Churchill Wild co-owner Jeanne Reimer and Churchill Wild Finance and Admin Manager Shari Wright accepting 2016 Winnipeg Airports Authority Award of Distinction. L to R: Bob Sparrow, chairman of Travel Manitoba Board of Directors; Hon. Cliff Cullen, Minister of Growth, Enterprise and Trade, PC Party of Manitoba; Shari Wright; Jeanne Reimer; Barry Rempel, President and Chief Executive Officer, Winnipeg Airports Authority.
Churchill Wild is proud to announce that we recently received the prestigious Winnipeg Airports Authority Award of Distinction at the 18th annual Travel Manitoba Tourism Awards.
Held on October 4, 2016 at the Viscount Gort Hotel in Winnipeg, the Manitoba Tourism Awards recognize excellence in the promotion and delivery of quality tourism experiences and services in Manitoba. The Winnipeg Airports Authority Award of Distinction recognizes a business or organization that reflects exceptional leadership in Manitoba’s tourism industry and helps Manitoba realize distinction as a high quality tourism destination.
“We’re very honoured to receive this prestigious award,” said Jeanne Reimer, co-owner of Churchill Wild along with her husband Mike. “It’s been a great team effort and we have many people to thank. Travel Manitoba has been very helpful to us over the years, and they are one of the core reasons we have been so successful. We would also like to thank our partners in Churchill, and to congratulate our fellow nominee Lady of the Lake.
“We’ve worked very hard to establish our polar bear lodges and have had some great successes, but none of this would been possible without the help of our fabulous team at Churchill Wild, both in the office and in the field, as well as our wonderful guests, and my parents, Doug and Helen Webber, who helped us keep things on track in the early days.”
Churchill Wild began offering its unique brand of ground-level polar bear tours as a small family-owned and operated business over 20 years ago, with only one paying customer. Fast forward to today. Churchill Wild now employs over 50 team members, and this year more than 600 guests will visit their remote luxury fly-in polar bear lodges.
2016 Award of Distinction Winner – Churchill Wild
Churchill Wild offers guests the opportunity to see polar bears up close in their natural habitat from July through November at their three different polar bear lodges, which include: Nanuk Polar Bear Lodge, located 250 km southeast of Churchill; Dymond Lake Eco-Lodge, 30 km north of Churchill; and Seal River Heritage Lodge, 60 km north of Churchill. Seal River Heritage Lodge became a member of National Geographic Unique Lodges of the World in 2015, and also offers guests the opportunity to snorkel with beluga whales.
Previously a recipient of the Sustainable Tourism Award at the 2015 Manitoba Tourism Awards, Churchill Wild’s rare combination of walking the wild tundra with polar bears, exceptional customer service, and a delicious culinary experience based on the Blueberries & Polar Bears cookbook series written by Jeanne Reimer’s mother Helen Webber and co-author Marie Woolsey, has resulted in guests becoming ambassadors for Churchill Wild all over the world.
“Sometimes we find it all hard to believe,” said Reimer. “We are very thankful for this amazing recognition.”
