The winners are in.
Tourism Windsor Essex Pelee Island (TWEPI) announced the winners of the 10th annual Best of Windsor Essex Awards at a ceremony held at Caesars Windsor Wednesday morning.
Voting took place over three weeks online, allowing Windsor-Essex residents to have their say on their favourite spots across 48 awards.
TWEPI CEO Gordon Orr says nearly 7,000 people voted on the 238 finalists.
"It's a great celebration, it really is a galvanizing sort of campaign where we bring the locals together and they help brag about and trump those places that they like to go, see do, and dine," Orr said.
He says the benefits of the awards will be felt throughout the year.
"It's just not today we're celebrating them, we're celebrating them all year long through our marketing, through our curated list of a must-see list of what locals like to do, and we know that they are going to be liked by the people that come and visit us too," Orr said.
Being the 10th year of the awards, seven additional awards were presented to businesses that have won all 10 years in their award category:
- Caesars Windsor - Best Hotel
- Cindy's Home & Garden - Best Boutique Shop
- Colosanti's Tropical Gardens - Best Family Friendly Attraction
- The Colosseum at Caesars Windsor - Best Live Music Venue
- Devonshire Mall - Best Mall
- Kingsville Golf & Country Club - Best Golf Course
- Walkerville Brewery - Best Brewery Experience
For the 10th year in a row Kingsville Golf & Country Club won Best Golf Course, and general manager Doug Quick says it could not have been done without the hard work of his staff.
"We're thankful that we have such a wonderful group of members, and we also host a lot of fundraising tournaments, and they're extremely supportive too, and we like to belong to something like that that creates funds for such worthwhile causes in the county," said Quick.
In addition, TWEPI also honoured several business and attractions who won consecutively over multiple years, including:
- Bright Lights Windsor
- Caesars Windsor
- Iron Kettle Commissary
- Point Pelee National Park
- Spago
- The Twisted Apron
- Wolfhead Distillery
- Windsor Sculpture Park
TWEPI says the region sees some 5.6+ million visitors each year, leaving behind an economic footprint of $856 million dollars.
