Sainte-Marie and Discovery Harbour Open for 2009

Midland’s Sainte-Marie among the Hurons and Penetanguishene’s Discovery Harbour are looking forward to a strong tourism season and offering a great menu of programs and special events. Jan Gray, General Manager of Huronia Historical Parks, is enthusiastic about 2009 for Sainte-Marie and Discovery Harbour. “We hope to build on last year’s 8% overall growth in public attendance with more families staying closer to home and travelling throughout Ontario. Gas prices have dropped since last summer, we haven’t increased our already competitive admission prices, our student and group bookings are higher than this time last year, and you can’t beat Southern Georgian Bay in the summer”, she noted.

New this season, both sites will be introducing Audio Tour Wands available to the public in 12 languages at Sainte-Marie and 3 languages at Discovery Harbour. For a modest additional charge of only $3.00, this exciting new feature provides an “on-demand” tour complete with special sound effects, creating an enhanced level of customer service for all visitors. Last year, Sainte-Marie welcomed visitors from over 70 countries; the new Audio Tour Wands will greatly improve the site’s story telling to these international visitors.

Traditional summer activities at Sainte-Marie will include 17th century firestarting, historic clothing demonstrations, native games and storytelling, and 17th century cooking. On selected days, a new canoe-repair demonstration using pine pitch will be added. Sainte-Marie will re-introduce heritage livestock into its summer program, featuring “Canadienne” cattle from a breeder in Sundridge, Ontario. Considered more Canadian than maple syrup, the Canadienne breed is believed to be descended from a few hundred cows brought over from Normandy and Britanny in the 17th century, and was subsequently bred in Quebec to become a resilient herd. The breed declined as a milk producer and today there are only about 500 Canadienne cows left in North America. Distinctive and rare Houdan chickens will also be on site, a breed well suited to the Canadian climate.

Throughout July and August, Discovery Harbour will have a new daily croquet activity, on-deck activities aboard the historic ships H.M.S. Tecumseth and Bee, dockyard demonstrations, sailor’s ropework, and 19th century cooking. The recently restored original Officers’ Quarters will also be open to the public.

Sainte-Marie and Discovery Harbour have a great line-up of special events for 2009, beginning with the colourful Aboriginal Festival Weekend on June 14-15 and National Aboriginal Day June 21 at Sainte-Marie. The dynamic Métis Day Bo’jou Neejee event at Discovery Harbour returns on August 8, and the Georgian Bay Native Friendship Centre offers its annual POW WOW in Sainte-Marie Park on September 6-7. The Fall season sees the return of Sainte-Marie’s popular Thanksgiving Harvest Festival and Arts and Crafts Show and Sale on October 10-11, and the introduction of a new Hallowe’en Event at Discovery Harbour October 28 and 29, guaranteed to be both spooky and fun! Celebrating its 10th anniversary, Sainte-Marie’s magical “First Light” Christmas event will take place evenings November 26-27-28 amidst the magical glow of over 2,000 candles. “First Light” has been recognized as one of the “Top 100” Events in Ontario for 2009 by Festivals and Events Ontario.

Consistent with the Ontario Government’s Accessibility Standards for Customer Service for Ontarians with Disabilities which will come into effect for public sector organizations in 2010, Huronia Historical Parks has provided Accessible Service Excellence training for all of its staff, and has introduced many service upgrades at both historic sites, including a motorized scooter at Sainte-Marie, free access for support persons, and closed captioning on AV presentations. More are planned for the future. In addition, numerous green initiatives have been implemented in an ongoing effort towards operating both Sainte-Marie and Discovery Harbour as eco-friendly and sustainable “green” tourism attractions. This includes modern technologies to save water and electricity, minimization of waste on the historic sites through aggressive recycling and re-use of materials, elimination of pesticide and herbicide use, and other green measures. Staff will be planting hundreds of trees early this season as well.

Huronia Historical Parks recently received the “President’s Award” from the Southern Georgian Bay Chamber of Commerce recognizing its vital role in supporting a healthy tourism economy and attracting positive interest for the entire region.

Sainte-Marie among the Hurons is open to the public weekdays April 27 to May 15, seven days per week May 16 to October 11, and weekdays October 12 to October 30. Discovery Harbour is open weekdays May 19 to June 26, and seven days per week beginning June 27 to September 6. For information call (705) 526-7838 or visit www.hhp.on.ca