DATELINE: June 1, 2010

As summer arrives in the North, residents and visitors look forward to the long warm days. Thompson is a summer and winter playground and there are a zillion things to do in the surrounding pristine wilderness.

Friends of Spirit Way have met to discuss more landscaping and other beautification and maintenance tasks to be undertaken this summer. A recent presentation was made to City Council this May that outlined the plans for the new Wolf Park at the Thompson Zoo. This would be Canada’s finest. More funds need to be raised and more volunteers are needed to complete the project by 2011. Stay tuned for details here.

The goal is to invite 100 people to become official FRIENDS. These are people who are proud of their community and can be Thompson Ambassadors. You can do as little or as much as  you like. Contact us for information. We will reward you with a very special pin.

Monthly public guided walking tours of Spirit Way will be offered so anyone can learn and enjoy the many unique features and points of interest along the pathway.

Our Facebook group is growing and we’d like to make invite more people to join with their ideas how to improve on Spirit Way.

The Firefighter Tribute statue will be completed this summer - lighting, landscaping, trees, a pathway to the Bailey Bridge are all planned for this year. If you can help, let us know.

Have a great summer, and visit us here again!

MARCH 27, 2010

The Spirit Way group was pleasantly surprised to learn that the Spirit Way attraction was a finalist in the Manitoba Tourism Award for MARKETING EXCELLENCE. The gala Awards ceremonies are hosted by Travel Manitoba and held in Winnipeg each year. The Awards date is May 26, 2010.

Spirit Way has primarly been developed by many volunteer groups in Thompson, Manitoba. This attraction did not exist five years ago! Being recognized in the same category as two of Manitoba’s major tourism attractions and initiatives who have access to huge budgets ( by comparison) and professional marketers and full time staff, is an accomplishment in itself. Whether Spirit Way could win the award is doubtful, but to our credit much thought and unique positioning has been undertaken in Thompson to get to this point.

The original nomination recognized these factors for Spirit Way:

MARKETING ACTIVITIES:
-    From Wolves to Whales campaign was launched at The Forks in summer of 2008 by displaying 10 large decorated concrete wolf statues
-    The Spirit Way GPS Wolf Hunt was launched for geocachers to find 49 wolf statues in Winnipeg (11), Thompson (35), and Churchill (3)
-    Launch of new website – www.thompsonspiritway.ca -
-    Thompson public was solicited to report live wolf sightings in the area.

METHODS:
-    Magazine articles and writers’ tour were sponsored.
-    Wolves to Whales contest was hosted and promoted by Calm Air in Canadian “Beaver” magazine.
-    With Travel Manitoba’s assistance, a German tour photographer visited Spirit Way in 2009, as well as writers from Society of American Travel Writers in 2008.
-    Partnered with Destination Churchill on joint ad campaigns - Wolves to Whales.
-    Advertising was done in Travel Manitoba and Manitoba publications.
-    Spirit Way posters, souvenirs, silver dollar wolf coins, etc. are sold.
-    Media conference held at The Forks in Winnipeg at Wolves to Whales campaign.
-    Facebook group Friends of Spirit Way was started.
-    A major new website was launched.
-    GPS Wolf Hunt Passports are sold in 3 cities. Geocachers must get their passport stamped in each city to be valid.
-   Partnered with Manitoba Geocaching Association to promote GPS Wolf Hunt

VALUE OF CAMPAIGN:
-    Wolves to Whales campaign began at The Forks in Winnipeg in  2008 and  expanded into Churchill with Thompson being the core. The campaign is planned to move into Minneapolis and Mexico and involve three countries in a “Wolves Without Borders” theme.
-    Campaign has changed Thompson’s image of a “tough northern mining town” image in many quarters outside of the mining and industrial sectors.
-    Campaign has created a large amount of community pride
-    Spirit Way has fostered a greater appreciation for Aboriginal art and culture
-    The Spirit Way GPS Wolf Hunt requires participants to travel the complete province to complete their geocache experience

