A Goulais River adventure guiding service has been recognized as northern Ontario's foremost tourism investment attraction.
Forest the Canoe received the Destination Northern Ontario industry leader award Thursday at the seventh annual Northern Ontario Tourism Summit Awards and Gala at Fort William Historical Park.
Founded two years ago by certified interpretive guides Shana Shipperbottom and Ryan Walker, Forest the Canoe offers guided nature tours from its base camp and rental supplies depot in Goulais.
The business is named after a green canoe – the first canoe that the "Walkerbottoms" bought together.
They enjoyed so many good times in that canoe that they decided to name their adventure company after it.
Also honoured on Thursday was Betty McGie from Watson’s Algoma Vacations Ltd. and Watson's Skyways Ltd. of Wawa.
The following is a full list of Destination Northern Ontario and Nature and Outdoor Tourism Ontario awards presented on Thursday:
- Tourism Innovator of the Year – Killarney Mountain Lodge, Killarney, Ont.
- Investment Attraction - Forest The Canoe, Goulais River, Ont.
- Product Development - The Great Lakes Cruise Association, Kingston, Ont.
- Marketing and Communications - Dan Bevilacqua of Ontario's Superior Country, Red Rock, Ont.
- The Bob Giles Award - Sue & Ed Crane, Crane's Lochaven Wilderness Lodge, Noelville, Ont.
- Outfitter of The Year Award - Kyle & Teri Polesky, Brace Lake Outfitters, Nakina, Ont.
- Preferred Supplier of the Year Award - Yamaha Motor Canada Ltd., North York, Ont.
- Tourism Champion - Betty McGie, Wawa, Ont.
