Destination Red River Region – Red River Regional Council

Destination

Red River Region

What is Destination Red River Region?

Destination Red River Region is a team of 15 people from throughout Region 4, Manitoba, and the State. This team is determined to enhance all aspects of where we live, work and play. Destination Red River Region encourages you to embark on this mission and to join us in developing a regional action plan that will provide a clear direction on how and what we can be doing to strengthen our efforts to attract people, both visitors and future residents. The Red River Regional Council is serving as the project manager.

Roger Brooks

Roger Brooks is one of the nation’s leaders in helping to create amazing communities and destinations. Roger and his team were chosen to assist in this project based on his wealth of experience, energetic approach, and his ability to transcend our communities’ potential scope.

Roger is currently working with the Destination Red River Region Team which began with a monthlong, on-the-ground assessment in October 2021. Roger began with a pre-visit assessment as well as conducted a secret shopping of our region with perspectives of a visitor, site selector, meeting planner, future resident, and business owner.

Roger has since provided workshops of his secret shopping findings, as well as thousands of photos from every assessed community.

Click the icon to access thousands of pictures for public use

Click the icon to view your community’s secret shopping results

Click the icon to access the Destination Development & Marketing Action Plan (edits under way)

Secret Shopping Assessment at a Glance

41 Communities Assessed

All incorporated cities in Region 4

2,000+ Photos Taken

RRRC has created a public online library (click to access)

Recreational Areas Visited

State, county and city parks, dams, lakes, Pembina Gorge, and Frost Fire

Four County Workshops Held

150+ observations and suggestions provided 200+ attendees (click to access)

Five Focused Conversations

Walhalla, Grafton, Frost Fire, Rendezvous Region, Large Employers/Elected Officials

Do you want to learn more about first impressions of your specific community? Check out the presentation slides from the fall 2021 workshops here. The findings and suggestions for each community are reviewed. Download the file below before clicking on YouTube link above to watch the recording from the workshop.

(The presentation files are large so may take a few minutes to view/download.)

Download County Assessments

These PDFs are large files.
View or download using links below.

Opportunities & Obstacles

Attitude

Why do we talk so poorly about living here and have a resistant attitude towards amenity development and investment?

One Shot

Marketing gets visitors one time and product (what we offer) ultimately concludes if they come back or not

Create Community Living Rooms

Welcoming places to gather, have fun, programmed 250+ days/year, retail follows where people are

ND Ranks Low for Public Lands

Limits recreation development comparatively

Quality of Life

Leading factor in economic development today, small towns can capitalize on this

Lack of State/Region Identity

ND has the lowest state tourism/marketing budgets in the country

Immediate Suggestions

Top Ten Considerations for Young Families Seeking to Relocate

Safety
Good education system
Engaged community
Signs of positive change happening
Life after 6:00 pm and on weekends
Top notch recreation
Quality healthcare
Ample amounts of walking and biking trails
Affordable, available, and quality housing
LAST – JOB – a complete shift from previous generations

Embrace the Benefits of Tourism

Increase retail and hospitality spending and fills “leakage” when residents shop elsewhere
Front door for possible new residents – everyone visits before relocating or investing
Visitors have a low impact on community assets
Monetize visitor trips by creating itineraries
Promote the best of what you have – AND DELIVER

Include Signage - EVERYWHERE