Red Deer Mayor Morris Flewwelling was so impressed with the Destination Osoyoos booth at the recent Scotties Tournament of Hearts he wrote a letter praising the organization for a job well done. Flewwelling is seen here with Destination Osoyoos executive director Jo Knight and the Scotties tournament mascot. Photo Supplied
As the mayor of Red Deer, a city of 90,000 residents, Morris Flewwelling is a busy man. But after meeting representatives from Destination Osoyoos at the recent Scotties Tournament of Hearts women’s national curling championships, Flewwelling said he had to write a letter of congratulations on a job well done.
Flewwelling praised Destination Osoyoos executive director Jo Knight and group sales specialist Cheryle King for doing a fantastic job promoting the organization and town during the 10-day tournament, which recently wrapped up in Red Deer, with more than 110,000 curling fans setting a new attendance record.“As Mayor of the City of Red Deer, I was part of the opening ceremonies and involved in the telethon the next day at the Scotties, “ wrote Flewwelling. “On each occasion, I was struck by the presence of large yellow banner flags, a booth and lots of people carrying bright yellow plastic bags with travel literature in them.
“My conclusion was that Osoyoos had been named the 2013 community to host the Scotties. With that in mind, I stopped by the booth to congratulate the people there on what a good showing they were making and that very few people attending the Scotties would be unaware of next year’s venue. I was totally taken by surprise to learn that the 2013 Scotties will be in Kingston, Ont., not Osoyoos.
“It was only after I began my conversation with Jo and Cheryle that I realized that they were there simply to promote the virtue of Osoyoos as a place to visit, a place to do business and a place to live. I must tell you that they were the brightest star among all the attractions. For a small community to get its tourism and promotion act together like you and your community have and to compete so successfully in the rough and tumble of the Scotties, you have really achieved something. I hope you are over run with visitors.”
In a phone interview on Monday, Flewwelling said he’s glad he took the time to write the letter because the praise was genuine and deserved.
“I figured if I didn’t write that letter and let people know the excellent job done, the two ladies might not have been recognized for doing a truly outstanding job and secondly, the people in Osoyoos who fund this organization and might complain about where their tax dollars going might want to hear about the incredible job Destination Osoyoos is doing in promoting your town,” he said.
“I wanted the mayor to know, I wanted the chamber to know and I wanted the people of Osoyoos to know.”
Knight, who has been the executive director of Destination Osoyoos for two years and employed there for five years, said the organization had big plans to attract major attention at the Scotties by signing up as one of two “diamond” sponsors.
“We were the only town registered as a sponsor, which made us stand out because other major corporate sponsors included banks and major businesses,” said Knight.
After the Scotties tournament, Knight and King then went to Vancouver on official business to attend the Vancouver Golf Show.
To have the mayor of the host city write such a nice letter is flattering, said Knight.
“We didn’t expect this at all,” she said. “He’s a very busy man and for him to take the time to detail how much he appreciated our booth and the job we were doing trying to promote our town on a national stage was very nice.”
Knight said she and King greeted almost 2,600 people during the 10-day national championships, which will hopefully pay off in hundreds of visits to Osoyoos.
“We decided to attend the Scotties for the second time as a diamond sponsor because there’s a huge audience for what we’re trying to promote and the demographics for curling is similar to those we go after in golf and the wine industry, which are huge selling points wherever Destination Osoyoos goes,” she said.
Being a diamond sponsor at the national tournament meant not only running a large, colourful booth throughout the tournament, but also meant being part of a huge advertising campaign before and during the tournament, including huge ads on rotating scoreboards seen on national television during the finals, which attracted more than 1.3 million viewers, said Knight.
While most of the curling fans who visited the Destination Osoyoos booth had heard of our community, many didn’t know just how many amenities and tourist attractions are available, she said.
“We pointed out our great golf courses, great hotels, great restaurants and fact we’re not only a wonderful summer community, but we offer year-round amenities and arguably the best weather in Canada,” she said.
King spent a lot of her time talking to senior management and CEOs major corporations informing them of the town’s outstanding banquet and convention facilities and hopefully this will land some major events in the future as well, said Knight.
Because of the great success in Red Deer, Destination Osoyoos has already signed on as a diamond sponsor for the 2013 Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Kingston, Ont. next March.
