Chalk up two more tourism awards for the Town of Okotoks.

The Town received the Community Award for Business and Investment Attraction for a medium-sized community (population from 25,001-100,000) as well as the prestigious Alex Metcalfe Award recognizing the “best of the best” for Business Investment and Attraction in the province during the Economic Developers Alberta Awards of Excellence Conference.

Economic Development Manager Shane Olson says there based on a couple of initiatives done by the Town last year.

"These awards were centred around the Okotoks Visitor & Activity Guide, an extensive tourism launch with our C-Train campaign and our viral slogan "There Are A Number Of Things To Do In Okotoks" that was part of our Calgary transit campaign last summer," he says.

The awards were presented last week in Kananaskis in front of over 400 different representatives from numerous communities and municipalities in Alberta.

Olson says it was quite the honour to receive.

"We were very humbled by these awards and the strategy was clearly a huge success for us. As it brought great attention for our community here and we were recognized by the CEO of Travel Alberta."

Olson says that even still nearing the one year anniversary of the "Number Of Things To Do In Okotoks" viral event he still gets questions on how Okotoks was able to cash in on something seen around the country on social media.

"It was really interesting a lot of people came up to us and asked how whether if the viral marketing was planned and unplanned and how they could take advantage of this in their community. Other municipalities working in economic development so these awards Alberta individuals and communities for their contribution to their profession and excellence in economic development."

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