The document promotes the Cobourg region of Ontario as an ideal location for meetings and conventions. It highlights the variety of accommodation options from hotels to inns and resorts that can host groups of various sizes. A range of meeting spaces are also described that can accommodate groups from 44 to 400 people. The region offers scenic landscapes from Lake Ontario to forests and opportunities for team-building activities like hiking and boating. Cobourg provides accessibility from major cities and an array amenities to host meetings and keep attendees engaged.

1. EXPERIENCE AN AREA WHERE MEETINGS
AND CONVENTIONS ARE SUCCESSFUL
Team building in Ganaraska Forest

3. Table of
COnTEnTS
Creature Comforts in Cobourg . . . . . . 1
Relax, it’s Eganridge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Peterborough City Limitless . . . . . . . . 5
Elmhirst’s Resort . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
A Playground for Grownups
Stoney Lake . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Everything Good. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Comes from Westwind

4. “You’ll find the picturesque
harbour and lighthouse pier, the
grand beach and promenade,
historic mansions and trendy
restaurants”
A meeting escape to the Cobourg region offers a range of
possibilities for work, rest and teambuilding, whether your group
size comes in handfuls or hundreds. By road or by rail, we are
easily accessible on the Highway 401 corridor and by Via Rail lines,
centrally located between Montreal and Toronto.
Depending on the size of your group we have hotels, B&Bs, inns and
resorts to suit every size and any agenda.
Meeting rooms range in capacity from 44 to 400. Get creative results
from your next goal-setting session by holding a debate in the “Old
Bailey” (Cobourg’s original county courtroom modeled on London’s
famous original), one of several historic meeting spaces in the
magnificent Victoria Hall.
Integrating complementary activities in this region is a dream.
Customize your own amazing tour through Cobourg’s downtown...
within a few blocks you’ll find the picturesque harbour and lighthouse
pier, the grand beach and promenade, historic mansions and trendy
restaurants. Add a cycling challenge along the Lake Ontario
Waterfront Trail or finish a day with dinner and sunset boat cruise
on Rice Lake, only 30 minutes from downtown. Strengthen team
relationships at The Ganaraska Forest Centre while traversing
hundreds of kilometres of trails on horseback, all-terrain vehicles
and zip lines.
Reward your hard-working staff with a post-meeting retreat to
the famous Ste. Anne’s Spa, a short drive away in the beautiful
Haldimand Hills – or spend several days in your own 3 bedroom
Cottage Spa with private hot tub, spa rooms and access to the
main spa wellness programs, trails and stables.
Rarely does one destination offer such an incredible range
of landscapes at every turn. From an ocean-like expanse of
Lake Ontario and rolling hills of farmland to sheltered valleys
of lush forests and rich lakes and natural playgrounds...
Cobourg has it all.
1

5. Creature Comforts in
COBOURG

6. Relax, it’s
Eganridge
3

7. “Overlooking Sturgeon Lake,
this gem has everything to
make work and team-building
goals easily realized.”
Work doesn’t feel like work when the expansive Eganridge
Inn & Spa is your boardroom. A dockside lounger doesn’t feel
at all like a cubicle and the European cuisine isn’t anything like
the food court, but there’s no mistaking it: when groups make
Eganridge the gathering space for meetings, retreats and
conventions, it works. And so do they.
Richly situated in the Kawartha Lakes between resort towns Fenelon
Falls and Bobcaygeon, even getting to Eganridge invites an exercise
in open-mindedness. Choose from any number of back-road routes,
less than 2 hours from Toronto and Pearson International Airport.
At Eganridge’s front door is Sturgeon Lake, at the Trent-Severn
Waterway and only a boat ride in any direction could sweep you to
Georgian Bay, Lake Ontario or simply just the next bay in search
of a hungry walleye.
The Treetops conference facility seats up to 140 people. The resort can
accommodate overnight groups with 25 luxurious suites combined in
lakeside cottages and terraced rooms in the main lodge.
For the ideal business setting, put a small group into Dunsford Inn
and make it your own. Named for the family who built this stunning
square timber 1837 home overlooking Sturgeon Lake, this gem has
everything to make work and team-building goals easily realized.
The meeting room, a ceiling-to-floor windowed sunroom over-
looking expansive lawns sloping to the lake, enjoys the reputation
of making people keen for more meetings. Incorporate cooking
classes in the Inn’s newly designed kitchen. Six stunning suites
and several modern lounge areas separate meetings from private
time with ease.
Enjoy all the estate has to offer, from high tea, to spa
services to the regulation golf course. Local day excursions
are limitless, from boat cruises to wildlife trails to boutique
shopping and live entertainment.
Eganridge has it all to make it work…every time.

