Last night was the 9th annual Interlake Tourism Association’s Celebration of Stars.  Last year we had a two hour drive to get to the dinner in Steep Rock, so it was certainly a nice treat to have only a 10 minute drive to the Hitchin’ Post in Grosse Isle.  As always Kyle and staff put on a good spread and it was an enjoyable evening of good food and good company. This is also an awards ceremony with 8 different categories. The winners of the Interlake region are then entered into the categories for the Travel Manitoba awards held in 2011. I would like to congratulate the nominees and winners in the following categories:

Non Member Interlake Award – Winner – Teulon Truck and Tractor Pull; nominees were Maple Creek Steak House, Pioneer Quest Cabin Tours, Miami Beach Campground, Woodlands Pioneer Museum.

Service Excellence Award – Winner – Danny’s Whole Hog BBQ and Smokehouse; nominees Country Harvest Inn/Broadvalley Catering, Rubber Ducky Resort, and Whytewold Emporium

Marketing Excellence Award – Winner – Narrows West Lodge and Developments; nominees Country Harvest Inn/Broad Valley Catering, Danny’s Whole Hog BBQ and Smokehouse and Riverton Chamber of Commerce.

Sustainable Tourism Award – Winner Gimli Art Club Sea Wall Gallery; nominees Arborg and District Multicultural Heritage Village

Partnership Award – Winner – West Interlake Trading Company; nominees Manitoba Highland Gathering

Product Development Award – Winner – Whytewold Emporium; nominees DareDevil Design “New Selkirk Enterprise”,  Gimli Art Club Sea Wall Gallery, Sharon Cote “Our Place” Historic Tour of RM.

Volunteer of the Year Award – Winner – Pat Eyolfson, Cochair of the Arborg 7 District Mulitcultural Heritage Village; nominees Barb Gluck, wrote Sea Wall Gallery book for Gimli Art Club

Interlake Award of Distinction – Winner, Iclandic Festival of Manitoba; nominees Chad Olafson, Narrows West Lodge & Developments;  Gail Spencer Lamm, Tourism Coordinator West Interlake Trading Co, Oak Hammock Marsh Interpretive Centre

I wish all the winners good luck at the Manitoba awards. It would be great to see someone from the Interlake win the provincial award. If you would like to find out more information on any of the winners or nominees check out http://www.interlaketourism.com