Mindy Tweedle came out and filmed this segment on our waterfall illumination program at Albion Falls last week and here is the excellent results from that evening!!! This is on Connie Smiths Show " Always Good News", thanks Connie and Mindy!!! and also Kirk the cameraman for getting all the good shots!!!
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Tourism Hamilton Awards
Its truly an honour to have been nominated once again for an award from Tourism Hamilton in regards to my waterfall initiative and once again I have to graciously ask that my name is withdrawn from the running for the award.
Its truly an honour for myself to be involved in the community and that is reward enough, a childs smile is the best reward I have ever recieved, that keeps me going for quite some time.
Thanks again for those that have nominated me 2 years in a row, for this and Citizen of The Year, but its not why I do what I do.
For those that want to get involved in the waterfall initiative, I am looking for more cheerleaders that simply LOVE this great City of ours and are also looking for nothing in return.
http://www.chrisecklund.com/
Its truly an honour for myself to be involved in the community and that is reward enough, a childs smile is the best reward I have ever recieved, that keeps me going for quite some time.
Thanks again for those that have nominated me 2 years in a row, for this and Citizen of The Year, but its not why I do what I do.
For those that want to get involved in the waterfall initiative, I am looking for more cheerleaders that simply LOVE this great City of ours and are also looking for nothing in return.
http://www.chrisecklund.com/
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Larry DiIanni will return shortly
Larry and I have both been asked by a lot of people why he is not blogging lately, rest assured he will return by the middle of the month, he has been very busy lately dealing with a private matter.
http://www.chrisecklund.com/
http://www.chrisecklund.com/
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
The Outdoor Adventure Show
What an incredible day this is for Hamilton.
We just got off the phone with the account representatives for Canada's largest adventure show in Toronto, and we are absolutely thrilled to report that we will be going to Toronto at the end of this month, to take part in a 3 day marathon show that will bring in 30,000 people through the doors.
From a tradeshow perspective these people are all qualified and all end users of what we will be advertising and that is our waterfalls, trails and outdoor areas.
This is an " All Hands on Deck" call for cheerleaders across Hamilton, we will be repeating what we did at The EX last summer, in making history once again.
And bye the way, we will not be having just 1 booth, not 2 booths.....but 5.
AND, we will have the waterfall bus inside the building!!!
The show is Feb 26,27 and 28th at the International Centre in Toronto.
More details to follow....
http://www.chrisecklund.com/
We just got off the phone with the account representatives for Canada's largest adventure show in Toronto, and we are absolutely thrilled to report that we will be going to Toronto at the end of this month, to take part in a 3 day marathon show that will bring in 30,000 people through the doors.
From a tradeshow perspective these people are all qualified and all end users of what we will be advertising and that is our waterfalls, trails and outdoor areas.
This is an " All Hands on Deck" call for cheerleaders across Hamilton, we will be repeating what we did at The EX last summer, in making history once again.
And bye the way, we will not be having just 1 booth, not 2 booths.....but 5.
AND, we will have the waterfall bus inside the building!!!
The show is Feb 26,27 and 28th at the International Centre in Toronto.
More details to follow....
http://www.chrisecklund.com/
CTS TV comes and shoots Albion Falls at night
Today Mindy came out to Albion Falls and shot on location for 4 hours, camera man Kirk did a great job, and filmed the boys setting up the lights and then did several interviews with "waterfallers" as well!!
It was a historic night also, as we lit up Albion from both up top and also down below, which was a first, and the results where incredible!!
We also surpassed the 1 Billion Candlepower mark folks!!!!!
What a day and what a night, the film will be ready this week and will be broadcasted across Canada on the CTS Television Network, I will make sure I let you know when it is going to be aired!!
Hamilton never looked better than tonight folks!!!
http://www.chrisecklund.com/
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Press Release From The International Village BIA
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DID YOU KNOW!
Chris Ecklund loves Mustard!
So much, that he now owns the only
Mustard Festival in Canada!
On January 18th, 2010, International Village passed the Annual Mustard Festival on to CHRIS ECKLUND, proud Community First booster under the Hamilton City of Waterfalls umbrella.
Chris and his City of Waterfalls Bus full of his volunteers were a focal
Point at the 12Th Annual Mustard Festival … which has been a ‘community first’ event, since 1998. A celebration focusing on Hamilton being home to the oldest and largest miller of mustard seed in the World … G.S. Dunn Limited in downtown Hamilton since 1867 … a celebration of all things ‘mustard’ which takes place at Ferguson Station in the heart of International Village.
Chris has assured the Board Members of International Village that he intends to continue the history of Mustard Festival, on Labour Day Weekend, Friday through Sunday, at Ferguson Station, at King Street East at Ferguson Avenue North and King William Streets.
“Why change the biggest award winning community Festival in downtown … we hope to build on it’s strong foundation created by International Village through Mary Mustard and her wonderful community of volunteers” Chris answered when asked what he saw as the future of the Annual Mustard Festival …. “Tim Pocius will continue as co-ordinator of the 13th Annual Mustard Festival, a role he has fulfilled over the past five years and ‘Mary Mustard’ will continue her passion for mustard as the Festival’s #1 Volunteer”.
Ruth Lewis, chair of International Village Board of Management stated,
“With the retirement of our Executive Director, Mary Pocius, who gave birth to Mustard Festival in 1998 as the vehicle to promote International Village as a fun, safe place to be, it was imperative that only someone with the same passion for Mustard, the Downtown, and The City of Hamilton be the custodian of Mustard Festival and its future growth…Chris Ecklund fell in love with mustard at the 12th Annual Mustard Festival and knowing that Chris plans to keep Mustard Festival at Ferguson Station … in International Village … in Downtown … and the organizing team was still an integral part of the 13th Annual Mustard Festival, sealed the deal.”
DID YOU KNOW!
Chris Ecklund loves Mustard!
So much, that he now owns the only
Mustard Festival in Canada!
On January 18th, 2010, International Village passed the Annual Mustard Festival on to CHRIS ECKLUND, proud Community First booster under the Hamilton City of Waterfalls umbrella.
Chris and his City of Waterfalls Bus full of his volunteers were a focal
Point at the 12Th Annual Mustard Festival … which has been a ‘community first’ event, since 1998. A celebration focusing on Hamilton being home to the oldest and largest miller of mustard seed in the World … G.S. Dunn Limited in downtown Hamilton since 1867 … a celebration of all things ‘mustard’ which takes place at Ferguson Station in the heart of International Village.
Chris has assured the Board Members of International Village that he intends to continue the history of Mustard Festival, on Labour Day Weekend, Friday through Sunday, at Ferguson Station, at King Street East at Ferguson Avenue North and King William Streets.
“Why change the biggest award winning community Festival in downtown … we hope to build on it’s strong foundation created by International Village through Mary Mustard and her wonderful community of volunteers” Chris answered when asked what he saw as the future of the Annual Mustard Festival …. “Tim Pocius will continue as co-ordinator of the 13th Annual Mustard Festival, a role he has fulfilled over the past five years and ‘Mary Mustard’ will continue her passion for mustard as the Festival’s #1 Volunteer”.
