Status: A-Team OUT

(Voiceover) "Who are we? You sure you wanna know? The story of our lives is not for the faint of heart. If somebody said it was a happy little tale, if somebody told you we were just your average citizens, not a care in the world, somebody lied. But let me assure you, this, like any story worth telling, is all about a city. That city. The city you live in (or maybe you don’t, but that’s ok too). Burlington, Ontario. The city we've loved since before we even liked cities..."

Well, you actually already know most of our story. But we needed a beginning, and trust us it ties in great with the line at the end. As you may know (if you stalk us), this is our last blog. Try to hold back your tears. It will get better. The emptiness might never go away, but it gets easier to bear with time.

In order to replace the void in your lives that our departure will definitely cause, you could always come to the Visitor Information Centre to purchase one-of-a-kind Burlington souvenirs! For your utilization purposes, we’re just stocked up on Burlington mugs- both the ceramic and travel mug variety- and Burlington t-shirts (in such rockin’ colours as lime green, banana and GOLD – solid 24 karat gold shirts. Just think how jealous your friends will be).

Let’s make a deal. We are going to make a list of clues hinting at something Burlington-related and you are going to figure out what it is. Your prize? Personal satisfaction.

1. It’s in Spencer Smith Park
2. There will be 175 000 of your closest friends there
3. The Real Jerk will be there (no, not your ex)*
4. There will be 150 000 pounds of ribs
5. It starts with a rib and ends with a fest

*Just to clarify: The Real Jerk is a featured Rib Team…though your ex may or may not be on the team I suppose.

Have you guessed what it is? Good. We know you’re intelligent because you’re already reading our blog. (Just in case you haven’t, it’s Ribfest, and it’s awesome). Come down this Labour Day weekend and choose from 18 Rib Teams- or don’t choose…have one from each! And while you’re digesting and preparing for the next round, check out more than 25 musical acts, crafts, kids’ activities and fireworks Friday night at 11pm! Also check out our office, because there will be a very pleasant British woman happy to help you.

On to the goodbyes. First, the Cap’n: Sally, thank you for steering the Visitor Services Ship in the right direction (even though Kat crashed it into the wall). To the rest of the full-time squad, Pam, both Lindas, Simone and Lauren: we appreciate the many projects, especially the Sport Organization Database (you know who you are), the exciting snacks left on the back counter and your cheerfulness even at 6:00 am (you know who you are, and you may or may not be the same person). For Russ, down at the waterfront, your singing was incredible and we enjoyed your efforts to remove every single fingerprint on the windows. To the rest of the student Task Force: Godspeed. We hope your exam questions are less challenging than some of the questions we have received here.

Finally, to our fearless followers: thank you first of all for becoming followers, and second of all for dedicating minutes of your life to reading the postings. We are eternally grateful that you found us amusing, or maybe you didn’t but still read it anyways. In that case, we are even more grateful.

As a parting gift, we have left you with an inspirational message, courtesy of Tobey Maguire. Remember this always and recite it to yourself as you fall asleep: "Whatever life holds in store for us, we will never forget these words: 'With great power comes great responsibility.' This is our gift. Our curse. Who are we? We’re K&A."

Till next summer, stay classy Burlington.
K&A.

Tourism Burlington: Alysserrific

Hello loyal fans!

This is Justin Bieber. Just kidding, it’s not, but if it was, he’d have a sweeter job than he does already. On to business. These are our confessions: just when we thought we said all we could say, we must admit, we [Natalie] have [has] a secret obsession with Justin Bieber. How did we discover this? I’m so glad you asked (don’t worry; we won’t subject you to that one again). Though she tried to disguise it as “browsing the Stratford Tourism website”, we all know that this was not the case. In actuality, she follows Justin Bieber on Twitter and consequentially stumbled upon this gem.

Not wanting to be outdone by anyone, we here at Tourism Burlington decided to create a map about our own local superstar: yours truly, Alyssa the Awesome. Without further ado, we present you with the Alysserrific Map of Downtown Burlington.

