ABOUT THIS SITE - News Release

Peace Country Website Climbs To The Top!
Discover The Peace Country

Grande Prairie August 2009 -

A ONE-OF-A-KIND WEBSITE that features the entire Peace Country has quickly become one of the most informative websites in the northwestern Alberta and northeastern British Columbia. www.discoverthepeacecountry.com has been online since May 2003, and has grown to include 70 areas of the Peace Country. This unique tourism website features cities, towns, villages, hamlets, parks and lakes, and networks them together for easy access. Each area of the Peace Country includes location, population, history, events, schools, accommodations, camping, golf etc. There are more than 1800 pictures on this website. There are also many links to hotels, restaurants as well as links to other informative websites.

Many communities and businesses in the Peace Country are referring newcomers to the site as a good source of information on the area. Even colleges in northern Alberta, are using this site as an educational tool for research on the area. The support of the many communities and media has been tremendous. Almost every community in the Peace Country that has a website has a link to DiscoverThePeaceCountry.com. There are 10 newspapers in the Peace Country that feature a FREE DiscoverThePeaceCountry.com banner/link on their "FRONT" page of their website. (Including the Daily Herald-Tribune, Peace Country Sun, Grande Prairie INK, Fairview Post, Peace River Record Gazette which have also gained revenue over the years from Special Sections that appeared in their newspapers, from photos and information supplied by DiscoverThePeaceCountry.com. The Daily Herald-Tribune also hosted DiscoverThePeaceCountry.com on their server for many years)

What makes DiscoverThePeaceCountry.com so unique, is that it is the inspiration and work of "one person". After approximately 6 years in the making, Ken Connors has donated 1000's of hours of his spare time travelling to each area, doing the research, photography and web-pages. "Years ago I had a vision of taking a map, and clicking on it.... and information would come up about that area. Many said it couldn't be done, so I ended up doing it myself", says Connors.

There are a number of clickable maps currently on this website which gives one a virtual tour of the entire Peace Country from Grande Prairie to Rainbow Lake to the north, and Chetwynd to the west, and High Prairie to the east. Many communities have never been featured on the internet before, and are very pleased that Mr. Connors has taken the time to visit their community and put them on the internet for free.
"I have thoroughly enjoyed travelling to all the communities, seeing many interesting sites as well as meeting so many friendly people".

Mr. Connors' efforts of promoting the Peace Country has definitely made more people aware of the entire region especially those who travel northern Alberta or BC. Even though he has been unable to receive any funding from the Province of Alberta, he has not let that stop him. Funding has come from Grande Prairie Hotels, Restaurants, RV Dealers and Golf Courses who advertise their business on this website and from Royal LePage Grande Prairie as well as from Mr. Connors himself. All funds are used in paying for material costs of keeping the website going while promoting the Peace Country. DiscoverThePeaceCountry.com is regarded as a not-for-profit website, as Mr. Connors has volunteered all his time on this website. (a donated value that now exceeds $250,000)

In August of 2004, DiscoverThePeaceCountry.com website was featured in the Vancouver Province Newspaper as one of the top 10 websites of British Columbia. "I am delighted that this site has reached this type of recognition", says Ken Connors developer of the website, pointing out that of the 70 areas on the website, 14 are from British Columbia.

Ken Chernuka was born and raised in the Peace Country. Born in Sexsmith, he received his education at Rycroft Alberta, and attended SAIT College in Calgary. (Radio, TV and Stage Arts). His alias became Ken Connors and was an on-air Radio Broadcaster in Grande Prairie (CFGP, later became SunFM and now Rock 97.7 FM) and Fort St. John, BC (CKNL) as well as other Radio/TV Stations in Alberta and Saskatchewan. (630 CHED Edmonton, 1140 CKXL Calgary, 1090 CHEC & CJOC Radio/TV Lethbridge, CJME Regina) See Kens Radio Scrapbook. After 10 years in radio and television, he switched to newspaper advertising sales (Daily Herald Tribune in Grande Prairie.) which ended in September of 2009, after 27 years. Developing this website is not his only internet accomplishment. In 1999, he came up with more "original ideas" that bridged the gap between newspaper and the internet. "A Shopping Mall" and "How to put newspaper promos on-line" won him a National Award. His picture appeared in the Toronto Sun Newspaper June 24. 2001. (pictured right) Grande Prairie became one of the first newspapers in Canada to take this new internet direction. He was asked to speak to 130 newspaper publishers across Canada about his ideas, and at a seminar with 250 newspaper sales people.

