New tourism video showcases communities and attractions along the Upper St. John River Valley

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Although the completion of the Trans Canada Highway has forced drivers to bypass many Upper Valley communities, the region’s tourism association as a plan in place to coax people to follow the St. John River.

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Art Slipp

Bristol: Bristol’s new waterfront park, including the Shogomoc Railway, is featured on the video which showcases sites, events and communities from King’s Landing to Plaster Rock’s World Pond Hockey championships.

Hartland: Video includes several Upper St. John River Valley landmarks, including Hartland’s longest covered bridge in the world.

Thirteen municipalities in York, Carleton and Victoria counties are featured on a promotional video showcasing the four seasons of the St. John River Valley.

Woodstock’s project representative Deputy Mayor Arthur Slipp – who will become mayor on May 12 – says the St. John River Valley Tourism Association held their first video shoot during the World Pond Hockey Tour in Plaster Rock.

From there, the approximately $40,000 project additional footage taken in the spring, summer and fall. Slipp says the video will showcase various points of interest in Carleton, Victoria and York Counties.

Slipp said the video was completed in the fall of 2007 to coincide with the opening of the new fourlane highway. He explained the video was part of a larger plan of tourist promotion for the region, involving mayors, Tourism and Parks, provincial government and the St. John River Valley Tourism Association.

The Town of Woodstock tourism co-ordinator Tobie Pirie, who handles the administrative contacts and inquiries on behalf of the association, says travellers on new highway will, in several areas, lose sight of the river. She says the video will remind travellers that some key points of the province sit along the Upper St. John River Valley, including the Grand Falls Gorge, Hartland’s Covered Bridge and Kings Landing. Popular events, such as Woodstock’s Old Home Week, Perth-Andover`s Gathering of the Scots and Plaster Rock’s Fiddlers on the Tobique, were also featured.

“The video is good for people who live in Toronto and are on their way to P.E.I. or Nova Scotia,” adds Pirie. “We want them to say, ‘I want to stop in New Brunswick.’”

The video is included on the association’s Web site. Each municipality was provided E-cards, CDs or DVDs available in multiple formats for visitors` inquiries. The cards may be mailed out or distributed at various provincial and municipal visitor information centres.

Also, links were set up on the St. John River Valley Association’s Web site – www.sjrvta.com – to connect guests to the Web pages of all the different communities showcased in the video.

Phase two of the project is the creation of a Web page for each community that didn’t already have their own site, including Meductic, Millville, Canterbury, Bath and Aroostook.

Over time, Slipp and Pirie explain, different theme tours, will outline maps and support material, including historical, agricultural, arts and crafts and natural beauty. There will also be a short-term functioning page for each community to emphasize upcoming events, adds Slipp.

“Through this regional co-operative initiative we want to get people to stop,” he explained. “And when they stop we want them to know there are things to do, so they stay an extra day. We want to increase the number of visitors and their duration of stay.”

Slipp said the video showcases the Upper St. John River Valley’s great beauty, character and heritage.

“Let our land, our culture, our history and our river speak to tell our story,” added Slipp. “Follow the St. John River ... 400 kilometres of inspiration truly says it all.”

Français : Le vidéo de l’Association du tourisme de la vallée du fleuve Saint- Jean met en vedette 13 communautés ainsi que plusieurs attractions retrouvées dans cette partie de la province.