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- Andrew Ryeland
AUTUMN ANYONE?
In
less than a month we will be drinking in the cool crisp days of
Fall. Autumn
is that glorious time of the year when the fully-fledged forests
of the north dress up and party! ATVers get invited to all the best shindigs only found deep
in the backcountry. If
you’d like to come to one of those celebrations see our FALL
COLOUR RIDE event below.
This past summer has seen a giant increase in the
interest of All Terrain Vehicle use in Ontario and the Parry Sound
area specifically. ATV
sales in Ontario outnumber snowmobile sales by a substantial
factor. We
all know how snowmobiling has benefited our region so what can we
expect to see here?
WORLD-CLASS
ATV TRAILS & DESTINATIONS
Communities all across Northern Ontario are
preparing world-class ATV destinations in anticipation of
multi-million dollar returns from the tourism sector of our
economy. A
concept called ATVOntario is being developed that will see joint
ventures advanced with communities and the Ontario Tourism
Marketing Partnership (OTMP). This is a major initiative that includes ‘branding’ the
ATV experience, addressing issues of liability, risk management
and safety, product development, supplier development and
community welcome and marketing strategies, measurement,
sustainability and the development of a best practice manual.
The community of Elliot Lake is the initial signature site for the
ATVOntario pilot project due to their extensive ATV tourism
product development experience. In Parry Sound we will benefit from the professional
attention given to the initiative by receiving the output of the
studies.
The Parry Sound ATV District Club hopes to
contribute to the conceptualization process of ATV tourism from a
different perspective. Our agreement last June with the Parry Sound Snowmobile
District and the full blessings of our parent organizations, to
pilot the use of shared trails in our region should yield a
template for co-operation throughout the province. Locally, we are also active in the Park to Park Trail
organization www.parktoparktrail.com
that is proceeding with plans to develop multi-use trails
connecting Algonquin Provincial Park to Killbear. Overtures from other trail organizations seeking
connections, destinations and co-operation promise a bright future
for an Ontario network of trails.
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