St. Lawrence Parks Commission as Award Winning Fun for Summer Visitors!

The St. Lawrence Parks Commission (SLPC) was recently honoured with recognition of three special events being in the Top 100 Festivals and Events in Ontario. This honour is awarded annually by Festivals & Events Ontario (FEO) to those festivals and events that excel within the industry.

For the SLPC, this isn’t the first time they have achieved such honours for these events. Upper Canada Village’s Alight at Night event is recognized for the second time; while for Fort Fright it is the fifth award (including Best New Festival in 2008). Fort Henry’s World Heritage Sunset Ceremonies has been awarded for an impressive seventh time.

Alight at Night @ Fort Henry

Two of the events – Alight at Night and Fort Fright – take place during the shoulder season or what is traditionally considered to be the ‘off-season” for tourism. Both events have made significant impact in the regional tourism market drawing over 40,000 visitors (Alight at Night) in December and 20,000 (Fort Fright) over the end of September and month of October. 

Scary Fort Fright Woman!

The World Heritage Sunset Ceremonies are an entertainment tradition in Kingston. For 16 years, Sunset Ceremonies have entertained guests from around the world on Wednesday evenings during July and August. For 2012, the schedule has been expanded to also include a Saturday night performance. Fort Henry has hosted such notables as Don Cherry, Dan Aykroyd and former Governor General Adrienne Clarkson at its World Heritage Sunset Ceremonies.

World Heritage Sunset Ceremony

“We recognize that the economy is presenting challenges for all business sectors including tourism. Our job as the largest tourism organization in Eastern Ontario is to innovatively lead and more importantly attract visitors to our world-class sites with programs, events and prices that deliver outstanding quality and value. - Darren Dalgleish, General Manager/CEO, SLPC

SLPC also recently announced the introduction of a ‘Reciprocal Program’ for the 2012 season which will offer great deals for visitors to stimulate visitation to more of its attractions. With every regular day program admission purchased at Fort Henry or Upper Canada Village, visitors will receive a complimentary visit to the other site or to one of the SLPC’s 5 beach areas. The program is based on a Buy One Get One (BOGO) principle of equal or lesser value and is valid for the regular day programs or Discovery Centres. Special event programming is excluded.