The Town of Winnipeg Beach has hired a tourism manager to help enhance the town’s signature events, develop new attractions and create opportunities to bring more visitors to the community.
The town hired Peter Holfeuer as its tourism, development & community engagement manager on a one-year contract. He’s been in the position since January.
Holfeuer comes to the position with lots of experience in business and tourism, including serving as co-chair of the Gimli Ice Festival for 13 years now. He has sat on a number of community boards, was a founding member of the Gimli Glider Museum, helped re-establish the Gimli Chamber of Commerce and served for four years as an RM of Gimli councillor.
Late last year, Holfeuer said he chatted with Winnipeg Beach mayor Pam Jackson at an event and understood that major events in Winnipeg Beach – Boardwalk Day and Wonderful Winter Weekend – are organized and overseen by the town, but the town would like to see more community-driven events.
“The impression I got from the mayor is they want to change that [town-driven model], similar to what happens in other communities where events are run by volunteer committees,” said Holfeuer. “Volunteer committees have an opportunity to reach out and get sources funding and grants, something you can’t do when you’re running things specifically through the town.”
As co-chair of the Gimli Ice Festival, Holfeuer said he has had opportunities to connect and collaborate with 15 to 20 different organizations, giving him a better understanding of how they operate within a community and how they can be leveraged for creating tourism opportunities and economic development.
“One thing I noticed in Winnipeg Beach is that there’s no inclusion of art, culture, heritage and an Indigenous component to these big events,” said Holfeuer. “That’s something that needs to come into these events to make them more vibrant and to grow them. That can only be done through committees.”
He said he’d love to see Winnipeg Beach highlight its early and mid-twentieth-century history as the premier playground to which thousands of Manitobans flocked to enjoy the town’s wooden rollercoaster, boardwalk along Lake Winnipeg and pavilion with its 14,000-square-foot dance floor. The Winnipeg Beach Historical Society could play a role in enhancing tourism opportunities. Currently, there are “not a lot of reasons” for people to go to Winnipeg Beach unless there’s an event of sufficient scale that will attract a lot of visitors.
“I believe it was up to 40,000 people that used to come up on the weekends by train in the 1900s. Winnipeg Beach was the place to go to for so long. It was such an iconic town,” said Holfeuer. “We’re looking at it now and saying there’s probably more that can be done. For sure, it has good activities and a lot of people coming in the summer months, which is the peak season, but I’m noticing businesses leaving town because you can’t run a business for three or four months in the summer then shut down for eight months. There has to be some better thinking as to what can be done in the shoulder or off season so that more visitors will come to town.”
His goal is to “adjust the operational model” pertaining to how events are run, transitioning them away from the town’s administrative oversight towards the establishment of local committees.
“My goal is not to run these committees myself, but to put the right people in the right places to make things happen,” he said. “They’ll need a place where they can meet and a little seed money to get things started.”
Since he started in January, Holfeuer said he has reached out the Gimli Chamber of Commerce and the Interlake Tourism Association to make them aware of what he’s working on in Winnipeg Beach and to see if there are ways to collaborate. He’ll also be working with Travel Manitoba in order to try to “make the Town of Winnipeg Beach more of a year-round destination.”
He got involved in the town’s Wonderful Winter Weekend to understand what it entailed and how “we can move forward and make it a bigger and better event.” He also met with a number of Winnipeg Beach businesses to understand the challenges they’re face during the off season, as well the challenges they face during the summer season.
“A big part of what I’ll be focusing on is enhancing the town’s brand, Where Manitoba Plays” he said. “Right now, I really want to engage with the business community. They have to come together and collaborate in some way. They do very well for three or four months of the year but they really need to pull together and find ways to attract more people to their businesses during the shoulder season.”
Holfeuer said collaboration with neighbouring communities on events is one of the strategies that could employed in order to attract more visitors and bring economic spinoffs to the wider area.
Town of Winnipeg Beach mayor Pam Jackson said although tourism, economic development and community engagement is part of Holfeuer’s portfolio, it’s not the only focus.
“There’s other identified needs Peter is fulfilling. The Town of Winnipeg Beach doesn’t have a chamber of commerce or an economic development officer and there are no established community committees for the town’s signature events, such as Boardwalk Days and the Wonderful Winter Weekend,” said Jackson. “Economic development and community engagement, along with tourism, are critical elements in helping a community not just survive, but thrive.”
Holfeuer is filling some of the gaps, she said, leveraging his specific skill sets and experience and doing an amazing job.
His ”boots-on-the-ground” approach makes him accessible and approachable, she said, and he acts as a liaison for council and a support for the business community and for organizations that are passionate about activities such as the arts and active transportation.
“With Peter’s knowledge, experience and skillset, the town is confident we’ll see increased interest and initiatives by our community members to participate in existing organizations or create new opportunities and initiatives based on their own interests,” said the mayor. “Certainly, we heard through our Vision Survey that our community would like to see more activities in our town, and some folks are quite interested in working towards creating these. While this is already happening, we want to build on this.”
She noted that the Winnipeg Beach Historical Society is a group of very committed folks who want to “celebrate and honor the deep-rooted history of Winnipeg Beach.” With Holfeuer’s help the town is sure to see an increased level of exposure.
Jackson said it would be great for businesses and the community if Winnipeg Beach could expand its role as a tourist destination and elevate its profile as a place where Manitobans can come to play 12 months of the year.
“Town council’s role is governance, not necessarily taking the lead role in event and party planning. In regards to events, council’s role is to support organizations, groups and committees that are interested in working for the betterment of our community, and in creating events and activities that are of interest to them,” she said. “Town council is excited about the possibilities that Peter’s position provides, the vision and new concepts he brings with him, and we look forward to continuing to work with our community to enhance everything that Winnipeg Beach has to offer.”
To contact Peter Holfeuer, call (204) 407-6017 or email: tourism@winnipegbeach.ca
