Hub Staff

“The guy I shared it with is the guy who came up with the idea for the Village of the Blue Mountain, that's the type of person that wins,” said Jeff Carver about the award he won at the Bruce Grey Simcoe Regional Conference in Meaford December 9.

The Charlie Kelly Award is given to honour those who advance the tourism industry in Bruce, Grey and Simcoe counties, and is named in memory of Charlie Kelly, an Owen Sound alderman who championed the idea of winter tourism in Owen Sound. Don Braden, former President of the Blue Mountain Village Association was the second recipient. Braden won the award posthumously.

Carver said he didn't know ahead of time that he was winning the award, or even that he had been nominated. “It was surprising, I'll be honest. I didn't know ahead of time,” said Carver. “It's something to be recognized. Anything by your peers is always rewarding.”

Among the highlights of Carver's nomination was his work with both the Business Improvement Association (BIA) and the Saugeen Shores Chamber of Commerce as well as his work toward the restoration of Port Elgin's downtown.

“My personal feeling is that the focus has to be on product development. We've got some great features here and we have a beautiful lakefront, we've developed a beautiful trail system, which is incredible, the trolley...stuff like that,” said Carver.

“We have to provide an experience for the visitors that come here.”

Carver said that if we as a community want to succeed, we need to dig in. “If you want to be better and if you want to succeed at something... it requires hard work, dedication, focus and positive, forward thinking.”

“We have to take a look at the resources we have, our downtowns, our waterfront and instead of just thinking they're going to manage and handle themselves we need to invest money. There has to be money invested into beautifying and building a beach and a waterfront in Port Elgin and Southampton. There has to be money and energy spent in investing in our downtowns in Port Elgin and Southampton. We have to maintain the trails and the waterways and all these sort of things,” said Carver.

“Folks in Blue Mountain and up Midland and Penetanguishene and Georgian Bay, Lake Simcoe and along the peninsula ... all these people are saying to us, with this award you guys have something amazing. You've got great ideas. You're working towards a really amazing goal and they're people that have developed ideas like Blue Mountain and they're recognizing us at the same level.” Carver sees that as “a good clear sign that it's time to get down to business.”