Ruth Lewis, chair of International Village Board of Management stated,
“With the retirement of our Executive Director, Mary Pocius, who gave birth to Mustard Festival in 1998 as the vehicle to promote International Village as a fun, safe place to be, it was imperative that only someone with the same passion for Mustard, the Downtown, and The City of Hamilton be the custodian of Mustard Festival and its future growth…Chris Ecklund fell in love with mustard at the 12th Annual Mustard Festival and knowing that Chris plans to keep Mustard Festival at Ferguson Station … in International Village … in Downtown … and the organizing team was still an integral part of the 13th Annual Mustard Festival, sealed the deal.”
Hamilton's New Police Chief
One of the biggest questions people have been asking me of late is " Have you met the new chief yet?"
Seems barely a day goes by without a person asking me this, but it is a question born out of curiosity on what the man is like plus the communities interest on what kind of chief he will be. It is also a question people are asking well knowing the problems on our force and wondering if he will be addressing them or not.
Well I am happy to say that yes I have met the Chief, we had a brief chat and went over a few things of interest.
My first impressions are very favourable, he is coming into this city not knowing the history or general lay of the land, so it is a very quick learning process for him, it is absolutely imperative that EVERYONE lends a helping hand to make this transition as easy as possible.
One question I asked the chief is if he was going to be at our annual citizen of the year banquet, but he said that he had a neighbourhood meeting to attend that same night, which was great to hear that he was lending his ear to the community to hear its concerns and hopefully learn from it.
I can only wish and hope that the new chief will also do the same throughout the entire city and especially in the areas that have been either underserviced or ignored in the past.
Lord knows that service issues even in my own neighbourhood have been ignored in the past largely due to the arrogance of certain commanders, and we live right next door to the Mountain Station House!
Changes and promises in the past that never materialized from the Hamilton Police service can only be passed on to the new chief, it will be up to him to do the right thing and act on the issues.
Right now citizens are waiting with baited breath, fingers crossed and hoping ( some praying they tell me) that bringing in a new chief from the outside will forever end the " Old Boys Club"
Living in a democracy it is absolutely imperative that the citizens of Hamilton have the utmost respect and belief in their public institutions, and our Police Service needs to be at the top of that list.
At this point it is not, and it needs to be brought back up again to the level of respect that it once had from its citizens.
Those people that cant deliver the services that are needed either need to be replaced or step aside, and new people brought in that can look beyond their own egos and remember that at the end of the day its the citizens that ultimately need to be reported to.
I have spoken with patrol officers all the way up the ladder to the senior commanders and all speak highly of the new chief and some are anxiously awaiting to see if he does what needs to be done.
Each and every day I get an enormous amount of requests from the citizens of this great city on many different matters and my answer to them is the same that I said to the new Chief, " Tell me what you need, if I can help you I will get it done."
Lets all make sure that it is very high on our priority list to help the new chief in any way that we can, what is done is done, it is time to move on, pack away your egos and childish behaviours and lets return the force to the level of respect that the citizens of this city demand that it be!
And bye the way the first thing I said to the chief as I extended my hand to him was " Welcome to Hamilton!!"
http://www.chrisecklund.com/
Seems barely a day goes by without a person asking me this, but it is a question born out of curiosity on what the man is like plus the communities interest on what kind of chief he will be. It is also a question people are asking well knowing the problems on our force and wondering if he will be addressing them or not.
Well I am happy to say that yes I have met the Chief, we had a brief chat and went over a few things of interest.
My first impressions are very favourable, he is coming into this city not knowing the history or general lay of the land, so it is a very quick learning process for him, it is absolutely imperative that EVERYONE lends a helping hand to make this transition as easy as possible.
One question I asked the chief is if he was going to be at our annual citizen of the year banquet, but he said that he had a neighbourhood meeting to attend that same night, which was great to hear that he was lending his ear to the community to hear its concerns and hopefully learn from it.
I can only wish and hope that the new chief will also do the same throughout the entire city and especially in the areas that have been either underserviced or ignored in the past.
Lord knows that service issues even in my own neighbourhood have been ignored in the past largely due to the arrogance of certain commanders, and we live right next door to the Mountain Station House!
Changes and promises in the past that never materialized from the Hamilton Police service can only be passed on to the new chief, it will be up to him to do the right thing and act on the issues.
Right now citizens are waiting with baited breath, fingers crossed and hoping ( some praying they tell me) that bringing in a new chief from the outside will forever end the " Old Boys Club"
Living in a democracy it is absolutely imperative that the citizens of Hamilton have the utmost respect and belief in their public institutions, and our Police Service needs to be at the top of that list.
At this point it is not, and it needs to be brought back up again to the level of respect that it once had from its citizens.
Those people that cant deliver the services that are needed either need to be replaced or step aside, and new people brought in that can look beyond their own egos and remember that at the end of the day its the citizens that ultimately need to be reported to.
I have spoken with patrol officers all the way up the ladder to the senior commanders and all speak highly of the new chief and some are anxiously awaiting to see if he does what needs to be done.
Each and every day I get an enormous amount of requests from the citizens of this great city on many different matters and my answer to them is the same that I said to the new Chief, " Tell me what you need, if I can help you I will get it done."
Lets all make sure that it is very high on our priority list to help the new chief in any way that we can, what is done is done, it is time to move on, pack away your egos and childish behaviours and lets return the force to the level of respect that the citizens of this city demand that it be!
And bye the way the first thing I said to the chief as I extended my hand to him was " Welcome to Hamilton!!"
http://www.chrisecklund.com/
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Hamilton Citizen of The Year Awards
The annual award for the citizen in Hamilton that has done an incredible job for our great City will be awarded on Monday night at Liuna Station.
I dont go to award functions, but Monday will be different, very different, I would ask ALL Hamiltonians that can attend to put their best threads on and head down.
This will be a very special night, I hope everyone will attend.
http://www.chrisecklund.com/
I dont go to award functions, but Monday will be different, very different, I would ask ALL Hamiltonians that can attend to put their best threads on and head down.
This will be a very special night, I hope everyone will attend.
http://www.chrisecklund.com/
Friday, January 22, 2010
Tourism Numbers Go Through The Roof at Hamiltons Waterfalls
Last year I did a short video of the cars dealer plates at one of our waterfalls in Hamilton, it was literally a whos who of southern Ontario, and even from Quebec and New York.
Councilor Tom Jackson even came to one of my events where he witnessed a couple even talking about moving here because of our waterfalls.
Well this week I got a call from the Hamilton Conservation Authority with the gate receipts from Tews and Websters Falls.
They where up 37%
Thats incredible.
But this tells just part of the story as the unpaid and before,after hours people are not counted in this statistic.
The true number then could easily be 50% increase in visitors.
I witnessed this once at Websters while I was there, they where turning people away the lot was overfilling.
So there you go folks, it was never a question to me that the waterfall initiative would work, but there is the numbers, they dont lie.
The best though is yet to come....
http://www.cityofwaterfalls.ca/
Councilor Tom Jackson even came to one of my events where he witnessed a couple even talking about moving here because of our waterfalls.
Well this week I got a call from the Hamilton Conservation Authority with the gate receipts from Tews and Websters Falls.
They where up 37%
Thats incredible.
