Driving along the 400 series of highways and The Gardner Expressway down south between now and the end of next week, you’re likely to see a little taste of home.
It’s a digital billboard of Henry, one of the occupants of the Cochrane Polar Habitat in an autumn scene.
Renée Vezeau Beaulieu, executive director of Tourism Cochrane, says typical times for marketing the area are summer and snowmobile season.
“We had this opportunity and I said you know what, it’d be great for the long weekend, people are driving in and out of Toronto and having fall where we’d have our famous Henry, our bear from the Polar Bear Habitat with beautiful leaves to show either want to come and check them out now or next summer or this winter,” she remarks.
Vezeau Beaulieu adds thatsays she’s received text messages and emails from local people who have seen the billboards.
“And that’s always rewarding,” she explains, “because we say we did something right. We’re seeing our local people acknowledging our efforts that Tourism Cochrane is doing to better our community and to bring new money into our community.”
The billboards are part of a package deal that includes billboards and magazine articles for summer and snowmobiling season. The $7,000.00 bill is paid by Cochrane’s accommodation tax.
Here’s our interview:
