Money raised at a silent auction held as part of the GPRTA's annual general meeting helped raise money for the restoration of the Sexsmith grain elevator. Photo from the Town of Sexsmith Facebook page.

By Curtis Galbraith

Community

GPRTA takes a different path for its annual general meeting

Sep 14, 2020 | 5:30 AM

The Grande Prairie Regional Tourism Association found a way to spice up its annual general meeting and raise some money at the same time this past Thursday.

Executive Director Terry Dow says instead of the usual review of facts and figures, the more than 70 people who attended the meeting boarded a bus for an undisclosed location.

“We created an experience for our members. We partnered with the Town of Sexsmith and we hosted it out there. We had everything from train conductors to actual Teepee Creek cowboys and it was more of a tourism experience.”

The evening also included a supper and a staged robbery by some local actors at a western casino night. Funds raised at a silent auction will go towards restoring the old grain elevator in Sexsmith.

She adds eight new members joined the Association at that meeting.

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” (They come) from all kinds of industries, from Indigenous tourism to event planning to professional services. We have eight new faces sitting at our board table to really move us forward through this pandemic and how we can get the best bang for our buck.”

Meanwhile, the Association says its new idea called The Grande Plan has had a good response so far.

This includes four different itineraries for one, two, or three-day excursions around the Peace Country.

Dow says the Association has had a lot of positive feedback.

“I think the biggest response I get is ‘I didn’t know that was here.’ or ‘I didn’t know that we could do that here.’ It’s about people that live within the region getting out and exploring their own backyard.”

Dow says they want to tell people that there are lots of hidden gems in this area and lots of sites to see.