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St. Croix Courier
May 7/1996
Big Shots Capture Algonquin crew on Film. Chuck Brown. (Big Shots Inc., Fton—photographic company specializing in panoramic photos)
It's far from the newest microchip-enhanced, auto-focus, auto-zoom, auto-advance, auto-everything cameras of today. But Big Shots Inc., a Fredericton-based company, has a camera that can do something not many others can. Martin Grosweiner and James Wilson were in St. Andrews Monday to photograph this year's Algonquin Hotel staff. They did it with heir unique panoramic camera which is capable of photographing groups of up to 10,000 people. There weren't quite that many huddled and shivering on the Algonquin's front lawn Monday, but there were enough for big Shots to demonstrate what their camera can do. Called circuit camera, it's capable of panning a full 360 degrees and can be used to photograph just about anything. "There's no group too big, that's our motto," said Wilson. The camera dates back to 1926 and has been refurbished to enable the use of color film. there are only about 200 such cameras in the world As Grosweiner explained to the crowd of eager Algonquinites, the camera starts photographing at one end of the group and pans across to the other so not everyone is having their picture taken at the same time. Snapshots, these are not.
In fact, if you were quick enough you could get in the picture twice, if you started at the left side then ran around behind the camera to the far end while the camera is panning the crow3ed. The average length of a big Shots print is three feet but they can be a large as six feet. In the one year they've been in businss, Grosweiner and Wilson have photographed groups as large as 2,000 at the Labatt's 24-hour relay as well as 1,000 Fredericton High school graduates. they also recently photographed the New Brunswick Museum's 45-foot long whale skeleton.
St. Croix Courier
June 4/1996
Tourism in Atlantic Canada: Facing up to the Challenge of Change
Atlantic Canada's natural splendours and cultural attractions may be its best kept features, but they'll remain only its best kept secrets unless businesses, governments and financial institutions learn to compete more effectively for one of the world's fastest-growing consumer markets: tourism.
That, at least, is the consensus of industry experts and professionals from across Atlantic Canada who gather at a conference recently to ponder the obstacles which, they insist, have kept the region a poor cousin to other parts of Canada in the lucrative trade. "There's no doubt that fundamental change is essential if tourism is to thrive here in the decades to come," said Patrick Valardo, President of the Atlantic tourism Industry Caucus and co-chair of the event, the Atlantic Canada Tourism Conference: Growing in the 21st Century. "This conference was a vital step in what must be vast, coordinated effort to pull up our socks as an industry. Until recently, many people have not wanted to face the truth: as a region, we are falling behind as a tourism destination."
Indeed, the suggestion seems to fly in the face of conventional wisdom which has claimed, in recent years, precisely the opposite. According to federal government, provincial government and industry statistics, last year alone tourism in Atlantic Canada was worth $2.2 billion in direct revenue. It employed more than 80,000 people, and provided all levels of government with nearly $700 million in tax money. In fact, by percentage of gross domestic product earned from tourism, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Newfoundland ranked first, second, fourth and fifth, respectively, among provinces in Canada.
But, as Valargo and others strss, these numbers don't tell the whole story. According to the conference Board of Canada and the Canadian Tourism Research Institute, tourism in all four Atlantic provinces is growing at a lower pace than in any other region of the country. Pleasure trips to Atlantic Canadian locations are expected to grow by a mere two or three per cent in 1996. That compares with expected growth rates of between four and five percent in Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia. "There is vast, untapped potential in Atlantic Canada's tourism products and properties," said Peter Estey, vice-president of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, who co-chaired the Moncton conference in April. "there is urgency in the challenges facing Atlantic tourism, and a need for a common, regional approach to tourism development."
Valardo, who points to the region's historic sites, parks, beaches, campgrounds, as well as its eco-tourism and outdoor adventure recreations, heartily agrees. "The real challenges we face are invariably systemic and region-wide, requiring a coordinated regional approach. As a region, we must spread the word about ourselves more widely. We must use emerging technologies to attract visitors. We need to expand and enhance the specific tourism products and services we offer. We need to improve and strengthen the infrastructure we need to operate successfully."
The good news is that eh process has begun. Participants in last month's tourism conference—representatives from provincial tourism associations and governments, the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, and the private sector—emerged from their plenaries and discussions with a determination to boost the industry's growth by 15 to 20 percent over the next 10 years.
