Welcome to the summer 2010 issue of the economic development newsletter produced on behalf of Elgin County Council and the Department of Economic Development.

It’s party time! Everyone loves a summer party, and there are plenty of reasons for Elgin County’s business community to be celebrating.

The County officially launched the new tourism website on May 20th at the popular waterfront restaurant, GT’s on the Beach in Port Stanley. The website is part of the implementation of Elgin County’s award winning Tourism Strategy and Marketing Plan.

About 100 people at the launch celebration enjoyed watching a demonstration of the tourism site, www.elgintourist.com. The site is extremely helpful both to tourists and tourism business owners. Tourists can create customized itineraries from directory listings and events, making it easy to plan an exciting Elgin experience. Google maps can be created on the fly.

Easy-to-use features include a business directory, events calendar and special sections devoted to culinary tourism, water-based activities, agri-tourism and the historic attractions of St. Thomas as the Railway Capital of Canada.

Awards

The latest award was announced in February by EDCO at its 53rd Annual Conference and Showcase in Toronto. Elgin County received the Product Development, Strategic Plans award for the Tourism Development Strategy and Marketing Plan, created in conjunction with the City of St. Thomas. This award recognizes the sound decisions of County Council and Warden Bonnie Vowel, who have recognized the value of tourism as a strong economic generator for the area.

The tourism and marketing plan provides tremendous value as a map for the development of tourism assets and the implementation of tourism marketing. We believe this innovative strategy will have significant impact on tourism attraction in Elgin County.

Small Business Enterprise Centre

Another reason to celebrate is that the Elgin-St. Thomas Small Business Enterprise Centre is now open for business.

Located in St. Thomas, the Small Business Enterprise Centre will help to create jobs by providing business counselling and related services to small-business owners. Elgin County Economic Development and its partners the Elgin Business Resource Centre and the St. Thomas Economic Development Corporation were pleased to announce the opening April 16 of this important project to invest in and support small business.

John Regan, General Manager of the Elgin Business Resource Centre, and his staff are embarking on a series of ambitious projects for the first year of the centre. You can read more in a separate article in this newsletter.

Economic Development Virtual Tradeshow

There’s never been anything like it! The Elgin County Economic Development Virtual Tradeshow provides all the benefits of going to a tradeshow in the comforts of your own office.

This special section of the investment-attraction website was launched April 23rd and it is drawing interest from viewers far and wide who are interested in information about Elgin County’s leading-edge industries.

Visitors to www.progressivebynature.com/virtualtradeshow can take a tour of the four main exhibit halls featuring businesses from Elgin County specializing in: tourism, manufacturing, agri-business and energy & the environment. Clicking on a business of interest brings up its corporate profile, a video and slide presentation and links to its website, contact information and maps.

The Virtual Tradeshow was established because the web has become the primary means by which business site developers and investors search for prospective investment locations. Businesses interested in participating in the Virtual Tradeshow can contact Elgin County’s Economic Development office at info@elgin-county.on.ca.

International Plowing Match

The largest agricultural outdoor event in Canada will be returning to Elgin County this coming fall.

The 2010 International Plowing Match and Rural Expo will take place September 21-25 on lands adjacent to the St. Thomas Municipal Airport. It will be the fourth occasion here for the International Plowing Match; the County was host for this famous event in 1940, 1960 and 1985.

Excitement is building at Elgin County Council and the Elgin County Plowmen’s Association. They expect that the 2010 International Plowing Match will attract about 100,000 people to the County along with millions of dollars in tourism revenue. To participate in the Plowing Match please visit www.ipm2010.com. Now that will be a party!

To experience the excitement of emerging opportunities in Elgin-St.Thomas, or to find out more about any of the topics discussed in this newsletter, please visit www.progressivebynature.com.