Play local.
On a regular basis, community promotors like the newspaper offices across the Lakeland and our www.lakelandtoday.ca website will encourage readers and viewers to visit their local merchants; to drop a few dollars onto a neighbour's counter and be part of the local economic exchange. But buying local groceries, clothing or big-ticket items from local merchants isn't the only way to see community growth.
Lakeland residents and visitors are lucky enough to be able to physically reach out and watch it grow.
Back-country camping along pristine lakeside shorelines, boreal forest trails, out-of-the-way places that only "locals" — and maybe a few thousand others — know about. Fishing, boating, hiking, camping, glamping, rodeos, country fairs, Ferris wheels turning high into yet another beautiful northeastern Alberta sunset. It all sounds too good to be true. And while it's easy to get disheartened with "issues' affecting Lakeland communities — healthcare, infrastructure, taxes, fuel prices ... the Lakeland is a place where residents can quite literally get some fresh air if it all gets too much.
Visitors to the area know it. Maybe it's time more locals did too.
Each year more and more destination holiday-makers are making the Lakeland that destination. It's important that Lakeland residents don't forget what they have in their own backyards, and how close they are too it.
In the coming summer months, communities across the region are hosting annual celebrations, rodeo weekends, fairs and uniquely rural experiences. Many of the events are highlighted in the calendar dates within the Hot Summer Guide published online by www.lakelandtoday.ca offices. And not all of them are for those who want to simply float down a meandering northern Alberta stream in a canoe or kayak. Some are for the fans of higher-octane events like the Plamondon Mud Bogs and the Bonnyville Gear Grabbers Drag Races. Of course, there's lots of time after the races to find a stream, grab the kayak and just float.
So get out there and explore what's in the region. Support your Lakeland neighbours, learn about the region and enjoy all it has to offer.
As Lakeland communities are encouraged to shop local and look inward to keep economies alive, Lakeland residents should look outward to the many opportunities in their own region to play local too.