But this tells just part of the story as the unpaid and before,after hours people are not counted in this statistic.
The true number then could easily be 50% increase in visitors.
I witnessed this once at Websters while I was there, they where turning people away the lot was overfilling.
So there you go folks, it was never a question to me that the waterfall initiative would work, but there is the numbers, they dont lie.
The best though is yet to come....
http://www.cityofwaterfalls.ca/
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
T Shirts For Haiti Relief effort
My staff has been working around the clock on the Haiti Relief effort, and we have some tshirts hot off the press's that they just got from the printer. I will be on TV later today talking about how Hamiltonians can get involved, visit the website, spread the word, get involved.
http://www.hamiltonearthquakerelief.ca/
http://www.hamiltonearthquakerelief.ca/
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Great Falls Illumination
Tonight we will illuminate Great Falls, lights on at 7pm, see you there!!!
http://www.cityofwaterfalls.ca/
http://www.cityofwaterfalls.ca/
Earthquake Relief for Haiti
I will be updating my earthquake relief website this week, we raised a lot of money for the Italian Victims, I hope all of you will come out to all the planned events for the victims in Haiti as well.
http://www.hamiltonearthquakerelief.ca/
http://www.hamiltonearthquakerelief.ca/
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Chris Ecklund for Mayor
It seems that a day does not go by without some one calling me emailing me or stopping me on the street and asking and or encouraging me to run for Mayor.
Although I am humbled by this, at this point in time I have no intention on throwing my name into the ring for Mayor.
This though will not stop any of the projects or initiatives I am running, in fact down the line you will see more things happening for the betterment of our great City, there are some big projects in the works that I hope everyone will get involved with once they are launched, so stay tuned!!
Although I am humbled by this, at this point in time I have no intention on throwing my name into the ring for Mayor.
This though will not stop any of the projects or initiatives I am running, in fact down the line you will see more things happening for the betterment of our great City, there are some big projects in the works that I hope everyone will get involved with once they are launched, so stay tuned!!
Monday, January 11, 2010
Tiffany Falls Illumination tonight
My pilot project continues, with Tiffany Falls set to being illuminated tonight at 7 pm.
This will be a historic event in that it will be the first time we have illuminated a waterfall that has completely iced over!
The water can still be heard and seen behind it, which lends itself to some cool pictures!!!
Lights on is 7pm tonight dress warm, bring your cameras and video gear and come join us!!!!
More info is on our website
http://www.cityofwaterfalls.ca/
This will be a historic event in that it will be the first time we have illuminated a waterfall that has completely iced over!
The water can still be heard and seen behind it, which lends itself to some cool pictures!!!
Lights on is 7pm tonight dress warm, bring your cameras and video gear and come join us!!!!
More info is on our website
http://www.cityofwaterfalls.ca/
Friday, January 8, 2010
Lower Westcliffe Falls Illuminated at Night.MPG
My first time in actually seeing Lower Westcliffe Falls up close and personal like this, it had some great ice formations on it, and the new gold filters made it look real nice. I also went around to the other side and was treated with some breathtaking pictures and an amazing view as well.
A further surprise was in order as I was able to see up and around the waterway leading to Westcliffe falls itself.
This waterfall will be a very hard one to light up entirely, but once done will be a " sleeping giant" I predict.
Absolutely beautiful!
Albion Falls 20 Spotlamps a Half Billion Candlepower.MPG
A record was set at Albion Falls when we lit her up with a half billion candlepower!!!
Monday, December 28, 2009
Devils Punchbowl Illumination for the very first time
Here we are at the Devils Punchbowl for the very first time, One thing that you can always guarantee you have at the punchbowl is wind!!! Its also nice to know that God is watching over us!!!
Monday, December 21, 2009
Great Falls being li up for the very first time, the countdown and command to light them up!!!.MPG
Here we are at Great Falls, getting ready to light up the waterfall for the very first time in history!!! Great Falls has some very wicked looking ice formations, we are going to have a lot of fun with this waterfall!!!
Great Falls at night with the Canon Rebel T1i 009.MOV
This was tonight as we made history by lighting up Great Falls for the very first time!!!
Friday, December 18, 2009
Albion Falls with CH TV.MPG
Tonight CH TV came out and covered the event and went live at 11 pm with the clip of us lighting up Albion Falls. Tonight we had 14 spotlamps ( 1 died) for the biggest yet at Albion Falls.
I am going to order more spotlamps as Albion is so huge!
Monday, December 14, 2009
Commentary on our 1st attempt at lighting up Sherman Falls.MPG
This is the first time we have ever lit up Sherman Falls, this was done with 100 Million Candlepower, enjoy, it looked absolutely spectatular, stay tuned more to come!!!!
A longer tripod mounted video of Albion Falls at night.MPG
This is the first time we have ever lit up Albion Falls, this was done with 100 Million Candlepower, enjoy, it looked absolutely spectatular, stay tuned more to come!!!!
Friday, December 11, 2009
Our first attempt at painting a waterfall at night, here is Sherman Falls.MPG
This was my first attempt to painting a waterfall at night, in this case I just had the spotlamp in a stationery position. It turned out pretty good all things considered!!!! We will return and keep experimenting with settings and bring out more equipment as well. This could lead to an entirely seperate catergory of pictures and video shot at night!!!!!
Friday, December 4, 2009
Centennial Falls.MOV
This was my first time to see Centennial Falls, it was flowing nicely today after some heavy rains for the last few days. Also here is the new baby karst style waterfall that Jer found along with Billy Green waterfall.
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Billy Green Waterfall
This is shot today while out to look at a new waterfall, it is the first time I have seen Billy Green Waterfall up close, and wow what a beautiful waterfall it is!!! This is a waterfall that in the winter you can walk behind also once the water freezes to ice!!! For those that come to the www.cityofwaterfalls.ca website you may remember that this was the picture we featured for the longest time on the front page!!
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
The City of Hamilton Waterfalls Road Show begins Right Now
Have you noticed lately how many events we are doing outside of our Cities boundaries?
Last week we where in Woodstock, and in the next few weeks we have 6 more Santa Claus Parades booked.
The responces we are getting are incredible, people love the fact that we would come all the way to their cities, and one parade marshall said that we had the best display hands down.
Over and over again, people are amazed by the waterfalls all saying they did not know about them and would like to come and see them all.
So, the message is clear, the proof is there, the road show is working and working incredibly well and its time to expand it.
You will like what is coming next.....
http://www.chrisecklund.com/
Last week we where in Woodstock, and in the next few weeks we have 6 more Santa Claus Parades booked.
The responces we are getting are incredible, people love the fact that we would come all the way to their cities, and one parade marshall said that we had the best display hands down.
Over and over again, people are amazed by the waterfalls all saying they did not know about them and would like to come and see them all.
So, the message is clear, the proof is there, the road show is working and working incredibly well and its time to expand it.
You will like what is coming next.....
http://www.chrisecklund.com/
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Woodstock Santa Claus Parade gets a visit from The City of Waterfalls
Venturing into yet again unchartered and untested waters, the City of Waterfalls crew ventured down hwy 403 for our first ever night time santa claus parade, as we continue our entries in parades around the province.
