Kenora’s Holiday Trail tops last year’s results, adds new businesses

The City of Kenora says its 2025 Holiday Trail campaign brought more shoppers into local stores and surpassed the results from the previous year.

The program ran from late November through December and encouraged residents and visitors to explore participating storefronts and redeem in-store vouchers.

The city reports 143 Holiday Trail booklets were sold—an increase of 19 percent over 2024—while 746 vouchers were redeemed at local businesses, up 16 percent. Four new businesses also joined the campaign.

Kenora’s Economic Development and Tourism Department led the initiative in partnership with Harbourtown BIZ, with marketing support from Wake Marketing. Retailers offered gift items valued between 10 and 20 dollars that could be redeemed using vouchers, with businesses receiving a five-dollar reimbursement for each one used.

Feedback gathered from participating businesses in January points to strong support for the event. One business owner said the trail is “a fabulous way to get people into our downtown,” while another noted it helped boost “brand awareness, sales, and foot traffic.”

Local business owner Alexis Pernsky of SWEET Lake of the Woods called the event “so much fun to participate in,” adding it brings in people who have never visited the shop before as well as returning customers. She says many participants treat the trail as a yearly tradition or give it as a gift, helping shoppers discover new products and local businesses.