Welcome

All the world headed to the beach this past weekend. Sandbank’s beaches in particular. By mid-afternoon on Sunday, cars were backed up on every route into the park. Police officers were sent to break the disappointing news to weary travellers that the park was full and they weren’t getting in today. Many received a County red map as a parting gift. Soon enough every other beach as well as vast stretches of County shoreline and even manicured roadsides were populated by refugees of an urban gulag. Having driven from Thornhill with a car full of relatives, the prospect of turning around and getting back on the 401 was a defeat that could not be stomached.

So they found bits of the County to unpack baskets and coolers, to unfold lawn chairs and enjoy a peaceful sunny afternoon watching pillowy clouds drift by.

A few hours in paradise for some, inevitably ignites perennial complaints that our roads are being travelled upon by folks who don’t pay taxes here. Soon enough a council member will demand tolls be put on County bridges or a fee charged at the park gates to compensate the locals for enduring visitors.

Nevermind that it is just a few days each summer. The horde must be made to pay.

It is an alluring prejudice, particularly for those who once lived in the city. They have have made a commitment to live in the County—the good things and bad. Day visitors, meanwhile, cherry-pick the very best bits, leaving the rest of us to clean up the mess or to avert our eyes in the produce aisle.

A few winters in the County and urban escapees begin to resent their former selves.

It is all so unproductive.

That more people are choosing to visit the County is a success story. It is not a hardship, unless we choose to make it so. More and more folks are coming to the County, wallet first, seeking an experience. Something they can’t get in Markham, Dorval or Nepean.

The seeds for a higher-yield crop of County visitors began 15 years ago. Since then, dozens of wineries have planted roots here, valueadded food makers have germinated and fine restaurants have blossomed. Each year the visitor experience in the County becomes richer and more diverse—artisan spirits, cheese, beer, crafts, art, accommodations and fibre from any manner of woolly beast.

The County seems for many, an overnight success. The truth is, it has been a decade and a half in the making. The good news is that there is still plenty of opportunity to expand the number and variety of experiences to the folks who are just now discovering this special place.

That is not to say it’s easy. The season is short. Visitors are fickle. Help is hard to find. But increasingly, entrepreneurs are finding ways to create success. Adopting seasonal business models. Carving out new categories. Adapting to customer needs.

They are blazing a trail for others to follow. We can choose to celebrate these achievements or complain that others want, for a few hours, what we enjoy every day.

Ultimately, an economy must grow—or it stagnates. And while this may have little appeal for those who wish for the place never to change, a nearer parking spot or fewer cars on the road— the alternative is a dead end.

I had the occasion to visit Utica this weekend. Surrounded by lush green hills, the Mohawk River carves a wide, welcoming valley. Utica was once a powerhouse in upstate New York. Lumber. Textiles. Furniture. Heavy machinery. But industrial decline, hastened along by political corruption, has rendered the city barely liveable.

Businesses, families and institutions have abandoned the city. In their wake, they have left behind wide streets of tattoo parlours, pawn shops and empty storefronts. They don’t have a parking problem in Utica. Traffic lights control empty intersections. There is no rush hour. Just a few cars rolling by slowly, gawking morbidly at the post-apocalyptic wasteland. It is a sad place.

Heading back to Canada we skirt around Syracuse— among the fastest-emptying cities in the U.S.

These are communities just a couple hundred kilometres across Lake Ontario in which no amount of renewal or economic development money will be enough to bring people back. Nor sustain an economy.

It is a good thing that people want to come to Prince Edward County.

Our Community Development Commission is currently hammering out its priorities—how best to use its scant resources to greatest effect. At the top of that list, the commission is urged to continue marketing and promoting the experiences that only the County can provide. The template has already been established.

The park hasn’t become a more attractive destination— it has changed little in decades. But the County has changed. It has a larger profile. A successful brand. And greater appeal for those seeking an escape from their urban treadmill.

We can choose to embrace the opportunities of a visitor- based economy—including its nuisances and irritations— or drift inexorably toward a stagnant future of government dependency.

rick@wellingtontimes.ca