from the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) are both winners. Excellent day trip idea if I may suggest plans for your summer.

The 2009 winner was Georgian Bay which is home to The Grotto at the Bruce Peninsula National Park. The Grotto is a sea cave with spectacularly clear turquoise water and stunning photography opportunities!

THE GROTTO ON GEORGIAN BAY PHOTOS


The second year in a row our area became the 2010 winner, for Chantry Island just off the coast of the town of Southampton, Ontario. Chantry Island is home to one of three imperial tower lighthouses on the Bruce Coast and is a bird sanctuary. It is a magical journey through marine heritage with Lake Huron stories you will remember forever.

CHANTRY ISLAND LIGHTHOUSE PHOTOS






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If you would like to visit the area and see these two very special places, click here to get a FREE Bruce County Travel kit for the area. Trust me, you will be back again.

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District 9 Snowmobile Website Reveals Best Trails

Ride Grey Bruce has paired up with District 9 to create a new, more intuitive and interactive snowmobile website for the region. Even though their old site wasn’t lacking for user-friendly facts, they’ve really upped the bar this time. Created as a Grey and Bruce regional product, District 9 is represented in a flashy, attractive design courtesy of Canvas Studios out of Port Elgin. The design is easy to follow, and entices you to find out more about the region.

If you’re just visiting the region for the first time or don’t yet have a tour route to follow, snowmobilegreybruce.com has put together multiple rides for you. Ranging from a few hours of sledding to an overnight route, they have presented an excellent resource for both beginners and experienced sledders. Their signature tour, “Ride the Willie”, plays on the quirky ‘Small town-world famous’ Groundhog Day in Wiarton, held every February 2nd. Beginning the morning of the prediction day (it’s a Wednesday in 2011), the festival runs through to the weekend and is filled with snowmobile-friendly events.

In addition to providing routes, the website is an excellent tool for additional snowmobile friendly spots in the area, including where to eat, where to sleep, and where to shop. These three tabs help you navigate through the site to find important info about what’s available in District 9.

Not only does the snowmobilegreybruce.com website provide all-things snowmobile, it also suggests some great must-try family fun. A winter activities page outlines all of the opportunities that Grey Bruce has to offer, including some top-notch downhill ski resorts, unique winter yurt camping opportunities, dog sledding, and a multitude of trails to use for skiing and snowshoeing.

The new snowmobilegreybruce.com website has thought of everything, and then some. There are on-site local weather conditions, webcams, and a link to trail conditions that are kept updated regularly. The site’s fresh design is easy to navigate and user-friendly. Best of all, its designers are local and love spending the winter in District 9.

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Christmas Gift Ideas - Paisley Local Artisan Sale

By Our Hands is a one-of-a-kind sale by 40 local artisans who specifically have created items that will appeal to all ages and are unique. The show, which is now on in Paisley until December 24th, includes works in wood, glass, metal, knitting, weaving, hooking, jewelery, candles, quilting, cards and much more. Great gift ideas at great prices for Christmas or any time of the year. And when you are finished shopping, take a look at Paisely.

Paisley, the town at the confluence of the Saugeen River and the Teeswater, was named for a town near Glasgow, Scotland. During the winter of 1850, 160 years ago, Simon Orchard, wishing to relocate, moved his family and household effects to Walkerton. The following spring as the river rose, he built a substantial raft of cedar logs, placed his family and goods on it and floated down the Saugeen River in search of a new homestead.

The Orchards stopped the first night at the junction of two rivers. The next morning, after having taken a look around, they decided that it was there they wished to settle. Three weeks later, Samuel Rowe, Simon’s brother-in-law, followed his route using two large rafts. Samuel and his family settled on the south bank of the Teeswater River, opposite Simon.

By 1852, John Valentine’s sawmill, Paisley’s first industry, was supplying settlers with building material. Samuel Rowe’s log house served both as a tavern for travelers and as a meeting house for various denominations. And then in 1872, a railway arrived in Paisleyand the town began to grow.

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Pumpkinfest 2010 - Port Elgin top Ontario event!

Looking for world record excitement? Wondering how big a GIANT pumpkin can really get? Then head over to Port Elgin for Pumpkinfest 2010 on October 2nd and 3rd and experience one of Ontario’s truly unique events.

Pumpkinfest has been around now for over two decades. The winner of numerous awards for Ontario’s best festival, it features two giant vegetable weigh offs, one of Ontario’s largest two day outdoor car shows and over 100 craft and marketplace vendors.

There is much to see and do at Pumpkinfest including a seed spitting contest, master carvers working on giant pumpkins, a Patches’ Pumpkin Zone, and a pumpkin baking competition. New for 2010 are a gladiator joust, a Velcro climbing wall, a bungie run and a sumo battle.

But the star of the show takes place at the Bruce Power Weigh-Off Tent on both Saturday and Sunday. Port Elgin’s Pumpkinfest is one of more than 30 sites around the world that compete in the International Weigh Off. The top grower at Port Elgin walk away with $5,000 and the chance to be named “Top Grower in the World.”

Weigh off competitions for giant pumpkins have been a popular fall festival activity for decades. But it wasn’t until Howard Dill of Nova Scotia broke the record for the largest pumpkin in 1981 with one near 500 pounds (226.80 kilograms) that pumpkins really began to grow larger and larger.

Today, Dill is credited for most of the giant pumpkins being grown today, most of which result from crossing and re-crossing his patented seed with other varieties. The current world record holder is Christy Harp’s 1,725 pound (782 kilograms) Atlantic giant pumpkin that won last year’s Ohio Valley Giant Pumpkin Grower’s annual weigh off. But maybe, just maybe an entry at Pumpkinfest 2010 may win it all.

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