We hope you enjoy your tour of Alyssa's Burlington. Maybe one day you'll get lucky and see her. Probably not though, she's super stealthy.

K&A.

Tourism Burlington: Live from the Beach

We on the Task Force don’t struggle with much. But there is one thing that we on very rare occasions have a slightly more difficult than normal time with: beginnings. In an attempt to avoid having to write the beginning ourselves, we thought we would let our dear friend Lewis Carroll do it for us:

"'Where shall I begin, please your Majesty?' [Alyssa] asked. 'Begin at the beginning,' the King said, gravely, 'and go on till you come to the end: then stop.'"

Seeing as he’s a king, we have decided to do what he says.

So, we begin our tale yesterday in the far away land of Niagara-on-the-Lake at a mythical place known as the Ontario Travel Information Centre. Your beacheriffic travel counselors were there in force, handing out free drinks, Frisbees and Burlington information to visitors from across North America. The highlight of course was this weekend’s Children’s Festival, which kicked off today at Beachway Park.

Children, families and adults galore gathered at the beach to participate in the epic once a year showdown of sand and castles or, as they are commonly referred to as, sandcastles. Sandi Castle was in her element. The competition was fierce (almost as fierce as the competition to pick up a free Tourism Burlington Frisbee – we know, they’re awesome). We would like to applaud all participants for their creativity, artistic ability and liberal use of sunscreen.

Did you miss the sandcastles? Are you sad? Do you wish there was some sort of second day to the Children’s Festival, perhaps one featuring entertainment, skateboarding demonstrations and activity areas? Well aren’t you lucky. Tomorrow, from 10:00am to 4:00pm those things AND MORE will be happening at Spencer Smith Park. And if you are lucky enough to snag a seat in the shuttle service, you may get a rare but dazzling glimpse of your travel counselors outside of their natural information centre habitat. Discovery Channel, we’ll be waiting.

K&A.

Tourism Burlington: Artsy Edition

Hello bloggy friends.
Alyssa is travelling.
Kat and Nat today.

So to celebrate,
And to boost our artsy cred:
Our blog in haiku.

Burlington events?
We have all the knowledge here.
And we’ll share with you!

No more tasty deals.
Goodbye Taste of Burlington.
You went very well.

Ballot entry done.
Fingers nearly fell right off.
Winners got their prize.

Are you still hungry?
Come down Sunday, August 8th:
Lakeside a la Carte.

Blacktree, Canyon Creek,
My Thai, Spencer’s, Red Canoe,
They will all be there.

Civic Holiday,
Celebrated Joseph Brant
Reptile guy was there.

Hot air balloon rides,
Visitors were lifted high.
Kat was right (for once).

Need something to do?
Come build sandcastles with us!
Right at beachway park!

Children’s Fest awaits,
Inflatables, face paint, crafts,
Fun for parents too!

Just for you, a treat!
Blogging live from festival,
Tune in next weekend!

-K&N
(if you can come up,
With a joke for these letters,
Free Haiku for you!)

P.S. In case you thought all of that was too relevant to tourism:
The tourism travel counselors have brought life into the world. And we don’t mean Linda’s Eva or Sally’s new grand counselor. We mean Basil. Basil is a basil plant. His full title is Basil the Burlington Basil.

Please note that the “a” in Basil’s name is soft (as a baby gosling’s underfeathers), while the “a” in his title is hard (as an adult Canada goose’s raptor talons).

P.P.S. Another video blog is in the works. Every extra moment it takes to be finished adds an extra ounce of awesome.

Tourism Burlington: We're So Glad You Asked

Good afternoon, Tourism Burlington- how can we help you? We’re so glad you called. What’s new in the neighbourhood? We’re so glad you asked. Tell you what: we’ll lay it all out for you right now.

