Saturday, 23 July 2011

Sturgeon County Haiku

Canola in bloom
Everything is quiet here
Where has summer gone?

Monday, 18 July 2011

July...

There are a few new developments in my internship as the summer begins to wind down... never enough time it seems :) - where do the summers go? I will be gathering stakeholders to discuss the development of a new development strategy, and am looking forward to a site visit to a new potential tourism operation in the county that has a sharp focus on sustainability. More photos to come, I finally have time to explore Sturgeon County and see what I can find in terms of sustainability and capacity. 

Saturday, 9 July 2011

Canada Day

It has been a little while since my last post - things got really hectic with Canada Day, and the adrenaline rush from the event has finally subsided.

Please visit www.sturgeoncountybounty.ca for photos of the event - a video has also been produced by Augustana that features an interview with the mayor and some highlights from the day.

We planned for approximately 20,000 visitors with the possibility that it may reach 60,000 - we had over 55,000 in the end! We had food tickets printed both for Canada Day and the October Bounty event, which ended up selling out - the day was a huge success.

We had two TV spots leading up to the event, and mentions on many of the Edmonton radio stations, as well as banners on the news network websites.

This week will hopefully provide much insight, we have a check-out meeting with vendors that I think will give us alot of useful feedback.

Next up: researching an environmental stewardship strategy, agri-tourism cluster research/grant proposal, and further exploring Sturgeon County!  

Wednesday, 15 June 2011

Sunshine and Golf!

Last week was awesome.

Friday was the Mayor's golf tournament at Goose Hummock outside of Gibbons. The Economic Development department as well as some other Sturgeon County employees did set-up at the Goose on Thursday night.

See how beautifully those napkins are folded into little fans??? I did a significant portion of those. Napkin origami is a hidden talent of mine apparently ;) The table arrangements were donated by a location greenhouse/adventure farm that is also a member of the Sturgeon County Bounty.

The Boonstock truck was there for the day, as well there were some gift baskets given out as door prizes - full weekend concert and camping passes with merch - so awesome. Boonstock is happening June 29-July 2 so I am going to try and make it out there for a day if Canada Day doesn't get too crazy! We drove by where they hold it, and it is literally a giant field in the middle of nowhere. It's going to be awesome.
And this... is a BARBECUE! It was a donated prize for the tournament that was raffled off at the end of the day - very cool. I was a little sad that I didn't get to enter to win this prize...

The tournament was a huge success - we had beautiful weather, 172 golfers, and everyone had alot of fun. There was a ton of hole sponsors, and we even had people serving food at a bunch of the holes - including some local strawberry shortcake, burgers, and pork medallions. And THEN there was also a steak dinner at the end. I left with a full belly and a touch of sunstroke- all in a day's work!

I had such a blast, and they raised over $19,000 for the Sturgeon Foundation and West Sturgeon Aging in Place Foundation, which offers assisted senior living and programming in Sturgeon County. 

Now that the golf tournament is over, everyone is gearing up for Canada Day... only 2 weeks away, it is finally starting to scare me a little bit! I will post some links to the event on Facebook, just wanted to wait until we had the event website a little further along.

Tuesday, 7 June 2011

June 7 - Golf Tournament Week!

I came home to work today because the Mayor's Golf Tournament is on Friday and the next couple of days will be very busy at the office, so I wanted to get some Augustana work done while I can. The Bounty Canada Day event is coming together, I feel like the days are speeding by - I feel a little anxious but excited! With every new menu item that comes in, there is greater anticipation for the big day. The Mayor's Golf Tournament is near Gibbons at Goose Hummock Golf Resort, I will be helping with the tournament all day probably taking photos of golfers, setting up prizes, etc.