Honestly you never know what to expect with any of the parades, festivals or other events that I enter our team into, but this is what makes it so exciting, we are trying and doing things that have never been done in Hamilton's history.
Last night waterfall car #1 and the waterfall bus attended our first time night time santa claus parade, and we could not believe the amount of people that came out to see the parade!
Some say that there where 3 times the amount of people that we had here in Hamilton last week!!
Either way, we where greeted with a lot of cheers and waves, and the people from Woodstock and parade organizers could not have been nicer to us!
It was also a first for us in dressing up the waterfall vehicles with lights as well which presented a few challenges for us in how we where going to handle the electrical needs of both vehicles.
The waterfall bus has a big advantage in that we have plugs in the basement as well as the engine bay, and we utilized the engine bays electricity to power the lights.
As we get ready for future night time events, you can bet that we will " kick it up a notch" and see what else we can do to get more lights on the bus!!
Parade organizers and citizens thanked us for coming all the way from Hamilton for the parade, they where very appreciative that we would go through all the trouble to organize it all and make the trek to their city.
And you see this is also a secondary but possibly much bigger bonus for the City of Hamilton, the establishment of friendships and associations with organizations and business's that at some point in the future benefit us in a much bigger way.
Later that night and today the web traffic that is coming in from Woodstock is very noticeably up, and rightly so.
Many many thanks to all the volunteers that helped organize and took part in this parade, its a lot of work, and yes it seems that you are on the road every weekend, ( we are) but the City of Hamilton and all its citizens live in a better City due to your efforts and committment.
http://www.chrisecklund.com/
Honestly you never know what to expect with any of the parades, festivals or other events that I enter our team into, but this is what makes it so exciting, we are trying and doing things that have never been done in Hamilton's history.
Last night waterfall car #1 and the waterfall bus attended our first time night time santa claus parade, and we could not believe the amount of people that came out to see the parade!
Some say that there where 3 times the amount of people that we had here in Hamilton last week!!
Either way, we where greeted with a lot of cheers and waves, and the people from Woodstock and parade organizers could not have been nicer to us!
It was also a first for us in dressing up the waterfall vehicles with lights as well which presented a few challenges for us in how we where going to handle the electrical needs of both vehicles.
The waterfall bus has a big advantage in that we have plugs in the basement as well as the engine bay, and we utilized the engine bays electricity to power the lights.
As we get ready for future night time events, you can bet that we will " kick it up a notch" and see what else we can do to get more lights on the bus!!
Parade organizers and citizens thanked us for coming all the way from Hamilton for the parade, they where very appreciative that we would go through all the trouble to organize it all and make the trek to their city.
And you see this is also a secondary but possibly much bigger bonus for the City of Hamilton, the establishment of friendships and associations with organizations and business's that at some point in the future benefit us in a much bigger way.
Later that night and today the web traffic that is coming in from Woodstock is very noticeably up, and rightly so.
Many many thanks to all the volunteers that helped organize and took part in this parade, its a lot of work, and yes it seems that you are on the road every weekend, ( we are) but the City of Hamilton and all its citizens live in a better City due to your efforts and committment.
http://www.chrisecklund.com/
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Hamilton's New Police Chief
Well the decision was finally announced, and the last 24 hours has been a bee hive of activity around town, so much so that cell phone number 3 was in back up as everyone under the sun was calling to talk about the new chief!
My background with Chief Brian Mullan is known to all, when I very publicly resigned from his police services advisory board earlier this year.
The media carried the story, but in a nut shell I could not take any more lies and deceit that I was put through over the years.
Lots of people have asked if he has ever apologized to me and unfortunately he hasn't, and quite frankly I dont ever expect him to, we met in a very public place recently and the guilt and embarrasement that I felt from him was very noticeable.
He leaves behind a broken machine that needs to be fixed, and the only way to do it is for everyone to band together, identify the problems and work towards a solution.
The one thing that everyone needs to understand is this, the Hamilton Police Service is not the personal playground of a selected few individuals, that can do anything they want anytime they want.
A new level of accountability to the citizens of Hamilton is absolutely imperative, and if there is any public institution in this City that people need to have 100% belief and trust in is our Police Service.
At this time unfortunately we do not have this.
The rebuilding process starts immediately.
Here is an article that the media ran about my resignation
http://www.hamiltonmountainnews.com/news/article/153492
My background with Chief Brian Mullan is known to all, when I very publicly resigned from his police services advisory board earlier this year.
The media carried the story, but in a nut shell I could not take any more lies and deceit that I was put through over the years.
Lots of people have asked if he has ever apologized to me and unfortunately he hasn't, and quite frankly I dont ever expect him to, we met in a very public place recently and the guilt and embarrasement that I felt from him was very noticeable.
He leaves behind a broken machine that needs to be fixed, and the only way to do it is for everyone to band together, identify the problems and work towards a solution.
The one thing that everyone needs to understand is this, the Hamilton Police Service is not the personal playground of a selected few individuals, that can do anything they want anytime they want.
A new level of accountability to the citizens of Hamilton is absolutely imperative, and if there is any public institution in this City that people need to have 100% belief and trust in is our Police Service.
At this time unfortunately we do not have this.
The rebuilding process starts immediately.
Here is an article that the media ran about my resignation
http://www.hamiltonmountainnews.com/news/article/153492
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Visitor 100,000 drops by the City of Waterfalls Website for a visit
At 2:17 pm today a visitor from Toronto stopped by our City of Waterfalls website and made history by being the 100,000th person to visit our site.
The website went live May 19, 2008 and since then has grown at an incredible rate.
Each and every day people are coming from all over the world to our site, but ironically enough its the local visitors that are growing the fastest.
A year ago we had 50% traffic from Hamilton and the rest from outside, but that has now changed to a whopping 75% of traffic is now from outside Hamilton.
Each and every day we are on the streets spreading the word about Hamilton and its beautiful waterfalls, just last weekend we attended the Hamilton Santa Claus Parade and handed out 5,000 brochures and postcards to people along the route.
I need to thank the people whom have come out to make this the largest social movement the City has ever seen or experienced in its history, it is truly amazing and humbling to watch Hamiltonians go to all lengths to promote the City when we are at events, festivals and fairs, there is still a lot of work to do, and I look forward to reporting back to you when we reach the next milestone!!!
http://www.chrisecklund.com/
The website went live May 19, 2008 and since then has grown at an incredible rate.
Each and every day people are coming from all over the world to our site, but ironically enough its the local visitors that are growing the fastest.
A year ago we had 50% traffic from Hamilton and the rest from outside, but that has now changed to a whopping 75% of traffic is now from outside Hamilton.
Each and every day we are on the streets spreading the word about Hamilton and its beautiful waterfalls, just last weekend we attended the Hamilton Santa Claus Parade and handed out 5,000 brochures and postcards to people along the route.
I need to thank the people whom have come out to make this the largest social movement the City has ever seen or experienced in its history, it is truly amazing and humbling to watch Hamiltonians go to all lengths to promote the City when we are at events, festivals and fairs, there is still a lot of work to do, and I look forward to reporting back to you when we reach the next milestone!!!
http://www.chrisecklund.com/
Thursday, November 12, 2009
The Launch of Canadian Heroes
Wow, what an incredible last few weeks it has been!!!