First things first. Kat is on vacation, and let me tell you- her working here is but a distant memory. I hardly remember the times she took a seat beside me to write this blog. I don’t even remember what she looked like in the stunning Tourism Burlington uniform that was slightly too big on her. I don’t even remember who I’m talking about right now…where was I going with this?

I would now like to welcome Natalie, who has risen to the occasion and filled in as co-blogger! I was going to put a joke in here, but I can’t think of anything funny. Seriously though, I’ve got nothing.

Onto Tourism-related events. Taste of Burlington launched July 19th, and trust me on this one, Burlington tastes delicious. Flyers have been flying off the shelves so fast that there is actually now an underground distribution ring for Taste of Burlington brochures. What? You want one? How do you get one? I’m so glad you asked. Stop by our centre at 414 Locust St. But careful, the program ends August 2nd! So put your running shoes on and get down here. Now, didn’t I see something about Taste of Burlington on CHCH Tuesday night? We’re so glad you asked. Yes, yes you did. Our very own Linda Cvetanovic was interviewed on Live at 5:30 about the program and the positive response it has been getting. Watch out Burlington…we’re everywhere.

Onto event-related events. The Jazz n’ Blues Festival was this past weekend, and unfortunately the weather was as blue as the music (but not as soulful). That being said, Sunday afternoon brought a larger crowd as Mother Nature brought out the sun. She was a little tardy, we know. Appropriate complaints have been filed. As many of you also know, this Monday marks (as Kat likes to put it) the “not quite a statutory holiday but somewhat close to it” day. Joseph Brant Day, celebrating the man named after Burlington’s busiest street (other than Lakeshore, and maybe Plains – highways not included) will be held at LASALLE Park. We would just like to point out that this year there WILL be balloon rides. Hey…wait a second…didn’t Kat tell people there would be balloon rides last year, but they were nowhere to be found? We’re so glad you asked. Yes, she dropped the ball(oon) on that one. There will also be many more displays and activities to check out, including music, Six Nations dancers, a BBQ, boat rides, and reptile people. Not some half human hybrids, but instead people with reptiles (unless we have been grossly misinformed).

Onto blog-related events. Last week, we released our first video blog, and what a video blog it was. The tabloids immediately started to speculate, was Dania secretly dating her co-star, Lake Ontario? We cannot confirm or deny, but as far as we know, they’re just friends (but so were Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. Six kids later and look how that turned out).

Since we’ve had so many views, we’ve decided to give you a bit of a look behind the scenes of our “City Your City Could Be Like” video, and questions your inquisitive mind might have:

What was the video filmed on?
The video was filmed on Natalie’s camera (which is a Canon VIXIA HF100, for anyone who finds that sort of thing important).

Who filmed the movie?
Natalie, because she won’t let anyone else touch her camera.

What was the video edited with?
iMovie. Yes, we like the program, but we’re not crazy Mac people. Actually, we’re not exclusively “Mac” or “PC” people. We like computers in general. Don’t be hatin.

What was the budget for the film?
The budget was $7.50 in Burlington pins. We’re just joshing you. It was funded by unicorns, rainbow sparkles and the goodness of our hearts.

How did the lake suddenly appear in the background?
Although that transition may have seemed seamless, we actually turned off the camera in the office, walked to the lake, and proceeded to turn the camera back on. A stroke of genius, we know.

How did the sweater and pins just drop into the frame?
Below we’ve posted a couple uncropped shots from the video. If you look VERY closely, you can actually see Kat standing on a stepladder beside Dania, ready to drop what we need. Also, her aim was really good. I don’t think we had to redo any takes because Kat missed.

- N&A (as opposed to N/A. We are very applicable.)

Video Blog 2: Burlington Coupon Book

Thanks to everyone who checked out our last video blog! 266 Youtube views (and that doesn't even include facebook views) inspired us to create another! How did we do this so quickly? Time travel.

This week we have for you, a video entitled "Burlington Coupon Book," filmed/edited by Natalie, starring Alyssa and Michelle (as the voice-over). Shout out to Celine, who generously took on the important role of "stay at the front desk while we film this in the back office," so she could still help out our visitors. Nothing can stop us from providing tourism-related information.

