South Eastern Ontario’s Tourism Industry Gets A Boost: RTO 9 Announces 2024 Partnership Fund Recipients From its Round #1 Intake
RTO 9, Regional Tourism Organization for South Eastern Ontario, is proud to announce the recipients of its 2024 Partnership Fund Program funding from round #1 intake. This intake round will support 12 exciting projects that promote tourism and economic growth in the region.
Each of these initiatives has been carefully selected for their potential to enhance the visitor experience and drive economic benefits for the region.
Through the Partnership Fund Program, RTO 9 aims to foster collaboration and innovation in the tourism industry, ensuring that South Eastern Ontario remains a top destination for visitors. We are committed to working with our partners to promote initiatives that positively impact the local community and the tourism industry as a whole.
We want to congratulate the recipients of this year’s Partnership Fund Program funding and thank them for their dedication to promoting tourism and economic growth in the region. We can’t wait to see the impact these initiatives will have on the visitor experience in South Eastern Ontario!
NEW EVENTS
Brockville
SO LO Social Local – JULY 26 – JULY 27, 2024: Beyond the Glass: Eastern Ontario Women’s Arts Festival, where the spirit of women’s creativity is honored and uplifted. This unique event is a beacon for the arts, set against the picturesque backdrop of Eastern Ontario, and highlights the extraordinary talents of local women artists and performers. This event will also showcase dancers, actors, visual artists, and comedians, all coming together to create an immersive and inclusive festival environment. The event will span five venues, hosting a makers market, three pop-up galleries, and three performance spaces that promise to engage and inspire.
1000 Islands Rideau Waterways
Stone Manor Studios – MAY 3 – MAY 20, 2024: Daffodil Days: A Celebration of Creativity at Stone Manor Studios will showcase our community’s artistic and natural heritage, make more public a valuable historical asset in the community, the 1860s stone manor house at Stone Manor Studios, and offer a renaissance of creativity amid our stunning daffodil-filled landscapes. Visitors can experience the natural beauty of the Rideau Lakes, immerse themselves in the world-renowned UNESCO heritage Rideau Canal in Newboro, and cultivate a creative spirit by attending scheduled, day-long art and craft workshops.
Prince Edward County
The Waring House – JUNE 6 – JUNE 9, 2024: The PEC Folk & Irish Festival is a celebration of Canadian folk and Irish music and the contributions of the Irish in Canada. We will offer the opportunity to enjoy live musical performances, performance instruction, and musical workshops as well as artisanal workshops and opportunities to purchase and enjoy traditional art forms. We will present various dining opportunities such as a full Irish breakfast, Irish High Tea, an Irish whiskey-tasting dinner, an evening of Irish humour, and children’s activities in a day of family fun. We will highlight the history of the Waring family who arrived as Quakers seeking religious freedom.
Prescott-Russell
Les Verges Villeneuve & Blueberry Farm – MAY – AUGUST, 2024: Les vergers Villeneuve and Blueberry Farm will be hosting for the first time 8 local Feast dinners, 2 per month in May, June, July and August. These multiple-course meals are prepared by professional Chefs using local products only. Two of the meals will be special musical dinners with a singer providing entertainment during the meal. Les Vergers Villeneuve and Blueberry Farm will also host its first local producers’ market on June 22, 2024. The farm can host approximately 40 local producers who make various items (ie. fruit, veggies, different meats, honey, maple syrup, etc.). This event will be free for the producers to attend as well as for the customers.
INDIGENOUS TOURISM
Kingston
W.C. Creatives – JUNE 28 – JULY 2, 2024: The Ancestral Echoes Art Exhibit is an identifiably unique branded Indigenous art experience that immerses the art lover into the Indigenous art culture, through social messages such as climate change and truth and reconciliation. The exhibit will be featured alongside Artfest in Kingston but will provide space for Indigenous vendors, performances, and teachings.
Cornwall
Akwesasne Powwow – SEPTEMBER 7 – SEPTEMBER 8, 2024: The Akwesasne Powwow. For today’s North American Indigenous peoples, a powwow carries on an early tradition of trade and social activities. It is best described as the “Coming together of the many First Nations to celebrate the cultures and heritage in the spirit of sharing”.
SIGNAGE
Prince Edward County
Beacon Bike+Brew – Marquee signage for their physical location in Prince Edward County.
Oeno Gallery – Wayfinding signage and QR code storytelling for art pieces featured in their gallery and garden exhibit. They will be complete with bilingual and land acknowledgment incorporation as well. Each artwork sign will have a description, QR code, and price. The QR component will send visitors to their digital walkthrough “Sculpture Stories” program. Each sculpture will have a recorded video with visuals and audio; it is a series of videos about the sculptures and the artists who make them. These signs will encourage visitors to engage and interact with sculptures by using their phones to access audio and visual stories about each artwork. This is a way to educate and inform beyond the signage itself.
Sugarbush Vineyards – Enhancement of their snowshoe/hiking trails with permanent directional signage and educational info panels along the trail system.
Broken Stone Vineyard – Guided/Self-Guided signage for their vineyard, offering additional products outside of wine tastings and can be inclusive of families who are interested in visiting the area; wayfinding signage around the property and educational signs explaining the wine-making process.
Lennox & Addington
Hive & Hearthstone – Marquee signage and wayfinding signage through the apiary for safe self-guided viewing.
1000 Islands Rideau Waterways
Golden Moment Farm – Farm gate signage to identify their business from the road, and trail signage to encourage year-round visitation to the farm through their trail network.
Our second application for Partnership Funding will open from July 5th – July 28th, 2024. The first category eligible for funding is New Events, which can be a one-day event or a larger festival over multiple days. The second category is for the Development of Indigenous Tourism Products, where funding can be used to assist Indigenous operators in creating their tourism businesses or enhancing their products. The third category is for Signage, which can be utilized in the design and installation of wayfinding signage or new marquee signage for a tourism business storefront. Learn more about our Partnership Funding Program here.
If you have further questions, you are encouraged to contact Meg Dabros, Operations Manager mdabros@region9tourism.ca
About RTO 9
RTO 9 is a regional tourism organization established in 2010 that is funded by the Ontario Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Gaming. RTO 9 actively promotes tourism for the South Eastern Ontario region and works to support and grow the tourism industry through marketing, product development, investment attraction, and workforce development initiatives. The regions of South Eastern Ontario are 1000 Islands Gananoque, Bay of Quinte, Brockville, Cornwall, Stormont, Dundas & Glengarry Counties, Frontenac County, Kingston, Lennox and Addington, Prince Edward County, Prescott-Russell, and 1000 Islands and Rideau Canal Waterways.