The board of management for the Downtown Orillia Business Improvement Area (DOBIA) is proud to share the news that the DOBIA has won the prestigious Award of Excellence in the Streetscaping and Public Realm Improvements category at the annual Ontario Business Improvement Area Association (OBIAA) Awards Gala.
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 DOBIA project entry titled SOAR Birds of Ontario Art Exhibition took home the top prize.
The SOAR project came into being as a result of co-operation between the DOBIA, 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 unique and masterful works of art featuring 66 distinct Ontario songbirds.
“The SOAR project was a wonderful example of community building in action. 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. A big thank you to our fantastic partners and sponsors — the Downtown Orillia BIA, the Orillia Naturalists’ Club and The Birdhouse Nature Company — who supported this initiative to help ensure that its success and impact reached a wide audience.” — Leslie Fournier, Streets Alive Productions
“This remarkable project is another shining example of what can be accomplished by working together with our community partners like our local community of artists and Streets Alive Productions. It also highlights the importance of building those positive community relationships that can be leveraged to produce some impactful results for our community.” — Deron Johnston, DOBIA executive director
