Business View Magazine November-December 2018

226 227 WETASKIWIN, ALBERTA ness and economic development. The task of attracting new business, while taking care of the ones that already exist in Wetaskiwin, is the responsibility of the city’s newly formed Community Development Depart- ment, which has combined and synergized the functions of economic development, communica- tions, tourism, marketing, and events under one municipal umbrella. “Those are our five pillars,” says Jennifer Fossen, Community Development Manager. “That way, we can look at a balanced approach to the social, economic, and environ- mental sides of how we see development for the city.” The Department’s mandate is to help “build a safe, strong, and proud community by inform- ing, engaging, and leading citizens, community groups, tourists, businesses, and developers on activities and attractions of the City.” Regarding events, Fossen says that they are all community-driven, “from Canada Day, to out- door movies, to Alberta Culture Days,” and are designed to get people out and together, while fostering a sense of community pride. She adds that events are also utilized as an economic driv- er to bring new people, and their money, into the community. “The average dollar goes around the community six times.” Regarding tourism, Fossen points to sever- al “tourism anchors within the city.We have the Reynolds Alberta Museum, which brings in 50,000 people every year into Wetaskiwin,” she reports. “Having a provincial museum located within a community of 13,000 people is a huge success for us.” The Museum houses antique aircraft, automobiles, equipment, motorcycles, and recently received approval from the province for a $40 million expansion. The Canadian Aviation Hall of Fame draws people from across Canada and beyond. “We also have the Edmonton Inter- national Raceway,” Fossen adds, “so there’s always something to do during the summer.” Regarding communications, Fossen explains, “We make sure that we are being transparent and our residents know what’s going on in the city. If they know what’s going on, they’re engaged. We do a lot of public engagement and surveys; we want to know what our residents want and where they see us growing.We’re not only measuring job growth and building permit numbers, we’re also measuring pride in the community– how many people are saying great things about the community, how many local investors want to take their hard-earned money and put it back into Wetaskiwin.” The fourth pillar is marketing, and Fossen says the city has lately become “quite aggressive in our marketing. In fact, we just won a national award.” That award was for Wetaskiwin’s “Imagi- nation Tourism” marketing ad at this year’s Economic Developers Association of Canada (EDAC) Conference, held this past September. In addition, with some fund- ing from the province, the