By Vicki BROOKER Staff Writer
Riverland Recreational Trail Society was one of 22 organizations, businesses and individuals honoured in Banff last week at the presentation of Alberta Tourism’s ALTO Awards.
Introduced by MC Linda Olsen as “a tourism success story,” Riverland was one of three finalists in the Friends of Tourism category, and was praised for the growth of a grassroots organization formed when the County of St. Paul purchased the abandoned rail line between Elk Point and Heinsburg. That group evolved over the years into a society involving communities along the 300-km trail stretching from Waskatenau to Abilene Junction near Ashmont, and branching off toward Cold Lake as well as to the original 34-km route.
Competing for the award were Whitecourt Trailblazers Snowmobile Club, who have developed extensive trails in their region, and the winning Edmonton and District Historical Society, whose massive 2007 Summer Festival spilled over to include numerous activities around the region, including some in our region.
RRTS president Sheila Thompson and North East MuniCorr administrative coordinator Marianne Price accepted a handsome certificate recognizing their runner-up status.
Associate Minister of Tourism Promotion Cindy Ady presented the awards. Ady said it is her mandate “to promote Alberta as a world class destination. Premier Ed Stelmach included tourism in last week’s speech, saying it was one of our strengths.”
Company of Friends
Gathering to celebrate Riverland Recreational Trail Society's achievements at the ALTO Awards were, front, left to right: MC Linda Olsen. Marianne Price, Sheila Thompson, Associate Minister of Tourism Promotion Cindy Ady, RRTS member Vicki Brooker, Alberta TrailNet executive director Linda Strong Watson; back, I-r; Sherri Heller of Lakeland College, Charlene Gauthier of Alberta’s Lakeland, Shelley Griffith, Town of Vermilion, Lori Toker, Rocky Meadows, Shannon Maliteare, Alberta TrailNet and Debbie Hamilton, Hamilton House Bed and Breakfast
Ady said the government is looking at a new organizational system for Travel Alberta. “We have collected the stakeholders’ feedback, and hope to have it in place soon. We need to be more competitive, and we know we can improve. Revitalizing Travel Alberta is one way we can do that, by including everything we need to build a stronger travel industry.”
Other ALTO awards went to the Calgary Stampede for Service Excellence, Blackfoot Crossing Historical Park for Sustainable Tourism, Edmonton Festival City for Marketing Partnership, Discovery Wildlife Park, Royal Tyrell Museum and Canada Olympic Park for Marketing Excellence, and Edmonton’s Capital Ex for Albert Pride. Cinda Chavich of Calgary won the Tourism Media award, and Mac Makenny of the Homeplace Ranch, Priddis, was named the 2007ALTO Ambassador.
It takes a government that cares,” Makenny, the industry co-chair of the Strategic Tourism Marketing Council since 2004, said, “and an organization like Travel Alberta that markets at home and abroad, organizations we call icons, that bring people here.”