Yesterday saw the debut of " Canadian Heroes", worldwide, and people are loving it!!
Messages are pouring in from all over Canada, military, staff,families, citizens, everyone.
People where very very moved by this song.
I am so lucky to be a part of this it is indeed an honour.
More details on our website, please visit
http://www.canadianheroes.com/
Yesterday saw the debut of " Canadian Heroes", worldwide, and people are loving it!!
Messages are pouring in from all over Canada, military, staff,families, citizens, everyone.
People where very very moved by this song.
I am so lucky to be a part of this it is indeed an honour.
More details on our website, please visit
http://www.canadianheroes.com/
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Global TV Comes to The Waterfall Capital of The World
Yesterday was an amazing day, and a day that will go down in history as the biggest leap forward Hamilton has ever made in changing its image.
The day started off at the waterfront, where we met and presented gifts for a visiting Japanese Delegation, they loved the waterfall bus and had their pictures taken with it.
The day ended with Global TV doing their news live from Gore Park, and they featured our waterfalls front and center.
What I never told anyone is that I had the Global TV crew with me and the waterfall gang all day Saturday as we guided them on a personalized waterfall walk to Tews and Websters Falls. I had the bus, cars, our tent and merchandise, and also hosted a bbq for them as well.
They absolutely loved it!
Yesterday at Gore Park we had 50 waterfallers out to greet Kevin Newman and the crew and presented them with waterfall gift bags.
The broadcast went across Canada, and the responce was immediate, our website stats soared!
That night I watched the 11 pm version with different hosts, and they finished the segment off by saying " It makes you want to go visit Hamilton"!!!!!
What a great day for our City as we are now know across the Country as " The Waterfall Capital of The World"!!!!!
They also talked about how we sucessfully branded ourselves and have changed our image from the Steel City over to The City of Waterfalls.
A MAJOR leap forward was accomplished yesterday, and I owe it to all the volunteers that come out each and every day to carry the message to the world.
Here is a video clip, enjoy and spread the word!!!
http://www.globalnational.com/video/index.html?releasePID=ZoJ5RfN94VUF67Qb08BDtqg1JNUbV8WQ
The day started off at the waterfront, where we met and presented gifts for a visiting Japanese Delegation, they loved the waterfall bus and had their pictures taken with it.
The day ended with Global TV doing their news live from Gore Park, and they featured our waterfalls front and center.
What I never told anyone is that I had the Global TV crew with me and the waterfall gang all day Saturday as we guided them on a personalized waterfall walk to Tews and Websters Falls. I had the bus, cars, our tent and merchandise, and also hosted a bbq for them as well.
They absolutely loved it!
Yesterday at Gore Park we had 50 waterfallers out to greet Kevin Newman and the crew and presented them with waterfall gift bags.
The broadcast went across Canada, and the responce was immediate, our website stats soared!
That night I watched the 11 pm version with different hosts, and they finished the segment off by saying " It makes you want to go visit Hamilton"!!!!!
What a great day for our City as we are now know across the Country as " The Waterfall Capital of The World"!!!!!
They also talked about how we sucessfully branded ourselves and have changed our image from the Steel City over to The City of Waterfalls.
A MAJOR leap forward was accomplished yesterday, and I owe it to all the volunteers that come out each and every day to carry the message to the world.
Here is a video clip, enjoy and spread the word!!!
http://www.globalnational.com/video/index.html?releasePID=ZoJ5RfN94VUF67Qb08BDtqg1JNUbV8WQ
Friday, October 16, 2009
And so it continues
Every day lately the waterfall bus, the cars, our booth, it seems we are on the road, at a fair, trade show, community event you name it we are there.
Yesterday the bus was at The Bay Observer for the day for its 1 year celebration, and this morning we just moved it over the The Bank of Nova Scotia for customer appreciation day.
AND, every staff person in the bank will be wearing one of our waterfall t-shirts as well!!!
Saturday we are off to Waterford for the Pumpkinfest parade, and then Sunday we will be at Tews Falls for a waterfall walk.
Monday we have 2 events planned, and so on, and so on.....
http://www.chrisecklund.com/
Yesterday the bus was at The Bay Observer for the day for its 1 year celebration, and this morning we just moved it over the The Bank of Nova Scotia for customer appreciation day.
AND, every staff person in the bank will be wearing one of our waterfall t-shirts as well!!!
Saturday we are off to Waterford for the Pumpkinfest parade, and then Sunday we will be at Tews Falls for a waterfall walk.
Monday we have 2 events planned, and so on, and so on.....
http://www.chrisecklund.com/
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
HamiltonMountainNews.com: News: Story: Waterfalls campaign attracting visitors, new residents
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
TiCat Hover
Can anyone figure out what I am thinking here.........!!??
Just think about how we can use this to promote the City....
Friday, October 9, 2009
Canadian Heroes
The biggest honour a Canadian can do is to serve his Country. This I have been saying for a long time now, and I was fortunate enough to have been able to do this myself.
I now have the incredible honour of being asked to head up the " Canadian Heroes" project, which has been underway for a year almost and has started as a song in support of our soldiers.
This is not just some song sung by a bunch of your buddies in their garage, but rather a who's who of Hamilton talent, and recorded, produced and mixed by the finest talent in the Canadian Musical business and done at the best studios in Canada.
The likes of Brian Melo, Tom Wilson, Kelly Jay,Skip Prokop, Dan Clancy, Ian Thomas, Dave Rave, Sonny Del Rio, and Jay Simpson, together they have amassed 8 Juno's and 1 Canadian Idol Winner.
I was honoured to be asked to the Metalworks studios yesterday, where the final editing was underway, and at 430 this morning they where still at it!
The song itself is not just good, it is fantastic, mark my words this song will be around for a long long time.
It is my intention to unveil the song to the country on Remembrance Day this year.
I have some pictures and behind the scenes video that I took last night and will share them soon with you.
In the meantime here is a small clip of the song, please tell me how you like it!
http://www.canadianheroes.com/
Stay tuned folks, this is a very very proud time for all Hamiltonian's to stand up and be proud of what local Hamilton musicians have done!!
http://www.chrisecklund.com/
I now have the incredible honour of being asked to head up the " Canadian Heroes" project, which has been underway for a year almost and has started as a song in support of our soldiers.
This is not just some song sung by a bunch of your buddies in their garage, but rather a who's who of Hamilton talent, and recorded, produced and mixed by the finest talent in the Canadian Musical business and done at the best studios in Canada.
The likes of Brian Melo, Tom Wilson, Kelly Jay,Skip Prokop, Dan Clancy, Ian Thomas, Dave Rave, Sonny Del Rio, and Jay Simpson, together they have amassed 8 Juno's and 1 Canadian Idol Winner.
I was honoured to be asked to the Metalworks studios yesterday, where the final editing was underway, and at 430 this morning they where still at it!
The song itself is not just good, it is fantastic, mark my words this song will be around for a long long time.
It is my intention to unveil the song to the country on Remembrance Day this year.
I have some pictures and behind the scenes video that I took last night and will share them soon with you.
