Orillia’s award of excellence is for the birds

Tarah Harper, membership coordinator Downtown Orillia BIA (L), Megan Murray, board secretary Downtown Orillia BIA, owner of Jack & Maddys: A Kids Store.

Orillia’s Downtown Orillia Business Improvement Area (DOBIA) won the Award of Excellence in the Streetscaping and Public Realm Improvements category at the annual Ontario Business Improvement Area Association (OBIAA) awards gala.

“This remarkable project ...highlights the importance of building those positive community relationships that can be leveraged to produce some impactful results for our community,” said Deron Johnston, the DOBIA executive director.

The Award of Excellence winners from all categories were honoured at this special gala dinner and reception during the recent BIA Conference hosted this past week in St. Catharines.

Despite some very stiff competition from other BIAs across the province, the Orillia association’s project entitled ‘SOAR Birds of Ontario Art Exhibition’ took home the top prize.

The SOAR project came into being as a result of cooperation between Orillia’s BIA, the Streets Alive Productions and many local artists who generously volunteered their time and talent.

Each artist was given a piece of precut and repurposed coroplast in the shape of an Ontario songbird which they used to create over 100 hundred unique and masterful works of art featuring 66 distinct Ontario songbirds.

“The SOAR project was a wonderful example of community building in action,” said Leslie Fournier with Streets Alive Productions.

“Our local artists deserve so much credit for painting such gorgeous and enticing works that not only beautified the downtown core but also brought foot traffic to our shops and restaurants.”

Run by an elected board of volunteers made up mostly of local business owners, the Downtown Orillia BIA (DOBIA) is home to prime shopping, dining, arts and entertainment with over 150 shops and 25 restaurants to choose from.

The DOBIA is self-funded through a special commercial levy paid by the commercial property owners within the specified footprint of the DOBIA.