The Ministry of Rural Affairs’ First Impressions Community Exchange (FICE) program can help communities gain fresh perspectives and unique insights based on how first-time visitors engage in and experience their community.

The FICE program involves members of one community visiting another participating community, and reporting their thoughts on areas of improvement, opportunities and successes to each other. This provides communities with insights on how to improve various aspects of their community, as well as validate programs and actions that are already being undertaken or planned. This information is consolidated into a report and a presentation.

The Town of Petawawa was matched with the Municipality of North Grenville, and they completed their FICE in summer of 2024. Visits between the two communities were conducted between June 14 and July 16, 2024.

Christine Mitchell, Manager of Economic Development and Rudy Kadlec, Economic Development Coordinator presented the FICE report back from North Grenville at Petawawa’s Council-in-Committee Meeting on September 23rd, 2024, highlighting key findings on what the North Grenville visitors’ first impressions were of their municipality. Comments about Petawawa from FICE respondents noted:

• beautiful winding roads, mature trees, and scenic drives, especially along entrances off the 417
• well-used and maintained multi-use pathways
• large commercial chains along Petawawa Boulevard
• lack of a traditional downtown core

In addition to providing their first impressions, the visitors also identified potential opportunities to the Town of Petawawa:

• more shop local promotion – increase digital integration in store fronts and tourism, such as QR codes in store windows and utilizing online directories for local tourist destinations
• tree trimming around signage at the different entrances to the Town, and improved wayfinding signage to main attractions
• continue beautification efforts along Petawawa Boulevard
• diversify the local economy by attracting/expanding businesses in all sectors

The report provided more feedback on the community parks, neighbourhoods, housing and residential areas rating them as excellent or good.

Petawawa Mayor Gary Serviss responded to the report saying, “It’s great to see that most of their impressions were positive because that’s how we feel about Petawawa.”

He added, “We all drive around this town and we’re not necessarily paying attention to signage and things like that, so I think this (community exchange) is a fantastic idea.”

Christine Mitchell, Manager of Economic Development, said, “We value the FICE program results and the recommendations offered from our partner community visits. We are committed to continuing work to enhance our visitors’ experience ensuring we continue to exemplify our motto Dynamic by Nature.”

The Council-in-Committee recorded meeting featuring the FICE presentation can also be viewed online here.

More information on the First Impressions Community Exchange program can be found on our website here.