The North Shore Adventure Park has partnered with Timber Coffee Company, Black Beach Mini-Golf, and the Gitchi Gami Trail Association to promote Silver Bay as a “must stop tourist destination”. Melissa Dressely, owner of North Shore Explorer in Grand Marais, will be working with these four businesses and attractions to create an “influencer marketing campaign”. Dressely will be producing videos highlighting the partnering businesses and natural features of Silver Bay, and then posting them to North Shore Explorer’s social media, email, and website this summer and fall.
Alice Tibbetts, owner of the North Shore Adventure Park, said of this campaign, titled “Spend the Day in Silver Bay”, “Our goal is to encourage visitors to stop on their drive up from Duluth or down from Thunder Bay. We need to celebrate what a great destination we are. Along with promoting Black Beach, our great hiking, and state parks, we want tourists to also support our businesses and attractions.”
Michelle Pierson spoke for the Gitchi Gami Trail Association. “It is a beautiful ride [the trail] with great overlooks, and we want to encourage riders to come up and enjoy local businesses. We also sponsor a summer bike ride that goes through Silver Bay, and we’d like that to be better known.”
This campaign is funded thanks to a grant from Best of the North Shore.
In other tourism related news, the North Shore Adventure Park has kicked off its sixth year. This year, the park has a focus on ensuring a “healthy and resilient” setting.
In a press release, owner Alice Tibbetts stated, “We are doing more to protect our assets – the trees, soil, and water. We had all of the trees assessed by professional arborists to help us protect them long-term. We added a new ladder element to bypass a tree that was not healthy, and we will be planting new native tree species. We are working to control the invasive tansy that is pervasive on the North Shore, and are also focusing on the diversity of our understory plants.”
The creek running through the park will be managed to avoid erosion. Because the park is the lowest point in Silver Bay before water enters Lake Superior, challenges are created in high snow and rain years. The Lake County Soil and Water Conservation District is helping the park assess these issues.
Tibbetts continued, “With our foot traffic and hilly terrain, managing trails is an ongoing challenge. With four acres of woods, we constantly add mulch to protect trees and the soil. This year, we invested in recycled, crushed asphalt on all the main trails to reduce wear and tear on the land. The material is porous so water will soak in and not create runoff on the slopes.”
As the Adventure Park is the only forested climbing park in Minnesota, it “offers a unique opportunity to see the world from the treetops.” Tibbetts desires for that view to be “healthy and beautiful”, citing the reason that “both tourists and locals experience something really unique here. We hope they understand how hard we work to care for the environment.”
Also this summer, the Adventure Park has announced a partnership with Perple Bunny Axe Throwing, based in the Twin Cities. Perple Bunny will be at the park September 15 for a demonstration and “how-to” for guests. The presenters are competitive throwers, and will teach techniques pertaining to the sport. A mini-tournament will be held that day, and fall leagues will be launched.
So whether you’re local or from out of town, check out what Silver Bay has to offer and plan to “Spend the Day in Silver Bay.”
