Courtesy

By Ruby Pratka

Local Journalism Initiative

The Bedford Pole Economic Relaunch Committee (Comité de relance économique du Pôle de Bedford) is betting on tourism to give the area a boost.

In 2022, as the region recovered from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the town of Bedford and five surrounding municipalities –  Bedford Canton, Notre-Dame-de-Stanbridge, Pike River, Saint-Armand and Saint-Ignace-de-Stanbridge  – agreed on a collaborative economic development and recovery plan. The groundwork for the committee was laid before the pandemic, when data showed that the Bedford area was the only region of Brome-Missisquoi with a decreasing population.  When the committee was formally launched, committee president and mayor of Notre-Dame-de-Stanbridge Daniel Tétreault told the BCN the initiative would involve a collaborative rethink of tourism, lifestyle, governance, urban planning, agriculture and industry in the eight municipalities – which have a combined population of about 7,500. The committee structure also makes it easier to coordinate action on shared political priorities – such as maintaining government services, protecting bodies of water and caring for heritage buildings – and let residents know about events in neighbouring municipalities, committee vice president and Saint-Armand mayor Caroline Rosetti explained.

The committee has recently released a tourist guide for the region – a single double-sided page with a map of the eight municipalities and contact information for dozens of motels and campgrounds, restaurants, farms, vineyards and distilleries, specialty shops, museums, parks, service stations, facilities for cyclists and other attractions. There’s also an interactive online version made with Google Maps. In total, more than 75 attractions are featured. The guide has very little text – it’s essentially a phone directory with a map – so it can be accessed by speakers of any language.

Rosetti said the guide is the first Bedford-specific tourist guide created since at least 2017. “We aren’t reinventing the wheel here. I think there is a tourist guide that exists for the whole MRC, but we decided to focus on our region,” she said.  “We didn’t want to encroach on the territory of our small business owners either; the goal is to bring people here from outside the region and not just to promote businesses to those who are already here.”

In light of the rising cost of travel and the political situation in the United States, committee members figured would-be travellers from surrounding regions would be interested in destinations a little closer to home, which was one reason they wanted to publish the first edition of the guide before the end of this season. “This [tourist guide] is a first-time initiative, we can change it, it’s going to keep moving.”

Rosetti said she believes promoting tourism and emphasizing the area’s natural beauty have the potential to boost long–term development. “I think people come as tourists, a little lighthearted, a little in vacation mode… and that’s how we can perhaps succeed in promoting our region and attracting people who will come to settle here long-term or as a primary residence.” She said the area’s bike paths, vineyards, breweries and picturesque landscapes were becoming more popular with tourists and day trippers.

Bedford Pole project manager Samantha Medellin Morin grew up in a bicultural Mexican-Québécois family in Mexico City, but spent summers with relatives in Bedford and now lives there full-time. “I’ve long understood that tourism is important to us. The guide wasn’t my idea, but [until I was hired], no one really had time to do it.” She said she’s enjoyed the experience of doing research for the guide and helping introduce outsiders to the region she’s grown to love and to its attractions. For her, the perfect “staycation” in the region would involve packing a picnic, getting ice cream and spending the  “It’s so nice and calm and quiet here…and you have everything you need.”

Access the interactive online guide to Bedford Pole attractions (and download a printable PDF) at sites.google.com/view/guidetouristiquepoledebedford/pagina-principal.