1. Meaford Big Red Chair Tour
Stephen Murray
Economic Development & Tourism Officer
April 17th, 2018
Municipality of Meaford
May 8, 2019

2. Where did the idea of the Big Red Chairs come from?
Municipality of Meaford
May 8, 2019

3. How to Build a Big Red Chair
I approached Drew Ferris at the local high school who agreed to build as many chairs as they could, over two semesters.
Municipality of Meaford
May 8, 2019

4. Building the Chairs
Drew Ferris & students created 8 of the Big Red Chairs
An additional 5 chairs were made through Bayview Escarpment and Fine Furniture – Scott Gooch in Annan.
We keep one chair as an extra in case one needs replaced (resides at the Fire Hall) and we had two more created as a promotional tool that are Canadian themed.
The actual tour has 10 chairs located in Scenic or high traffic areas. One chair is actually located in Georgian Bluffs at The Grey Roots Museum and Archives.
Municipality of Meaford
May 8, 2019

5. Location of the 10 Big Red Chairs
Municipality of Meaford
May 8, 2019

6. Partnerships The chairs are located throughout the whole municipality.
Memorial Park, Station Hill, Beautiful Joe Park, Fred Raper Park, Irish Mountain Lookout, Coffin Ridge Boutique Winery,
Leith Beach, Fox Harley-Davidson, Grey Roots Museum & Archives and the Bognor Marsh
Municipality of Meaford
May 8, 2019

7. Not Just Big Chairs
Even though the chairs are located in attractive locations, we wanted to ensure the chairs were well utilized.
Therefore each chair had a panel added to the back that revealed the locations of each chair, a local history story and two nearby things to see or do.
Featured local history stories included:
Tom Thomson, Woodford & Balaclava
John Muir, Grandma Lambes
Bruce Trail, Beautiful Joe Park
Meaford Harbour, Meaford Apple Industry
Meaford Rail, Meaford Tank Range.
Municipality of Meaford
May 8, 2019

8. Not Just Big Chairs
The recommended places to see and do on the back of the panel included 20 stops.
The Barn Co-op, Hibou Conservation Area
Tom Thomson Trail, Georgian Trail
Meaford Museum, Meaford Hall
Storybook Park, Ainslie Conservation Area
Kilannan Brewing Company, Big Apple
Windsong Ranch, Bognor Playground
Teds Range Road Diner, Trout Hollow Trail
Historic Leith Church, Bighead River Fishing & Paddling
Beautiful Joe off leash park, Irish Mountain B&B.
Westfort Coast Guard ship, Beach & Splash Pad, and
The Tour is active from May 1st- October 31st.
Municipality of Meaford
May 8, 2019

9. Marketing the Tour
A local Meaford Company called MyFavoriteMarketer assisted in the design and development of the brochure & information panels added to the back of the chairs.
Utilized the Municipal website to promote the tour
Video was created using an ipad and two local children
In 2017, 11,000 copies of the brochure were created and are distributed within the region and at each chair
By using our hashtag #meafordchairs, we are able to estimate how popular the chairs are through postings on social media channels like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Since June of 2017 we have had over 330 posts on Instagram alone with an average of about 100 likes each. This means we have reached an additional 33,000 people by simply encouraging those who take a picture in the chair to share it online.
Municipality of Meaford
May 8, 2019

10. Marketing the Tour
Our Big Red Canadian Chairs have been used to help promote the Meaford tour at various local events and regional tourist draws.
This includes appearances during the Meaford 1000ft Urban Slide event, Meaford Hall events, Santa Claus Parade, Meaford Canada Day and in partnership with our regional partners in Thornbury, at Scandinave Spa, Blue Mountain Village, Scenic Caves Adventure Area and Grandma Lambes 2.
Municipality of Meaford
May 8, 2019

11. Big Red Chair Extra Fun
Municipality of Meaford
May 8, 2019

12. Thank You
Municipality of Meaford
May 8, 2019