Better still, they presented specific recommendations to help the industry achieve its lofty goal: Expand current tourism marketing strategies to include product development and industry networking; encourage the industry to more actively chart is own future; encourage greater region-wide cooperation; develop a comprehensive awareness program designed to promote the value of employer and employee training; establish a tourism technology team to assess the information technology needs of the industry; and encourage industry and the banking community to develop an active plan to improve the financial stability of the industry.
According to Valardo, "We are going to do everything we can to ensure that this promising industry grows twice as fast into the next century."
St. Croix Courier
Aug 13/1996
Kingsbrae Arms is Canada's first and only 5-star Inn.
Kingsbrae Arms, a heritage estate with a sprawling turn of the century house and one acre of manicured lawns and well-tended gardens has become the first and only five-star inn in Canada. The five stars were officially awarded by Canada Select, the national organization which rates properties throughout Canada to ensure they meet or exceed the highest in customer expectations and satisfaction. Five stars is the highest possible rating. It represents an exceptional property, the country's best. While meeting the Canada Select five star criteria, Kingsbrae Arms exceeds these criteria with a range of exclusive complimentary services and amenities designed for the sophisticated traveler who enjoys fine living in an historic setting while demanding 21st century technology.
Kingsbrae Arms was created by partners, David A. Oxford and Harry Chancey, Jr. They are the owners of a luxury bed and breakfast, Centennial House, in East Hampton, Long Island, well known to discerning travelers from the New York City region and around the world. Their new venture, Kingsbrae Arms, is themed a "garden inn," and derives its name from the merging 27-acre Kingsbrae Horticultural Garden adjacent to the property. The garden is scheduled to open in 1998. "Hart hat" tours are currently being conducted while the lawns, waterworks formal planting, borders, paths, labyrinths, orchards and woodland walks are being built.
"We bought this property and restored this gracious home for the five star market because of the garden next door being built," Oxford said. Chancey added, "We believe that the two enterprises, the inn at the garden, and the garden by the inn, will make important economic contributions to this part of Atlantic Canada."
Kingsbrae Arms features nine luxurious living quarters for guests, each difference, each uniquely appointed in the manner of a gracious and elegant home, not a commercial hotel. There are three grand suites, each containing a bedroom and sitting room. Each is individually air-conditioned in summer, and heated by fingertip thermostat controls in winter. There are fireplaces in each room.
There are six king and queen guest room, also fully air-conditioned, and heated by thermostat controls. Every room as a fireplace.
All units feature en suite four piece sumptuous bathrooms with marble vanities, oversized tubs, many with 6 foot whirlpools built for two. Showers have fingertip controlled pressure and tempertuere balancing with combination pulsating/rainmaking shower heads. All bathrooms are individually heated to meet the guest's preference for comfort.
Each room features elegant period furniture that hearken back to the 18th, 19th and early 20th century. In the home setting, the collections are as eclectic as the collections of the previous generations would have been including framed oils, prints, lithographs and photos. The four-poster draped canopy beds and 18th century reproduction armoires in the guest rooms have all been crafted and built by local carpenters in St. Andrews. All guest rooms feature state of the art communications including direct dial telephones, voice mail, and data ports for direct access to faxing and the information superhighway.
Guest amenities in every room include; cable television, VCR hook-ups and demand special soap and bath collections, chocolate truffles, fresh flowers, feather and won comforters and pillows, waffle weave sauna robes and layered window treatments.
Downstairs, the public rooms feature period furnishing, wall, and window treatments. Oriental carpets, antiques and art objects including an early American weather vane, Latin American Santos, and stately English tall case clock. The spacious parlour has two crystal chandeliers, two marble fireplaces, and a bay window giving out to the formal garden. A grand piano sits upon a raised nook in the corner. Plush chintz sofas situated around the two fireplaces beckon guests to relax from their exciting days of exploring the rich natural an cultural finds of St. Andrews, and the adjacent gardens. Coffee tables abound with art book and periodical for all tastes.
Next door to the parlor in the paneled library, silk covered chairs and a leather chesterfield before a roaring fire of birth logs recall the days when cigar smoking moguls made their business deals. Now in the refreshingly smoke-free library, guests are free to borrow all books publications and videotapes for their guest rooms.