Without further ado, "Burlington Coupon Book," based off of this commercial! (You have to follow the link, since this is a bit of a larger video file)

Keep in mind that you actually can come in and get both a Burlington Coupon Book and Burlington/Canada pin free!

Would we lie to you?

Stay tuned for a text-blog to be released in the very near future!

Burlington: The City Your City Could Be Like

Tourism Burlington proudly presents:

A Natalie short film starring Dania with special effects by Kat,

Burlington: The City Your City Could Be Like. We hope you like it (spoiler alert - you will). It took a lot of takes. A LOT OF TAKES. And a lot of confused Pane Fresco patrons. Anyways, here we go.

If you don't get it, maybe you haven't seen the commercial it's based off of.

Thanks for waiting so patiently. There are more to come (but only if you comment on the awesomeness of this one).

K&A&N.

P.S. There's a higher res version available on youtube so you can see our video in all its glory.

A Talk to Remember

Before we get this show on the road, we have something we would like to establish, if we can remember all of it: there are few monumental events in your life that you will always remember. Your first day at school. Your first boy/girlfriend. Your graduation. The 5th of November. Denzel Washington would like us to make sure you remember forever the night you played the Titans (Fun fact: this line was actually said by Will Patton. But do you know who he is? We didn’t think so). And finally, the most obvious and life-altering of all, this blog.

Remember that time the Kite and Ice Cream Festival was supposed to be June 6th and then it rained and they made it be July 11th? Yes, we do too. And we were there. There were also, not surprisingly, kites, ice cream, and children having a very lovely time…with their kites and ice cream. Though eating ice cream while flying a kite proved to be very difficult for them. Not for us though. We like to multi-task like children like kites and ice cream. Remember that.

Moving on. Remember that time Kat and Natalie made the epic trip to Wasaga in search of visitor guides and a tan? Well, they succeeded in one of those things! Check out this documentation for proof (photo credit to Luisa).


Remember that time Celebrate the Brant Inn happened tonight and A Taste of Burlington started Monday July 19th? Well if you do, you’re lying, because neither event has happened yet. That or you have invented a time machine. One is more plausible than the other, but we’re not going to insult your intellectual capacity.

Remember that time we promised we’d give a shout out to the first five new followers of our blog? That time is NOW. So in no particular order, we would like to thank Alaina, who recently returned from Hong Kong, just to join the blog; Liana, who has requested a Tourism Burlington Coupon Book; Luisa, who is Tourism Burlington’s foreign correspondent who documented the Wasaga excursion; Janie, who hails all the way from Toronto; and Kyle, who probably became a follower out of obligation, but we’ll still take it.

We would also like to inform all of our followers that, yes, we remembered our other promise: the video blog is on the horizon. We have not forgotten about this. Natalie is in the editing and perfecting stage.

Remember that time the blog was over and you were sad?

K&A.

New Travel Counsellor

Congratulations to our very own Linda C., who last night became a mom for the second time! Little Lilly is now a big sister to Eva, who we all can't wait to meet. Both mom and daughter are doing well, and we've already planned how we're going to be training our newest travel counsellor!

Tourism Burlington: A Medley

Oh hi, I didn’t see you there. Kat’s on the phone, so I decided to take the reins on this one. Temporarily. Not permanently because that would be good for no one (Kat nods in agreement). Let’s get this show on the road because there’s a lot to cover in what little time we have with you this morning. So please cherish this precious time.

First and foremost, we have been experiencing some suspicious symptoms here at 414 Locust Street, Burlington, Ontario. A little something generally referred to as Writer’s Block. This led us to brainstorm- what could we do to make this blog sparkle just a little bit more? Add just a little more glitter and a wee bit more of a wow factor.

