For the sixth or seventh time in eleven years… the Great Canadian Kayak Challenge Festival has been recognized as one of the top 100 events in Ontario.
City tourism manager Guy Lamarche picked up the award for the festival last night in Toronto, at the annual Festivals and Events Ontario conference.
Lamarche says the award belongs to his volunteer steering committee and festival workers and the corporate sponsors who supply about a $100,000 in cash and $150,000 in kind.
He says he’ll shortly announce two or three new partners who will help make the kayak festival even bigger.
“Two of the possibly three are more than likely going to be with us for an extended time as opposed to a one-off,” remarks Lamarche.
The kayak festival has grown from what Lamarche calls a one-day paddling event, to a three-day, all-out end of summer festival.
He says that says one thing that makes the kayak festival stand out among events right across North America is that so many features of it are free.
“The admissions are free, the concerts are free, the parking is free, the shuttles are free and if you’re an out-of-towner and you want to camp, you can camp there for free as well.”
This year’s festival is the final weekend in August.
Other northern events recognized in the Top 100 this year include the international plowing match in Verner, the Sioux Lookout Blueberry Festival, and Thunder Bay’s “Live on the Waterfront”.