GUELPH POLITICAST #80 - Danna Evans, General Manager of Culture, Tourism & Community Investment

Is Guelph a tourism destination? That's debatable. Certainly many Guelphites would argue that there are reasons that people who don't live in Guelph should visit Guelph. Great festivals, a cool downtown, a big church you can see from everywhere... the Royal City is where it's at, and this week, I talk to the person in charge of making sure you know all about it.

On this week's Guelph Politicast, the guest is Danna Evans, General Manager of Culture, Tourism and Community Investment at the City of Guelph. It's a big job, three different portfolios that all end up being tied together because we create a culture that people want to visit that then turns into investment as people want to become a regular part of that community and encourage more people to visit. It's a vicious circle of delightfulness, and Guelph is well ahead of the curve with a variety of festivals, events and cultural destinations.

You see, the City of Guelph does not do much itself to create tourism, but it leans on partners to create the conditions to draw people to town, partners like the Downtown Guelph Business Association who put on a number of events throughout the summer, or the Guelph Arts Council, or festivals like Kazoo!, Hillside, the Jazz Festival, or the upcoming Guelph Dance. So a big part of Evans' job is co-ordination, but she also oversees operations at the River Run Centre, the Sleeman Centre, Guelph Museums, and now the Farmer's Market.

So on this week's podcast, I talk to Evans about her daily responsibilities and how she makes the long term plans, how she works with groups within and without of City Hall to promote Guelph, what tourism to the Royal City looks like, and all things that make Guelph a great place to visit as well as the things we need to do to make tourism even better. If you think you know Guelph then you should hear how the woman in charge of bring people to Guelph does her job.

Who's coming, why they are coming, and what they're doing when they get here is the topic of this week's Guelph Politicast!

To stay up-to-date on all the festivals and festivities in town, you can go to the Guelph Tourism website here.

The theme music for the Guelph Politicast is from the KPM Klassics collection by Syd Dale.

The host for the Guelph Politicast is Podbean. Find more episodes of the Politicast here.

Remember that the Politicast Podbean channel is also the host for podcast versions of Open Sources Guelph. The previous Thursday's episode of Open Sources will be posted on Mondays.