RESULTS ACHIEVED:
-    Increased tourist visits and inquiries at Heritage North Museum Visitor Info Centre
-    Website hits have been growing monthly. November, 2009 stats showed 950 hits and 10,300 visits for the month. 53% of hits are coming from outside of Canada.
-    Defenders of Wildlife in Washington, D.C. invited Spirit Way Inc. to attend the biannual Carnivore Conference in Denver, Colorado in November, 2009 to tell Thompson’s story how Spirit Way has become an economic development success story.
-    Defenders highlighted the Thompson story in an online newsletter to 450,000 members…
http://action.defenders.org/site/MessageViewer?em_id=45161.0&printer_friendly=1
-    Geocachers participated by purchasing 224 GPS Wolf Hunt booklets
-    High praise comments from geocachers who completed the GPS Wolf Hunt
-    Media articles, interviews, or photos on Spirit Way were covered in: Roots North, Voyageur, West, Currents, Great Manitoba Getaways, World Mural Book, Manitoba Business, Brandon Sun, Canwest Weekly, Travel Bug, Retired Teachers, Defenders eNews, CJOB, CBC, Destination Manitoba.
-    National Research Council, MDS, Rolls Royce, and Province of Manitoba held a ceremony in April, 2009 to announce the development of a $30 million jet engine test facility. They requested to hold the ceremony at the Spirit Way Aviation Tribute site.
-    Vandalism on Spirit Way statues or points of interest have been minimal. When the odd graffiti happens, Thompsonites have phoned their City Hall the same day to report it so the graffiti can be removed. This is evidence of community pride.
-    It has been reported that there are people/tourists taking photos of themselves in front of the Bateman wolf mural almost every day in the summer.
- Numerous outside agencies have expressed interest and support to work with Spirit Way and Thompson on tourism initiatives.
- Spirit Way chosen as one of 6 Manitoba FAM visits by international travel buyers during Rendezvous Canada travel show in May, 2010

The bi-annual Carnivore Conference was held in November in Denver, Colorado. Hosted by Defenders of Wildlife, a Thompson delegation representing Spirit Way Inc., Thompson Unlimited and University College of the North presented the plans for Thompson to be known as the Wolf Capital of Canada.

Over 500 attendees participate in over 210 different presentations on all aspects of carnivore conservation, restoration, management and other issues that involved federal and state agencies, wildlife organizations, legal interests, cattle ranchers, farmers, animal parks, preserves, and interested individuals. For the Thompson group it was an eye-opener of the complexities in the USA to find the balance to protect everyone’s interests. Of course, the challenge is to create effective policies for conservation management when science and politics can be at odds.

In Northern Manitoba, there are no major human/wolf conflict issues as in many populated regions around the world. The wolf population in Northern Manitoba is abundant. Yet new roads, hydro dams, hydro transmission corridors are being planned that may impact wolves and the prey/predator balance. Therefore, it is important to determine what the baseline data is for wolves so proper wolf management policies can be considered and/or implemented in the future.

Michelle Moayeri, a University of Manitoba grad student, has started a two year research study into the effects of hydro corridors on wolf movement and the impact on caribou or moose populations. Many other topics of wolf research could be undertaken relating to biology, Aboriginal ecological knowledge, social sciences, human attitudes, etc. Thompson is inviting American and Canadian universities and research agencies to explore the possibilities and look at using this pristine wilderness boreal forest environment for wolf study. The opportunities for research are fascinating.

Currently Thompson is communicating with an organization in the United States and another in Mexico to develop a wolf art and cultural project through 3 cities in 3 countries. The theme would be “Wolves Without Borders” and a promotion campaign could be launched in the spring of 2010. It would a wonderful way to launch a unique campaign that would draw positive attention to wolves and how cities and countries can work together to present a positive story to the public. There will be more announcements coming in a few months at this blog site.

Spirit Way is currently working on several initiatives with several partners:

- Developing the Wolf Capital of Canada theme
- Developing our local University College of the North as a Wolf Center of Excellence
- Calling for the first ever wolf research studies to be undertaken in the wilderness of northern Manitoba
- Hosting an invitational Wolf Research Symposium in 2010
- Twinning our city with one in the USA and Mexico to launch a “Wolves without Borders” art and culture theme
- Linking Thompson as Wolf Capital with the Polar Bear Capital of the World in Churchill, Manitoba
- Working with the Thompson Zoo to develop a larger and enhanced Wolf Park

Please contact us if any of the above are of interest to you.

Have a Happy New Year!