Disclosure of Financial Statements for Discover The Peace Country LTD as prepared by Friesen Bain Chartered Accountants: Year End 2006 shows a deficit of $3881 and 2007 Year End shows a deficit of $200. Year end 2008, deficit totals $4,477 as well as a Liabilities and Shareholders Dificiency (due to Ken Connors as outstanding loans) in the amount of $31,022.

Since Discover The Peace Country LTD has always had deficits and no profits, there were never any funds to pay any salaries.

Parks and Lakes of the Peace Country, is a 28 page glossy brochure that features pictures and camping information on over 20 major campsites of the Peace Country. It also includes a map of the region and valuable information. This brochure was produced from cover to cover by Ken Connors of DiscoverThePeaceCountry.com (pictures, information, design and typsetting), who donated his time on this project. Printing of this brochure was made financially possible with the support of Leisureland Camper Village in Grande Prairie (14320-100 Street) . 10,000 Copies of this brochure were printed and distributed in 2006.

Featured on DiscoverThePeaceCountry.com is the CITY OF GRANDE PRAIRIE, that includes pages on Attractions, Camping & Fishing, Golf, History, Hotels, Hotlinks, Grande Prairie Real Estate, Restaurants, Seniors, Service Clubs, Skiing, Schools, Statistics, and Archived News of 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 also VIDEOS. Featured communities in the COUNTY OF GRANDE PRAIRIE: Beaverlodge, Bezanson, Clairmont, Elmworth, Hythe, LaGlace, Sexsmith, Teepee Creek, Valhalla Centre, Wembley. ALBERTA TOWNS: Berwyn, Brownvale, Debolt, Dixonville, Donnelly, Eaglesham, Fairview, Falher, Fort Vermilion, Girouxville, Grimshaw, Grovedale, Guy, High Level, High Prairie, Hines Creek, Keg River, LaCrete, Manning, McLennan, Nampa, Peace River, Rainbow Lake, RIdgevalley, Rycroft, Spirit River, St. Isidore, Tangent, Valleyview, Wanham, Woking, Worsley. BC TOWNS: Charlie Lake, Chetwynd, Dawson Creek, Fort St. John, Hudson’s Hope, Pouce Coupe, Rolla, Taylor, Tomslake, Tumbler Ridge. ALBERTA PARKS AND LAKES: Dunvegan, Figure 8 Lake, Kleskun Hills, Lesser Slave Lake, Moonshine Lake, Musreau Lake, Notikewin Park, Pipestone Park, Queen Elizabeth Park, Saskatoon Lake, Simonette River, Snipe Lake, Sturgeon Lake, Spring Lake, Swan Lake AB, Twin Lakes, Two Lakes, Winagami Lake. BC PARKS AND LAKES: Gwillim Lake, Kinuseo Falls, Kiskatinaw Park, Moberly Lake, One Island Lake, Swan Lake BC. Includes Provincial Parks. Cities in the Peace Country Include Fort St John BC, Dawson Creek BC, as well as Grande Prairie AB.

2010 EVENTS OF THE PEACE COUNTRY

Congratulations on a job well done! It is great to read up on the histories of these small towns, parks, etc. Maybe it will entice people to do some day-trips to some of these areas and check out the history in our own backyard.
-Grande Prairie.

I have looked at your web page, you have very nice photos of our area and the write up is very good. We appreciate your work to promote the Peace Country and the communities within. -Hythe.

Can you answer some basic questions about your new website, discoverthe peacecountry.com? I would like to include it as an addition to another story about a website for the Grimshaw area?
-Mile Zero News, Grimshaw.

I appreciate the information you have on your website and will be a great tool when sending my employees to work in your area. I have book marked it.
-Edmonton.

Great work, this looks great. I think this is a great idea.
-County of Grande Prairie Council Member.

Congratulations on the sites success thus far and the news coverage by local media is exciting. It must be quite rewarding for you to see the success of your hard work.
-Grande Prairie.

I viewed your website shortly after the launch on May 1, 2003, was very impressed, and have recommended it to people making enquiries about the Peace. You have provided a much needed service to the Peace Country and an invaluable aid to development and tourism. Congratulations on a job very well done!
-Fairview.

Great website. I've passed the link on to my associates at my bank
-Grande Prairie.

Greetings! I looked up your new website and it looks really good. How industrious of you! It looks like it probably was a lot of fun to do, too. It is a good idea.
-Maple Ridge, BC.

We will be linking our website to yours. I will arrange for your site to be included under "Helpful Links"
-Peace River.

You've done an excellent job on your site -Peace Wapiti School Division.

I'm impressed with your website. With this new knowledge, I will make other agencies involved in business development in the region aware of your site.
-Representative of the Government of Alberta, Grande Prairie.

Hi Ken; We have added the link to your website to our External Links page under the category "Other External Links in our Community".
-City of Grande Prairie.