Throughout the summer, I make time to get away from the desk and explore our community's visitor attractions, meet with the owners, chat with visitors and get a first hand look at the front lines of the tourism industry. With over 1400 businesses in the Thunder Bay area with a tourism focus of some sort, there are a lot of family owned gems that are as important to the visitor retention experience as our largest attractions are. I'm going to make a point of profiling them in my postings to increase industry awareness.Perhaps the first visitor attraction U.S. residents see when heading up highway 61 is Eagle Ridge Trout Pond, owned by Judy and Rick Osipenko. This attraction, about 35 minutes south of the Thunder Bay Airport offers a unique angling experience with no fishing licence required. Folks can come in and fish for rainbow trout or bass and they offer choices of both catch and release and catch and consume. Adjacent to the catch and consume pond, picnic tables, fire pits and shelters line the area and make for a great setting for children's birthday parties, family reunions or just a great couple of hours of family entertainment.
While on a quick tour of the attraction, we headed up the trail to a collection of out buildings-which include two new cabins and a sauna building encircling a great little in ground swimming pool. The most spectacular part about this was the view from the pool and cabins...Lake Superior. You don't realize how close the highway is to the lake in that area and from the elevations, you can see the dramatic shoreline and archipelagos of the lake.
Eagle Ridge is a great quick getaway idea for Thunder Bay residents looking to entertain their visiting friends and family and is a prime example of a unique experience close to the city that can extend visitor stays and even provide corporate clients to the city a quick escape from the boardroom or conference center at the end of the day.
For more information, check out http://www.ertp.ca/.
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