People who visit our community for the first time can offer fresh perspectives and unique insights about our services, accommodations and tourist attractions. The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA) offers the First Impressions Community Exchange (FICE) program, where you can tap in to these insights.   By taking part in this program, we get paired up with another community and see what kinds of first impressions the Village makes when people visit for the first time.  What we learn can help us find ways to better attract tourists, residents and investors.

Our application to be part of FICE has been accepted and we have been paired with another community. We are recruiting and need four more volunteers, who will receive training from OMAFRA.  Our volunteers will:

•travel to our partner community to anonymously make observations

•record their feedback in a survey during the visit

Your costs for travel, accommodations and meals will be covered.

The exchange visits are where volunteer teams visit their exchange community and note observations in order to prepare a report back.  The evaluation of Westport by the other team will include:

Evaluate and get insights about:

◦services that make our Village visitor-friendly (access to transportation, information centres, signage, location of attractions)

◦physical spaces (historic sites, buildings and entrances)

◦community services (housing, education, jobs, health)

◦businesses, retail stores and restaurants

◦natural areas (harbour, parks and walking paths)

Evaluate how we serve visitors and get insights about:

◦what makes us visitor-friendly (access to transportation, information centres, signage, location of attractions)

◦tourist attractions (landmarks, events)

◦natural areas (parks, cycling and walking paths)

Evaluate our downtown area and get insights about:

◦the look and feel of downtown areas

◦businesses, retail stores and restaurants

◦entertainment (events, festivals, arts and culture activities)

If you are interested in being part of the Westport exchange team, pls email Councillor Gerald Schwinghamer at gswestport@gmail.com.  The First Impressions training will occur on Tuesday, Mar. 27 at 10 am at the Town Hall in the second floor meeting room.

I think this sounds like fun and encourage you to be part of it!

Call anytime – 9195