Because we are really smart and creative, it did not take us long to come up with a solution. Two words. Video. Blog. What is better than reading a book? Watching the movie! Ergo what is better than reading our blog? Watching our blog! Ergo starting this week/next week (based on whether or not Natalie can remember her camera), we will air the first ever video blog of any tourism organization in the ENTIRE WORLD (disclaimer: we have no factual evidence to back this up. If you are a fellow tourist office with a video blog, do let us know).

Now that your mind has been officially blown, please attempt to focus on the following information while cleaning up the mess:

1. In case you were unaware job that our job significantly trumps yours in every way possible, last Tuesday we had a Scavenger Hunt. For FIVE HOURS we braved blistering heat, driving rain and a raging blizzard (all at once) to find answers to clues leading to locations in Downtown Burlington. What? You don’t believe us? Oh I wish we had pictures-oh wait. We do.





>> Please note the human pyramid. Please note that we are the human pyramid.







>> Initial debrief/ planning phase/ plotting session. Obviously very thought out and effective. For the most part.






>> Wondering where the tornado at Discovery Landing has run off to? Tansley Woods, actually. We decided to fashion our own tornado as a tribute...and this was the uncanny result.








2. Canada Day. It happened and it was fabulous! Fireworks will never cease to amaze us.

3. You may be wondering why we seem slightly manic today. Well, yesterday we had to rise from our beauty sleeps at FIVE THIRTY IN THE MORNING. Why you ask? For the Great Waterfront Trail Adventure of course! Your faithful bloggers, our beloved leader, Linda O. and Lauren were all there, chipper and alert, to welcome cyclists from across Ontario, Quebec and even New Zealand to your lovely city of Burlington. With such cheers as “Welcome to Burlington!”, “This way to breakfast!” and “Yay it’s early but you’re still exercising!” the cyclists really felt welcomed.

4. LIMITED TIME OFFER: the first five people to become new followers of the blog will receive personalized shout-outs in future editions. But hurry. This morning we sent out emails to everyone we know (including our parents).

Stay tuned for the VIDEO BLOG.

Stand by,
K&A.

Tourism Burlington: Increasing in Popularity Each Day

Hello world and those of you reading this from alien planets,

First and foremost, we have two new followers. Lauren and Sharon bring our followers up to 9- a whopping 29% increase. And after only two blogs this year! Is it just us or is our charm and humor infecting the population more rapidly?

Onto more Tourism-related news. The Sound of Music was pretty much the most exciting musical experience that has ever graced your soul in the matter of four days. There were 25,000 attendants Thursday night, which shattered all previous Thursday night attendance records. As one woman once said to us, “never underestimate the power of a free Marianas Trench concert”. The fireworks Saturday night drew a large audience as well. They were very captivating- not unlike your Travel Counsellors. We would also like to thank Mother Nature for holding down her end of the bargain. We pay you and you give us good weather. It seems like a fair bargain.

It’s been a while since we gave you a glimpse into the glamour and intrigue of our day-to-day lives, so here’s a little overview:
08:00: Dania and Alyssa start work.
08:02: Dania takes out the sign. Alyssa updates the whiteboard and turns on WORLD CUP SOCCER.
08:30: First visitor arrives. They are very pleased with our friendly demeanor and excellent customer service.
09:00: Alyssa does menus for the fabulous Taste of Burlington program starting July 19th. This takes a while.
10:00: Kat and Celine arrive at home base.
11:00-13:30: Dania and Celine man the fort while Kat and Alyssa go on a Top Secret Mission to recruit allies and distribute information regarding our upcoming and fabulous event, a Taste of Burlington (Shameless plug: A Taste of Burlington features 23 of Burlington’s finest restaurants offering prix-fixe lunch and/or dinner menus! To learn more, visit http://www.tasteofburlington.ca/).
13:30-14:00: Stop for refueling.
14:00-16:00: Reconnaissance mission to Discovery Landing.
16:00-18:00: Back at the Visitor Centre.