In the meantime here is a small clip of the song, please tell me how you like it!
http://www.canadianheroes.com/
Stay tuned folks, this is a very very proud time for all Hamiltonian's to stand up and be proud of what local Hamilton musicians have done!!
http://www.chrisecklund.com/
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Website Maintenance
Over the next few days you may notice some of our websites will be down some maybe for a day or so, as we make some major upgrades to them.
Not to worry when they come back up they will be bigger and better than ever!!!!
Not to worry when they come back up they will be bigger and better than ever!!!!
You Tube Channel of The City of Waterfalls hits 20,000 mark
Our ever growing City of Waterfalls You Tube Channel, just rolled over the 20,000 visit mark!!!!We have started to really use the power of You Tube within the last few months, ever since our roll out of our radio ad in CHUM FM in Toronto, our site traffic has went through the roof!!People from all over the world have now stopped and visited our channel and view our videos, which by the way if you have not noticed are also appearing on our website, twitter,blog and Facebook group as well.The multi-media exposure is growing daily, as we continue to grow and spread the word about Hamilton and its wonderful waterfalls!!!!
www.chrisecklund.com
www.chrisecklund.com
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
The waterfall bus gets its own book
Not every motor coach gets its own book about herself, but ours is a very special bus, so we did a little book up about her!!
It just came in today, hot off the press's!!
The book is all about the bus, pictures of the bus and people at various events.
This book will be a work in progress, we will constantly be updating it as we attend more events each and every day!!!
2010 City of Waterfalls Calendar
Our second calendar just came in today and the pictures are absolutely stunning!!!
They where taken with our new Canon Mark II, which is the most powerful camera in Canons stable, and our very own Dan Court took all of them!!!
The pictures are also taken during the corresponding month that they are featured in.
Look at the website for ordering information soon.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
A frontal shot of the Darnley Cascade, this one I really like!
This is a great view of the Darnley Cascade
Saturday, September 26, 2009
My matching waterfall mitts
Grace made me matching mitts to match the toque she made me a week beforehand, they are awesome, thanks so much Grace!!!!!!
Saturday, September 19, 2009
A Half Million Page Views
I am currently sitting in our waterfall bus out at the Binbrook Fair where we have a booth set up, and I thought I would count up the amount of visits our website has had since we launched it, and I was pleasantly surprised on the amount of visits that we have had to our site since it was launched.
500,000 pages have been visited since its launch date of May 2008, which is an incredible amount of traffic I must admit.
Thousands of people are here this weekend at the Binbrook Fair, its perfect fall fair weather, bands are playing, there is great food, and the people absolutely love the City of waterfalls initiative.
See you at 1 Million.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Wow, what a way to end the summer
My last post you read about how we where running out of room on our web stats, well August 31 at 8:32 pm, we went over 100,000 page views!!!!
This weekend we where at The Mustard Festival and The EX, and obviously with the tens of thousands of people that visited our booths, we recorded not 1 but 3 new records again!!
Saturday we busted a record, and then again Sunday and again Monday!!!
The last flurry of visitors from out of Town and local wanting to see our waterfalls and locals that talked to us and picked up brochures visited the site as well.
An interesting stat this morning, I looked at the last 10 visitors to our website, and only 2 where from Hamilton.
It goes to show the international reach we are now having.
The Mustard Festival was amazing, the volunteers that stepped up to help out are incredible, but the Hamiltonian's that saw the bus downtown where literally amazed and so proud to see how Hamilton's image is changing.
The responses from people where downright emotional at times, people truly love this movement.
And I say movement because as 1 person put it, " It's the largest social movement this City has ever seen."
At that point, I also replied that " It's the people that are self-directing it also, its way beyond me now"
It was truly humbling to see drove after drove of folks come by and just stop and stare, in awe and amazement at the bus.
The love that people expressed to the volunteers for what was happening was incredible.
And that's what I love about this City, its the people.
http://www.chrisecklund.com
This weekend we where at The Mustard Festival and The EX, and obviously with the tens of thousands of people that visited our booths, we recorded not 1 but 3 new records again!!
Saturday we busted a record, and then again Sunday and again Monday!!!
The last flurry of visitors from out of Town and local wanting to see our waterfalls and locals that talked to us and picked up brochures visited the site as well.
An interesting stat this morning, I looked at the last 10 visitors to our website, and only 2 where from Hamilton.
It goes to show the international reach we are now having.
The Mustard Festival was amazing, the volunteers that stepped up to help out are incredible, but the Hamiltonian's that saw the bus downtown where literally amazed and so proud to see how Hamilton's image is changing.
The responses from people where downright emotional at times, people truly love this movement.
And I say movement because as 1 person put it, " It's the largest social movement this City has ever seen."
At that point, I also replied that " It's the people that are self-directing it also, its way beyond me now"
It was truly humbling to see drove after drove of folks come by and just stop and stare, in awe and amazement at the bus.
The love that people expressed to the volunteers for what was happening was incredible.
And that's what I love about this City, its the people.
http://www.chrisecklund.com
Monday, August 31, 2009
Your account is nearing its maximum capacity of 100,000 page views per month. Please adjust the capacity to avoid a service interruption
Your account is nearing its maximum capacity of 100,000 page views per month. Please adjust the capacity to avoid a service interruption.
I must admit I was shocked and concerned when I first read the above message until a few seconds later after checking our site traffic I realized what actually was happening.Its a message that I have never seen before, with any of our websites that I run.As one of the first persons in Hamilton to get on the Internet and being involved in it and its marketing side for a long long time, I have what some would say a "qualified" opinion on the matter.If you would have asked me what I thought the website would draw in traffic in a months time when I started this, I would have said maybe 10,000 page views a month.But 100,000 page views a month?Only in my dreams.But then again I never knew or planned on it getting this big this fast.I am basically now playing catch-up with the response we are getting, the amount of festivals and fairs we are doing alone I never planned on, the tourists that are coming here I hoped for, but would never have expected them this fast and this soon.The groundswell support from Hamiltonian's and others that come here to Hamilton to volunteer to man the booths at shows, help guide the walks, and even providing baby-sitting duties while others are off volunteering is the most humbling experience I have ever encountered.As I type this I am sitting in the waterfall bus at the Winona Peach Festival and our booth is manned by the most dedicated people I have ever met and had the privilege of getting to know.The web site traffic is a clear indication on how this entire initiative is progressing, outside of hearing from all the people from outside the City now coming here, especially Torontonian's, the statistical information is paramount to any advertising campaign.Again, and again each day our volunteers keep hearing back from people on how much they absolutely love this entire project, they want to visit our waterfalls and they want to get involved.As I sit here people are walking by the new waterfall bus in droves, staring in amazement at the bus and how she looks, it is quite breathtaking!!!The conversations from locals and tourists alike keeps reminding me of why I am doing this, the numbers just tell me to keep going.Maybe its time I really started trying.The big stuff is yet to come.