Next door to the library is the dining room. The alls are upholstered in a fine New Brunswick documentary fabric of gossamer floral garland above the wainscoting. In the center of the room, a magnificent English gate leg tale sits under a Russian double-tiered, brass chandelier and before an open flame in the Delft tiled fireplace. Full country breakfast are complimentary. A price fixed menus us available for overnight guests who choose to make lunch and dinner arrangements.
Outdoors, Kingsbrae Arms boasts its own acre of landscaped gardens and a heated swimming pool for the exclusive use of its guests. Round the clock service at Kingsbrae Arms is attentive, but unobtrusive. Guests have all the services of a large hotel, but the quiet reserve of a residential environment including concierge, valet, bell, businss, and room services.
the Town of St. Andrews was settled as a loyalist preserve immediately following the American Revolution. The streets were named after the children of King George. It wasn't until 1897 that the house, now known as Kingsbrae Arms, was built by a Canadian family involved in the trade with China. Today, many of the rare Chinese porcelains, screens, tables, jades and other artefacts which the family imported can be seen at the Charlotte County Historical Society Museum nearby. Since it was built, the house has played a role as one of several grand estates occupied by wealthy families during the summer. It is among the homes once owned by Sir William Van Horne, Lord Shaughnessy, Lord Beaverbrook Sir James Dunn, Charles Hosmer, Howard Pillow, Murray Vaughn, and the architect Robert Maxwell. At the turn of the century, St. Andrews had become something of a spa. If offered relief from hay fever via a railroad whose parlor cars were booked by these families in order to transport whole households to St. Andrews for the summer months.
Since 1897 the home has changed hands only three times. Among its former owners were some of St. Andrews most renowned summer residents. The current owners purchased the home from Lucinda Flemer, daughter of Murray Vaughn, and granddaughter of Howard Pillow, for years the President of the American Bank Note company. Mrs. Flemer is the major force and donor behind the magnificent 27 acre Kingsbrae Horticultural Gardens officially scheduled to open in 1998.
The new owners, Oxford and Chancey, came to St. Andrews with the vision of converting this elegant residence into a five star Inn, the first and only one of its kind in Canada. Oxford is retired from the practice of law in East Hampton. Formerly, he served as Legislative Counsel in Congrss, Washing, C.C.; and as Chief General Counsel to a Housing trade Association before embarking on a series of real estate acquisitions and renovations. Chancey served as vice-president of WNET/Thirteen, the New York City Public Television Station during his 20-year career in the media. His most recent video production was installed at the New York Public Library's Centennial Celebration. He is currently working on a media plan for Kingsbrae Arms' Centennial Celebration next year in 1997.
St. Croix Courier
Oct 15/1996
Historic Inn Building will regain identity. (Windsor House) A-2.
With some cooperation from the Town of St. Andrews, a nearly 200-year-0ld building on Water Street may be restored to its earlier incarnation as a picturesque inn. Developers John Remer and Gregory Cohane want to restore the Georgie Bell home of at 132 Water Street to its 1885 condition, when it was a well-known inn. The kicker is the restoration would have to include the reconstruction of the building's veranda which would encroach on town land by about half a meter (two feet). A purchase deal is scheduled to close on Oct. 31 if the town will allow the veranda to be built. Councillors listened to a presentation by designed Jess Gauley last week following which he was told the application would be approved as long as the town wouldn't be violating its zoning bylaws. The application has already been studied by the town's Planning advisory Committee which recommended the project be approved.
Gauley, who represents Remer and Cohane, told town council the building was constructed in the early 1800s and is a throwback to a St. Andrews renaissance. "it was from a time when St. Andrews underwent a sort of renaissance," he said. "It was kind of a boom time." Gauley said the building is an excellent example of Georgian and Victorian architecture which should be restored and preserved. Gauley showed councillors a series o slide illustrating some of its architectural highlights.
Included was a photo taken in the late 19th century which shows the inn with an upper balcony and lower veranda facing the resort town's main street. Gauley said the developers want the verandah to be at least six feet deep to ensure that it will be functional. Anything smaller would be impractical, Gauley said. He also pointed out to councillors that a number of Water Street buildings already encroach on town property. Gauley said it's important for his clients to receive permission from the town before they proceed. "My clients do not wish to take any steps without the approval of the town," he said. Following the presentation, councillors voted unanimously to support the restoration as soon as Town Manager Bill Mallory can be satisfied it can be authorized without violating town zoning by-laws.
St. Croix Courier
Dec 31/1996
Flashback photo of original Rossmount in 1956, shortly before it burned.