One last update before we depart – Canada Day festivities will be held at Spencer Smith Park next Thursday July 1st. They will kick off at 8:30am with the Canada Day 5km run and conclude with a fireworks display of awesome at 10:00pm. There will also be FREE BREAKFAST at 9:30am (while quantities last). It is going to be fantastic.

More to come next week. Until then…

Stand by,
K&A.

The Hills are Alive with the Sound of AWESOME

Remember that time Sound of Music started today? Oh yeah, that’s today. Remember that time we were looking for the cube? Oh yeah, we found it. And we didn’t need three hours or Megan Fox to do it – what do you think this is, a Michael Bay movie? No, this is a Sally Fitzgibbon production. We do things efficiently, cheerfully and with a delightfully charming British accent (and on a much tighter budget).

With our charisma restored, we can once again resume our witty and entertaining coverage of Burlington and its events. To start it off, last week featured not one but TWO exciting festivals!! Numerous locations across Burlington welcomed visitors as part of Doors Open and the Burlington Art Centre hosted the Fine Art and Craft Festival. All in all, another awesome weekend in Burlington.

As we remembered at the beginning of the blog, tonight is the start of BURLINGTON’S SOUND OF MUSIC FESTIVAL. And tonight’s gonna be a good night. We’ve got a feeling. Since We Are Bravest (Thursday 7:00pm), we thought we’d give you a little preview of the weekend’s line-up. For Those About to Rock (Thursday 8:30pm), as long as you have Faith, Trust and Pixie Dust with Tinkerbell (Sunday 5:00pm), you’ll be The Bee’s Knees (Saturday 2:00pm and 4:00pm). You’re Practically Hip (Thursday 10:00pm) if you’re a Great Lake Swimmer[s] (Saturday 3:30pm). People are coming all the way from the Marianas Trench (Thursday 9:45pm) and even the Lighthouse (Friday 9:30pm). The Irish Descendents (Saturday 8:00pm) will be bringing their Small Potatoes (Sunday 2:00pm) and the Two Crown King[s] (Saturday 9:00pm) will be bringing Jason Collett (Friday 8:00pm). Even if you live 2112 (Thursday 7:00pm) miles away, you should come out and witness the New York Dolls (Saturday 3:30pm). Hey Rosetta! (Saturday 8:00pm) – that includes you. For more details, visit www.soundofmusic.ca.

As the very friendly man from an unnamed Canadian satellite TV provider came and fixed our satellite, Tourism Burlington is now proud to host the World Cup (disclaimer: we are not actually hosting the World Cup. It is in South Africa. But we are broadcasting the games live on our large television!). Your travel counselors each have a favourite team (but we all know England is the best. We refuse to talk about that goal). Come on in, grab a bite to eat from Pane Fresco and cheer on your teams!

Before we sign off, we’d like to send a special shout out to our former comrade, A-Nelz. She is currently saving the entire province of Nova Scotia, no big deal.

Stand by,
K&A.

Transformers: Prologue

Before time began, there was the Cube. We know not where it comes from, only that it holds the power to provide knowledge and fill our souls with charisma. That is how we were born. For a time, we lived in harmony. But like all great powers, some wanted it for good, others for evil. And so began the battle. A battle that ravaged our planet and the Cube was lost to the far reaches of space. We scattered across the galaxy, hoping to find it and become even more awesome. Searching every star, every world. And just when all hope seemed lost, message of a new discovery drew us to an unknown planet called... Earth.

Such is our quest. We have narrowed down the location of the Cube to the beautiful city of Burlington, situated on the shores of Lake Ontario and conveniently located within an hour of Toronto and Niagara Falls (so we can catch a Jays’ game in between completely destroying the Decepticons). Over the next three months we will be documenting our endeavours while posing as Travel Counsellors with Tourism Burlington. This way we have access to all maps, city Intelligence and a really useful coupon book.

We send this message to any citizens looking for something to do this summer. Read the blog, come to the Visitors’ Centre, visit the city.

We are here. We are waiting.