8. “Downtown hosts a world of
food and catering options, as
well as a bounty of live music
and entertainment choices”
Make a splash at your next business getaway in the vibrant and
scenic city of Peterborough, surrounded by rivers and lakes and
easily accessible from Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal.
Meeting spaces abound, from the performance centre ambience of
Market Hall or Showplace to a creative integration with a museum or
a riverside nature camp. The possibilities are endless.
After a kickoff lunch in Trent University’s Great Hall, imagine the
surprise of your group when they learn their transportation downtown
is a 12-seater Voyageur birchbark canoe.
In no time, they will arrive at the Peterborough Lift Lock, the highest
hydraulic boat lift in the world, to begin a descent of over 65 metres,
or six-stories.
Once ashore, get down to work at the Canadian Canoe Museum
among its rare collection of watercrafts including skin kayaks, war
canoes and Inuit whaling dugouts. Achieve team-building goals
through workshops of snowshoe-making, paddle-carving and
finger-weaving.
Accommodations are abundant from major hotels lakeside, to
boutique inns and luxurious B&Bs. Peterborough can host meetings
of up to 125 delegates in one hotel and up to 350 using multiple
spaces; a new convention centre & hotel, now in the final planning
stage, is slated to open in the near future.
With over 60 km of walking trails within the city limits and nearly
100% of shoreline made public parkland, Peterborough ranked in
the top five of Canada’s most walkable cities.
The compact downtown hosts a world of food and catering
options (Indian, Thai, Himalayan, Cajun) as well as a bounty
of live music and entertainment choices.
Farm fresh meat and vegetables paired with locally
produced beer and wine continue to earn Peterborough
high marks as a sustainable city.
Only 90 minutes from the GTA, Peterborough is the
natural choice for your next business destination.
5

9. PETERBOROUGH
City Limitless

10. “Launch a planning session on
a pontoon boat cruise, or hold
a breakfast meeting at the
‘cowboy bowl’”
If you can imagine your work day starting with a cowboy break-
fast in a forest valley and finishing with a lakeside wine-tasting
class, you have an idea how a convention at Elmhirst’s Resort
can make work feel like an absolute pleasure.
Accommodating groups as big as 100 and as small as five,
meeting rooms of all sizes can adapt to your group’s needs with
ease and creativity.
On 240 acres with a mile of shoreline, lakeside cottage suites are
sized with 2-5 bedrooms, and the newly-renovated dining rooms can
host up to 200 guests, depending on configuration and service.
Family-owned and operated, Elmhirst’s Resort on Rice Lake enjoys
an ideal vantage point between Toronto, Ottawa, Port Hope and
Peterborough.
Before or after meetings, delegates can enjoy the indoor and outdoor
swimming pools, gym, sauna and spa or take to the trails to hike, run,
bike, ATV or ride horseback.
Elmhirst’s staff encourage shaping your professional development
goals around amenities and activities, when you need a change from
the board room.
Launch a planning session on a pontoon boat cruise, or hold a
breakfast meeting at the ‘cowboy bowl’ (a natural depression in the
forest), cooked over an open fire... a sure way to revive the spirits
of urban commuters.
With its private float planes and runway, Elmhirst’s will even fly a
group out to its remote northern camp location, accessible only by
air. Experience innovative brainstorming while canoeing or fishing,
a lakeside BBQ, then fly back to the resort in time to snuggle into
a cozy bed with visions of wilderness dancing in your head.
There’s a working farm vegetable garden and a park with
courts for tennis, basketball, volleyball and more.
When your convention is done, encourage your group to
enjoy a lazy drive home with a visit to the villages in the
nearby Trent Hills for award-winning wine and cheese,
maple syrup and even craft beer.
Elmhirst’s has everything you need for your next
convention or meeting.
7

11. ELMHIRST’S RESORT
A Playground for Grownups

12. STONEY LAKE
9

13. “Imagine holding your next
meeting in a canoe, on a horse
trail or while spelunking through
caves the glaciers left behind.”
When the American Canoe Association held their 1883 annual
meeting on Stoney Lake, northeast of Peterborough, they knew
they were on to a good thing. Today, this lake remains the gem
of the Kawarthas, a haven of stunning shorelines and accessible
wilderness all within an easy and scenic drive from the GTA.
With over 125 years of practice, the resorts and lodges on this lake
continue to provide superlative customized service for corporate and
group meetings and retreats - best exemplified by Viamede and Irwin
Inn, the undisputed king and queen of Stoney Lake.
Embracing an expansive 2000 feet of waterfront on the north
shore, Viamede Resort and Conference Centre is the grand
lady of the Kawarthas, built on foundations that have
hosted lodgers for over 125 years. Offering three
restaurants, several historic buildings and a working
farm on its 165 acres, the opportunities for creative
productivity are endless.
On the south shore, Irwin Inn specializes in team
building for intimate groups with big ambitions.
Evoking rustic luxury and creature comforts, the post
and beam split-level units are designed for executive
tastes, each suite cozily outfitted with a woodstove
or fireplace and hot tub or whirlpool. The toughest
decision made during a stay at Irwin Inn might just
be who gets the suite with the heated swimming pool
on the private deck overlooking the lake.
Events large or small naturally benefit by the magic of Stoney
Lake. The unique landscape offers inspiration at every turn,
from the crashing cascades at Burleigh Falls to the ancient
native rock paintings at Petroglyphs Provincial Park – a
destination that remains a sacred place of pilgrimage for
the Ojibwa people.
Imagine holding your next meeting in a canoe, on a horse
trail or while spelunking through caves the glaciers left
behind. The hosts of Stoney Lake can help design those
experiences to help you meet your professional and
development goals.

