Planning for tourism in Strathmore

Adelle Ellis
Times Reporter

 

The Town of Strathmore is hoping a tourism workshop held this past week will jumpstart some tourism ideas for the town and area.
Facilitated by Canadian Badlands, Strathmore town council hosted the tourism planning workshop on March 21, where representatives from different organizations and businesses in Strathmore shared ideas to create a unified tourism plan for the area.
The free workshop is the first in a lengthy process of identifying the type of tourism Strathmore wants to bring in and how to grow tourism within Strathmore.
During the workshop, participants focused on identifying “who Strathmore is now” to tourists and if Strathmore is even ready for tourism growth to take place. They also focused on what kind of tourism is currently in place that can be leveraged and built on, and on categorizing assets currently within the town such as transportation, accommodations, attractions and events, and restaurants, so the group can identify any gaps in tourism assets.
“One of the biggest things is we need a unified voice on what Strathmore can be to visitors. We want to look at who we want to (target) come to town and how we can market to them and on what our identity will be,” said Tracy Simpson, community services manager with the Town of Strathmore. She added that it won’t all happen in one workshop but it is something that will be decided eventually.
Tourism and development plans for Strathmore have been on town council’s radar for a while now and the town is finally in the place where they have some resources to move the process forward.
The town brought in Canadian Badlands to facilitate workshops and to help with the process so that improvements aren’t just made here and there, but that a development marketing organization is created and a plan is secured before any updates or changes are made.
“The town council wants to see some tourism development happening in town on more of an organized and focused level instead of as individual development,” said Simpson. “We also want to create a development marketing organization so this (workshop) is the first step: bring stakeholders together to look at what we have here, what we need here and how we can more forward.”
Representatives attending the workshop included members of town council, the Chamber of Commerce, the Downtown Design Review Committee (DDRC), the Western District Historical Society, Community Futures Wild Rose and more.
One of the first planned updates to Strathmore is the downtown beautification process which is already in the works. According to a Canadian Badlands representative, one of the biggest determining factors in attracting tourists is shopping, especially in the downtown centre.
The Town of Strathmore has already had plans in place to try to liven up the downtown area and to encourage building owners to add more curb appeal to their shops and businesses. Potential future plans for creating a unique and inviting downtown hub include adding more greenery such as trees and flowers, as well as upgrading light posts so they are uniform and more decorative yet still functional by lighting up both sides of the street and having capabilities of holding flowers and banners. Bump-outs for small green spaces may be added to street corners, providing they do not interfere with traffic; benches will be added for pedestrians and residents to enjoy; and road paint updating will be completed to give the downtown a fresh feeling.