http://www.chrisecklund.com
I must admit I was shocked and concerned when I first read the above message until a few seconds later after checking our site traffic I realized what actually was happening.Its a message that I have never seen before, with any of our websites that I run.As one of the first persons in Hamilton to get on the Internet and being involved in it and its marketing side for a long long time, I have what some would say a "qualified" opinion on the matter.If you would have asked me what I thought the website would draw in traffic in a months time when I started this, I would have said maybe 10,000 page views a month.But 100,000 page views a month?Only in my dreams.But then again I never knew or planned on it getting this big this fast.I am basically now playing catch-up with the response we are getting, the amount of festivals and fairs we are doing alone I never planned on, the tourists that are coming here I hoped for, but would never have expected them this fast and this soon.The groundswell support from Hamiltonian's and others that come here to Hamilton to volunteer to man the booths at shows, help guide the walks, and even providing baby-sitting duties while others are off volunteering is the most humbling experience I have ever encountered.As I type this I am sitting in the waterfall bus at the Winona Peach Festival and our booth is manned by the most dedicated people I have ever met and had the privilege of getting to know.The web site traffic is a clear indication on how this entire initiative is progressing, outside of hearing from all the people from outside the City now coming here, especially Torontonian's, the statistical information is paramount to any advertising campaign.Again, and again each day our volunteers keep hearing back from people on how much they absolutely love this entire project, they want to visit our waterfalls and they want to get involved.As I sit here people are walking by the new waterfall bus in droves, staring in amazement at the bus and how she looks, it is quite breathtaking!!!The conversations from locals and tourists alike keeps reminding me of why I am doing this, the numbers just tell me to keep going.Maybe its time I really started trying.The big stuff is yet to come.
http://www.chrisecklund.com
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Second video from top of stairs showing the boys at working wrapping the bus
This is the second video taken from above showing the boys wrapping the bus with the waterfall banner.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Monday, August 24, 2009
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Albion Falls Roaring Like Tiger
After another HUGE storm yesterday, I headed out with Jer to Albion Falls to see what she looked like and wow, was she ever roaring!!!!
First Glimpse of The wrap for the bus
This is a short clip of the wrap being prepared for the waterfall bus, its the first time I have ever seen the rolls and the printer in action.
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Day 1 at The CNE
Well, as I say go big or go home, so we not just went BIG, we went HUGE!!!!!Yesterday started a marathon for us, 18 days straight, exhibiting at the EX, which will personally be the largest and longest trade show that I have ever done.I have been doing shows like this for over 20 years, the longest usually 3-5 days, but this is in a field all its own.The amount of product we will give away, and the exposure to the estimated 1 million plus people that passes through the gates is obviously enormous.Its also the 3rd festival in a row for us, and not to slow down at all, but we have 2 other festivals we are also attending during the CNE as well!!!The EX though takes the cake, I don't think we will ever do a show like this again, its also a major accomplishment for us to even be there, being an exhibitor here is a tough thing to do, with the exhibition being sold out each year, it was a major accomplishment to even be here!!I want though once again, to thank my staff for all the hard work that went into this, and also to the volunteers that are taking their time to travel and man the booth for us.Day 1 was a very busy day, its estimated we handed out 1,200 packages to visitors.
http://www.chrisecklund.com
http://www.chrisecklund.com
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Toronto-Hamilton, Hamilton-Toronto
What started as a 1 week radio blitz on CHUM FM, has turned into a vertical climb on our website for traffic, and a doubling of visits from our friends in Toronto.
Add to that the 10 billboards throughout the City, and 2 incredibly sucessful festivals, ( The Festival of Friends and The Cactus Festival)and its no doubt that we are busting every record we have ever held before.
In fact our internet traffic has grown so much, that we are already passed the traffic mark set in July which was a record breaking month also!!
Much more to come, just wait till tomorrow!!
www.chrisecklund.com
Add to that the 10 billboards throughout the City, and 2 incredibly sucessful festivals, ( The Festival of Friends and The Cactus Festival)and its no doubt that we are busting every record we have ever held before.
In fact our internet traffic has grown so much, that we are already passed the traffic mark set in July which was a record breaking month also!!
Much more to come, just wait till tomorrow!!
www.chrisecklund.com
Waterfall Bus Wrap is being printed
Two days ago was the beginning of the printing stages for the waterfall bus, it will take over a week to print and then laminate, but wow what an exciting time for everybody!!!
We are hoping the majic day for the unveiling will be the 25th, fingers are crossed!!!!
http://www.chrisecklund.com
We are hoping the majic day for the unveiling will be the 25th, fingers are crossed!!!!
http://www.chrisecklund.com
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Lets go to the EX
We all know the jingle, " Lets go to the Ex!!"
So, we are .....literally.... but for 18 days.....
This will be the biggest thing this City has ever done before, we will have a City of Waterfalls booth at the EX for the entire run, all 18 days.
It will no doubt be the biggest,longest and most involved trade show this City and I have ever seen.
More details to follow, this is a very very exciting time for all citizens of this great City!!!!!
http://www.chrisecklund.com
So, we are .....literally.... but for 18 days.....
This will be the biggest thing this City has ever done before, we will have a City of Waterfalls booth at the EX for the entire run, all 18 days.
It will no doubt be the biggest,longest and most involved trade show this City and I have ever seen.
More details to follow, this is a very very exciting time for all citizens of this great City!!!!!
http://www.chrisecklund.com
Final Proofs are in for the City of Hamilton Waterfall Bus
Well, this is the moment we have been waiting for for a long time, the final proofs are done, they have been approved, the bus went in yesterday for final measuring, and now we await the wrap to be made before we bring her in next Thursday for wrapping.
It will be the icing on the cake so to speak, the " City of Waterfalls" initiative has reached an incredible level of excitement in the City, with the Festival of Friends just finishing, the amount of people that stopped by our booth and the amount of flyer's we handed out was simply amazing.
One of the biggest comments that I receive is how proud people are once again of this great city of ours.
The waterfall movement has re-kindled the fire, the passion, the love for this City of ours.
People are excited and are stepping up to the plate to volunteer and get involved like I have never seen before.
In all of the community projects that I have been or are currently involved with I have never ever seen anything so loved by Hamiltonian's as I have with the waterfall initiative. This is something that each and every Hamiltonian can get involved with and own, and to that end people love it and some cant get enough of it! This is truly something that people have a love and passion for, on a scale I have never seen or witnessed before.
Its truly a great case study in grass roots involvement.
Here are the final proofs, every Hamiltonian can be proud, very proud when the bus rolls out of the shop, the best is still to come, I think that some of my plans for the future will simply astonish some folks here, but really all I am doing is answering what citizens are telling me they want.
But then again, you know me, I cant do anything small......hint...hint...
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Friday, August 7, 2009
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Hamilton Waterfalls You Tube Channel Hits a Milestone
The City of Waterfalls has had a You Tube channel for sometime now but we have not really done much with it.
Until now.
Yesterday saw visitor 10,000 drop by for a visit, ever since we aired our radio ad a lot of people have stopped by to view the advertisement.
I have also purchased two HD camcorders, one a small hand held and the other a HUGE Panasonic 3 ccd unit, something so big we also picked up a HUGE Manfrotto tripod as well.
This will be the next phase to the waterfall branding initiative, we will get a team together and start to "film" all of our waterfalls.
This in itself will be a major project, we need 2 people just to carry the equipment!!
Either way lots of work needs to still be done, citizens of Hamilton love to get involved to help, and that's whats making this project so fun and successful!!
http://www.chrisecklund.com
Until now.
