Great Northern Ontario Roadshow stops in Sudbury

The Great Northern Ontario Roadshow was an idea that came about at the beginning of the pandemic. (Lyndsay Aelick/CTV News Northern Ontario)

The Great Northern Ontario Roadshow was an idea that came about at the beginning of the pandemic.

“We said what if we leveraged the power of what we do at Science North to bring communities together to really start to bring back tourism at a hyper local level and then a regional level and that’s really what we’ve been able to deliver this summer is visiting communities bringing vendors, tourism operators, culinary organizations together to remind people the amazing things that are right in their own backyard,” says Ashley Larose of Science North.

Milas Hewson, owner of Lepidopter Artist, creates wood burning pieces. She moved to Sudbury during the pandemic and says this is her first vendor experience in the city. She says she chose it because it was free to participate something that can be a challenge with trying to participate in other market style events.

“Often times I’ve been to markets where you pay this huge fee and then don’t even make it back necessarily so something like this bringing the community together bringing people out of the community gives vendors a chance especially small businesses, new businesses places that are still trying to get out there and make it a really great oppourtunity that is otherwise really tricky to get into some of those other markets where there is a wait list and big fees involved and this is really welcoming and simple and fun and you can come out and have a good time and sort of get started,” says Hewson.

Larose says the event has been well received in stops across the north this summer.

“We do one day festivals and multi-day festivals and by the end of this year we should see about 70 thousand people across the north.”

The roadshows continues Sunday from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. in Sudbury. The next stop is in Pointe Au Baril on August 11 followed by Timmins August 13-14.

For more information on the Great Northern Ontario Roadshow visit their website.