A Submission to NAL from the Office of Port Colborne Mayor Vance Badawey
Port Colborne, Ontario, March 2013 – Festivals and Events Ontario has once again accredited Port Colborne’s Canal Days Marine Heritage Festival as one of Ontario finest by naming the event to the list of Ontario’s Top 100 Festivals.
Canal Days on one of the most historic canals on the North American continent. File photo by Doug Draper
The Top 100 is a designation created by Festivals & Events Ontario, and sponsored by VIA Rail Canada, which represents excellence for the province’s festivals and events industry. The winners are selected through a nomination process that included a predetermined set of criteria; Canal Days edged out over 3000 other festivals in Ontario, to obtain Top 100 status.
Festivals & Events Ontario is a professional association for the festivals and events industry in Ontario, providing a network for festival and event professionals to share information and resources. The association is involved with collaborative advocacy, policy development, marketing and the provision of educational opportunities for members.
“I am extremely proud that Festivals & Events Ontario has recognized Port Colborne’s signature event, Canal Days”, Mayor Vance Badawey said.
“It reinforces the commitment and dedication of hundreds of volunteers and city staff who year after year, contribute to putting Port Colborne on the map as a destination of choice for hundreds of thousands of visitors to both our community and the Niagara Region.”
August 2 to 5, 2013 marks the 35th Annual Canal Days Marine Heritage Festival, and planning is underway to celebrate the special anniversary. The festival continues to grow from its modest beginnings in the 1970’s at the Port Colborne Historical & Marine Museum, expanding to include the entire downtown area of Port Colborne, HH Knoll Lakeview Park, Seaway Park, Roselawn Centre for the Arts and the Vale Health & Wellness Centre.
With an estimated 300,000 visitors last year, new strategies are being implemented to accommodate the growing number of visitors from across Ontario and the United States, who make the trip to Port Colborne each August Civic Holiday weekend. As the planning continues for Canal Days, please visit http://www.portcolborne.ca for exciting and updated information.
About City of Port Colborne
Located on the south coast of the scenic Niagara region, Niagara’s Port of Call has found the perfect balance – successful industrial and commercial sectors, comfortable and scenic residential areas, and an energized festival and entertainment scene that includes live theatre, white sand beaches, culinary favourites, the community’s world class Sugarloaf Marina, fishing, golfing, trails, recreation and unique shopping districts along the historic Welland Canal – truly a community that adds to the overall Niagara Experience.
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Niagara At Large 
Congratulations to Mayor Badawey and Port Colborne. There’s a lot to attract visitors — including other Niagara residents — to your city.
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Kudos to Port Colborne for going after grants that are out there. Also, they appear to be focused on a vision for their Town , They make the most of what they have and building upon it, I wish my Town (Fort Erie) had half as much vision, we have squandered all of our slot money on fancy wages too people not from our Town, and they left nothing but wreckage behind. Our Town is now a basket case,Fort Erie is the most mismanaged Town in all of Ontario. We are now worse off than we were in 1982.It is that bad, all our industry has flown the coop.I put the blame on lazy uneducated voters who vote for somebody with name recognition and people clueless about the Municipal Act and the Election’s Act.Their child like antics have cost the Town dearly.
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