14. “Visit sacred aboriginal
rock carvings at Petroglyphs
Provincial Park on Stoney Lake,
and the Peterborough Lift Locks
and Canadian Canoe Museum
in Peterborough.”
There’s only one rule to obey when you bring your group
meetings and conventions to the Westwind Inn in Buckhorn:
you will, at some point, have to leave.
In a setting that looks and feels it could be north of Lake Superior,
Westwind offers twenty-first century amenities in a rustic setting:
an outdoor swimming pool and hot tub, putting green and driving
net, and the choice of main lodge suites and lakeview chalet
accommodations – all within an easy two-hour drive from the
Toronto and Pearson airport.
On-site facilities meet the needs of modest sized-groups, with banquet
seating for 100, board room seating for 40, two meeting rooms and 35
guest rooms. The scenery, hospitality and dining room fare are second
to none.
With the Kawarthas at your doorstep, opportunities abound for off-site
team-building sessions and reward excursions. During the day,
accompany your own biologist on a forest hike over rocky shield
outcroppings. At night, get an intimate tour of the universe from the
Buckhorn Observatory (or we arrange to have the observatory come to
Westwind to guide you through the night sky from the private beach).
Private group tours are available at Whetung Centre of Ojibwa Crafts
and Arts Gallery located nearby at Curve Lake First Nation, explor-
ing Ojibwa life and culture, creatively expressed through
the vast collection of historic artifacts, masks and artwork in the
gallery and store.
Explore the Kawarthas you’ve always heard about, from
Bobcaygeon and Fenelon Falls to Lovesick Lake and Burleigh
Falls. Visit sacred aboriginal rock carvings at Petroglyphs
Provincial Park on Stoney Lake, and the Peterborough Lift
Locks and Canadian Canoe Museum in Peterborough.
From strategic planning meetings to team building
challenges, Westwind’s idyllic setting offers myriad
opportunities for creative productivity. And though you
will have to leave at some point, coming back is easy. Just
remember Westwind’s motto: A short drive…
a world away.
11

15. Everything Good Comes From
WESTWIND

16. AMENITIES
Peterborough, Kawartha Lakes & Northumberland is home to
value-priced traditional and unique venues and accommodations
for meetings and conventions, in any season (13 hotels, 10 resorts
and 13 meeting places). Our region is capable of hosting meetings
of up to 125 delegates in one venue and up to 350 delegates using
multiple spaces.
A new convention centre & hotel is in the final planning stage and
is expected to open in Peterborough in the near future.
For board meetings and staff retreats, many associations and
corporations use our stunning resorts that house deluxe cottages,
board rooms, banquet seating, island BBQs and boat cruise
excursions.
WE WORK FOR YOU
Our convention planning team works with you to bring it all together.
Our residents love their region and it’s obvious by the way we serve
our visitors – our Meetings & Conventions department is no exception.
We’re ready to customize your next corporation or association meeting
or convention to suit your size, theme and need.
We have Group and Self-guided itineraries for every season. We offer
all-inclusive meeting packages that include hotel guest room, use of a
dedicated meeting room and three meals per day plus refreshments.
Getting here requires minimal travel time. Peterborough,
Kawartha Lakes & Northumberland is about a 90 minute
drive from Toronto. Far enough to let your mind open
up, consider possibilities and commit to engage, and
yet close enough to experience a rural playground,
leaving the urban life and city bustle behind.
a SHORT
dRiVE aWaY
CONTACT US
Peterborough, Kawartha Lakes & Northumberland —
a place where meetings and conventions work for you.
Contact us to book a familiarization tour or a free lunch
& learn seminar in your business office.
Lorne Kelsey
Destination Sales and Partner Relations Regional Tourism Organization 8
PETERBOROUGH, KAWARTHA
LAKES & NORTHUMBERLAND
e-mail: LorneKelsey@rto8.com
phone: 905.376.2964
toll free: 1.866.251.0005
ourfavouriteplace.ca/meetings