The Strathmore Wheatland Chamber of Commerce (SWCC), along with the Town of Strathmore, is hosting their Toasting Tourism Event on October 21.

As the name implies, the event is all about helping businesses understand how they can grow tourism and reach their full potential. Past Chair of the SWCC Hayley Poirier explained one the group focuses will be to work to capitalize on the people driving by Strathmore, among other things.

"I don't know the number of cars that drive through our highway on a daily basis, but it's huge, and so many people will pass by and not get to experience what Strathmore and Wheatland County has for them. And so we really want to be able to hopefully help our businesses to capture some of those cars and people in Calgary and surrounding areas to experience our beautiful rural culture," she said.

As for what Strathmore has to offer, Poirier says what we may take for granted is actually something that could appeal to many people from out of town.

"There's a lot of different studies out there that show that Calgary is looking for other experiences. They love their mountains and they'll go to the mountains, but they also want to understand and appreciate what rural culture is all about and how to experience things that we all take for granted in our area, and so we really want to be able to capture that."

So what would be considered the rural experience? Poirier explained there are many things in Strathmore that people both in and out of town would be able to enjoy, so she wants to grow tourism to get more people experiencing these great things.

"Have you ever had the opportunity to go and do goat yoga? We have a couple of farms in our area that offer up this really fun experience. And farms, have you ever been to see what they have to offer with some beautiful pork product that they sell worldwide and in Strathmore we have so many restaurants that are farm to table."

Poirier explained the Toasting Tourism event will have several guest speakers speaking on how to bring more people into our community. There will be plenty to discuss, including things some may consider obvious, but businesses may not be capitalizing on, like how to get Google reviews.

If you're a member of the SWCC the event is free for the first 20 members to get a ticket, and if you aren't tickets will be $25, which could go towards your new membership. Along with the guest speakers, you would also get breakfast with the Mayor, lunch, conversations with other business owners, and more. You can learn more and get your tickets here.

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