Yesterday saw visitor 10,000 drop by for a visit, ever since we aired our radio ad a lot of people have stopped by to view the advertisement.
I have also purchased two HD camcorders, one a small hand held and the other a HUGE Panasonic 3 ccd unit, something so big we also picked up a HUGE Manfrotto tripod as well.
This will be the next phase to the waterfall branding initiative, we will get a team together and start to "film" all of our waterfalls.
This in itself will be a major project, we need 2 people just to carry the equipment!!
Either way lots of work needs to still be done, citizens of Hamilton love to get involved to help, and that's whats making this project so fun and successful!!
http://www.chrisecklund.com
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Hamiltons Waterfalls Reaches new all time record for visitors
If you like numbers then you would be very impressed and happy with the HUGE increase that our website has recorded from this time last year.July set a new all time record amount of traffic recorded, in fact a 30% increase from the last record set in May!This past weekend also smashed new records in daily site traffic and page views per visitor.If you dont like numbers then how about cars?People drive their cars to the waterfalls, and I have never seen our parking lots jammed and some overflowing.As I write this I am getting a phone call from a reporter looking for an interview about our waterfalls.Last week saw also a magazine from Toronto do a piece on us as well.It has been a extremely busy time for all of us, and we have only one way to go and that is up!
http://www.chrisecklund.com
http://www.chrisecklund.com
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
City of Waterfalls
One of the worlds leaders in Branding Cities has expressed interest in coming to Hamilton to see firsthand how we are changing our image globally from one of a dirty steel town to that of " Hamilton Waterfall Capital of the World" !!!!!!
Its always a major step forward when someone in the business at hand stands up and says " This is impressive"
More to follow but look at a visit date of September or so, details are still being worked on his arrival.
http://www.chrisecklund.com
Its always a major step forward when someone in the business at hand stands up and says " This is impressive"
More to follow but look at a visit date of September or so, details are still being worked on his arrival.
http://www.chrisecklund.com
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
City of Waterfalls Bus Layouts
Well our chief designer has come up with a few different layouts, here they are let me know what you think!!
Hopefully we will come to a conclusion by the end of the month and she will be wrapped!!!
Monday, July 20, 2009
CHUM FM RADIO ADS STARTED
They started this week, and will run for the entire week, see our website for all the times.
Its estimated that hundreds of thousands of people will hear our new jingle on CHUM FM 104.5 this week.
Its a proud moment for Hamilton.
The " City of Waterfalls" is now all over southern Ontario.
I just listened to time slot #2, and it was cool!!!
Many thanks to Cal DiFalco and his wife for producing the jingle!!!
You can download the CHUM FM player and times on our website at
http://www.cityofwaterfalls.ca
Its estimated that hundreds of thousands of people will hear our new jingle on CHUM FM 104.5 this week.
Its a proud moment for Hamilton.
The " City of Waterfalls" is now all over southern Ontario.
I just listened to time slot #2, and it was cool!!!
Many thanks to Cal DiFalco and his wife for producing the jingle!!!
You can download the CHUM FM player and times on our website at
http://www.cityofwaterfalls.ca
Sunday, July 12, 2009
All 4 Waterfall Cars together for their first time
The family of waterfall cars is getting so big its hard to get them all together for there first photo shoot!!!
This is just what its like with our family, it keeps growing, trying to get everyone to agree on a date for a family picture is a challenge.
Well the challenge is going to get even bigger, as this is now at my half-way point with my vehicles.
I have 4 more in the stables waiting to be wrapped.
Some ( ALL ) people say I am nuts and should be locked up for even thinking on wrapping what is next, but after awhile to me its just rubber and metal, I could care less what brand of car it is.
The picture above was taking tonight, at Albion Falls, can you tell which is which?
Where is waterfall Car #2?
It is turning into a game lately, people are emailing and posting messages, when they see the cars all over the City.
Some people just don't understand how they could see one car in Owen Sound, while another family member sees one in Toronto at the same time!!!
I just say its " Waterfall Magic"
I hope you enjoy the newest addition to our fleet of waterfall cars!!
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Movie Night at Mountview Park
Well its been awhile since I have blogged about what has been going on, right now I am playing catch up with what has happened lately.
Last Saturday we attended the second annual movie night hosted by the ward 8 community council.
The council and all its volunteers need to be commended for a great job that they did and by the looks of it all the people that attended had a great time.
We had the waterfall bus there along with waterfall cars # 1 and 4.
The bus served as a command center for the council, along with a meet and greet
This was also the launch of a new project for us to tackle, but more on that later.
You will love what we are planning.
http://www.chrisecklund.com/
Last Saturday we attended the second annual movie night hosted by the ward 8 community council.
The council and all its volunteers need to be commended for a great job that they did and by the looks of it all the people that attended had a great time.
We had the waterfall bus there along with waterfall cars # 1 and 4.
The bus served as a command center for the council, along with a meet and greet
This was also the launch of a new project for us to tackle, but more on that later.
You will love what we are planning.
http://www.chrisecklund.com/
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Satellite Internet for The Waterfall Bus
Well the Team Hamilton Waterfall Bus, became a fully functional rolling command center tonight with the addition of its own Internet Satellite dish from Motostat.
This has been 5 years in the planning stages, and came to a conclusion tonight as the dish was installed tested, debugged and then my driver took her home for the night.
The last few weeks has also been a very busy one, as lots of plans have been made, meetings had and ideas thrown around the table about how we can use the bus.
" We are only limited by our imaginations", is a common phrase that I have been using, as I have been challenging everyone to think outside the box on this one.
True to the way I operate, as soon as it is wrapped we will hit the road and start to travel around the Province, maybe with a concrete plan, or flying by the seat of our pants and see where it takes us.
Our own Economic Development office in Hamilton is aboard, and we have had some very constructive talks on how we can use the bus to advertise our City.
Ec Dev, has also made some partnerships with others who literally want to "jump on the bus", when we hit the road with our travelling road show.
Mark my words, this will be truly remarkable.
Physician Recruitment, Tourism, Eck Development ( my wife's spin on it !!), you name it, it is all connected.
Will it work?
It already is.
The bus has quietly been used for years now, and the last few weeks it has been seen all over the city by people, gearing up for the grand launch when she is wrapped.
We have done food drives, one just last weekend, it was a command center for the Police Charity golf tourney, it will be used this weekend at a community parks fundraiser, the list goes on.
This summer it will appear all over the place, summer fairs, carnivals, you name it, anything and anywhere the bus can be seen or used at is what my goal is.
Once it is wrapped it immediately becomes Hamilton's Mobile Consulate.
Imagine the bus rolling up to a company that has expressed interest to our Ec Dev office in moving to Hamilton, and instead of them coming to the plain same old stuffy boardroom office, our mobile mansion comes to them instead!
Once they see the beauty of the wrapped bus with our waterfalls on it, we bring them inside and show them our presentation via computer or TV, and serve a nice lunch in a very casual setting.
As a company president and CEO, I know all the wow factors that impress me, and this would impress the hell out of me!
Its all in the delivery.
Much more to come, but when we hit the road, the world will stand up and take notice as Hamilton will be out front blazing a path no one has ever been down before.
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