Huron Kinloss is jumping on board with Bruce County to “Spruce the Bruce”.
The new program is aimed at helping local municipalities spruce up their downtown areas to attract tourism and boost the economy.
At last week’s Huron Kinloss council meeting, Bruce County Tourism Manager Chris Hughes says downtown business areas can be a major tourist destination, and need to be more vibrant in order to entice people to spend more time in the community and spend their tourism dollars.
He says the tourism market is competitive and now is the time to start investing in communities across the county.
Mayor Mitch Twolan says they’re on board with the county, however no specific costs have been determined so far.
Hughes says Bruce County’s budget of 60 thousand dollars will help municipalities throughout the county, but they can also apply for provincial and federal grants such as the local community marketing grant.
He says now that Huron Kinloss council has approved the plan, they will now follow a year long process to develop the program.
Hughes says initially the program will focus on the Ripley area, but he hopes it will extend to the Lucknow area in the future.