PARRY SOUND – It was a successful, albeit wet day for the first Doors Open Parry Sound event.
Held September 29, Georgian Bay Country manager Anna Marie Harris gave Parry Sound council a brief overview of the event at its October 9 meeting.
“It was a rainy day, but a successful one for our first Doors Open Parry Sound. When I mean our first Doors Open Parry Sound, I mean with the partners we worked with that day,” said Harris. “We had 600-plus people…there were 17 participants, plus trains open and the train trestle, all participants had events within their doors. So there was some tours, arts and crafts for sale, demonstrations and luncheons.”
Additionally, the Bobby Orr Hall of Fame and Charles W. Stockey Centre were open to the public and Canadore College had two of its architects on hand to talk about the design of the school.
Harris said an estimated more than $20,000 was spent in the community, with visitors from Poland, Elmvale, Mount Forest, Waterloo, Germany and St. Catharines enjoying the event.
“Some recommendations from the people that do follow Doors Open Ontario were more municipal offices (open) like the town office and the water treatment plant and a few other places to be open as well. It would be nice to get some of the heritage houses on board as well and allow people to go into them,” she said. “We also had Trails Open at the same time. Although it rained, there were four individuals that came up purposely for this and Wink Fisher, with Active Transportation, took them out for a tour of the trail and around the town. They loved it and will be back with more people next year.”
Plans are underway for the area to participate in the event next year. Harris said she’s approaching the surrounding municipalities in the near future to get them on board with Doors Open for 2013.
“We had a follow-up meeting after the event with the participants and the committee and they all agreed that it was a success,” said Harris on Monday. “As well, some of the visitors mentioned it should be a two-day event as they were having a hard time to get to all 17 events.”