Hamilton- The Waterfall Capital of The World

Ideal Home and Garden Show

2011-03-07T11:07:00.000-05:00

Canadian Heroes and City of Waterfalls both had booths at the Ideal Home and Garden Show, at the Careport Center in Hamilton, which took place over the weekend (March 4 to 6). We had good reason to be there too. In addition to our regular initiatives we were promoting the upcoming Canadian Heroes Golf Tournament slated to take place in June of this year.

In order to promote the golf event Canadian Heroes and City of Waterfalls set up a second booth complete with putters, balls and of course a putting green. Golf enthusiasts were treated to a quick practice with the putters from Friday to Sunday.

Hopefully the tournament will be as big a success as the Ideal Home and Garden Show was. Keep watching our Facebook and Twitter groups for more information as it develops.

Check out our pics from the weekend here.

Thanks to all of our volunteers for helping to make the weekend as enjoyable as it was.

Annual Family Day Walk

2011-02-16T15:48:00.003-05:00

Join us Monday, February 21 · 12:00pm - 3:00pm

Our annual Family Day Walk is upon us again, this year we will meet on Family Day which is this Monday Feb 21st at Noon. We will offer a guided/self guided walk towards Tews Falls and Lookout Point. A bbq will be offered weather permitting, so bring your cameras, dress for the weather and come see two beautiful waterfalls!!!

For more info check out out Facebook page.

Billy Green Waterfall in Pink Video #1

2010-10-19T15:05:00.000-04:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYfw8KZlD0I

Billy Green Falls Commentary

2010-09-23T17:56:00.000-04:00

An up close and personal shot of Sherman Falls at night covered in ice.MPG

2010-09-23T17:50:00.000-04:00

Hamilton City Hall Illuminated at night

2010-05-30T02:16:00.000-04:00

The Toronto Sportsmen Show

2010-03-19T02:24:00.001-04:00

Here we are on the road yet again, I think this is 5 weekends in a row we have been out and about promoting Hamilton and its beautiful waterfalls!!!

This was taken on day 2 of 5 at The Toronto Sportsmens Show, tens of thousands of people attended today, both parking garages at The Toronto Convention Centre where full even!!

A great show so far, more to come tommorow!!!

NEW Waterfall found! Dundas, ON!

2010-03-09T11:30:00.001-05:00

Here is a new waterfall that was found by Inaz on the weekend, Her and Dan where out and about, its a pretty one, more details to follow!!! Well done guys!!

End of the show wrap up at the Outdoor Adventure Show.MPG

2010-03-01T12:17:00.001-05:00

The end of a 5 day marathon in total, Team Hamilton was awesome!!!!

Mountview Falls in Hamilton

2010-02-15T19:33:00.001-05:00

This was taken on my 2nd annual Family Day Walk. This year we went to Chedoke Golf Course and used that as our starting area and walked the old rail trail to Hwy 403. This clip is Mountview Falls

CTS TV Film on The City of Waterfalls Campaign

2010-02-09T09:22:00.001-05:00

Mindy Tweedle came out and filmed this segment on our waterfall illumination program at Albion Falls last week and here is the excellent results from that evening!!! This is on Connie Smiths Show " Always Good News", thanks Connie and Mindy!!! and also Kirk the cameraman for getting all the good shots!!!

Illuminating Hamiltons Waterfalls in Pink in Support of Breast Cancer Research

2010-01-29T20:44:00.002-05:00

A few days ago we lit up Sherman Falls in Pink as part of our trial project, and it dawned on me that this would be a cool thing to do in support of Breast Cancer Research on a much larger scale!!

Imagine if we lit up some of our bigger waterfalls in Pink during Breast Cancer Awareness Month, or at any time really that we wanted to get the awareness out to people.

We could organize a hike at the same time, the responce has been overwhelming so far, ladies what say you?

http://www.cityofwaterfalls.ca

An up close and personal shot of Sherman Falls at night covered in ice.MPG

2010-01-14T12:33:00.001-05:00

This is a cool effect and exactly what I have been waiting to do! Putting the spotlamps behind the ice gives it an entirely different effect, its a photographers dream come true!!! The great thing is we can now play around with all the different colours that we have also!

The Hamilton Waterfall Initiative has once again taken on a different light!!

http://www.cityofwaterfalls.ca

Lower Westcliffe Falls Illuminated at Night.MPG

2010-01-08T18:02:00.001-05:00

My first time in actually seeing Lower Westcliffe Falls up close and personal like this, it had some great ice formations on it, and the new gold filters made it look real nice. I also went around to the other side and was treated with some breathtaking pictures and an amazing view as well.

A further surprise was in order as I was able to see up and around the waterway leading to Westcliffe falls itself.

This waterfall will be a very hard one to light up entirely, but once done will be a " sleeping giant" I predict.

Absolutely beautiful!

Albion Falls 20 Spotlamps a Half Billion Candlepower.MPG

2010-01-08T17:55:00.001-05:00

A record was set at Albion Falls when we lit her up with a half billion candlepower!!!

Devils Punchbowl Illumination for the very first time

2009-12-28T13:30:00.001-05:00

Here we are at the Devils Punchbowl for the very first time, One thing that you can always guarantee you have at the punchbowl is wind!!! Its also nice to know that God is watching over us!!!

Great Falls being li up for the very first time, the countdown and command to light them up!!!.MPG

2009-12-21T11:42:00.001-05:00

Here we are at Great Falls, getting ready to light up the waterfall for the very first time in history!!! Great Falls has some very wicked looking ice formations, we are going to have a lot of fun with this waterfall!!!

Great Falls at night with the Canon Rebel T1i 009.MOV

2009-12-21T11:39:00.001-05:00

This was tonight as we made history by lighting up Great Falls for the very first time!!!

Albion Falls with CH TV.MPG

2009-12-18T01:24:00.001-05:00

Tonight CH TV came out and covered the event and went live at 11 pm with the clip of us lighting up Albion Falls. Tonight we had 14 spotlamps ( 1 died) for the biggest yet at Albion Falls.

I am going to order more spotlamps as Albion is so huge!

Commentary on our 1st attempt at lighting up Sherman Falls.MPG

2009-12-14T12:33:00.001-05:00

This is the first time we have ever lit up Sherman Falls, this was done with 100 Million Candlepower, enjoy, it looked absolutely spectatular, stay tuned more to come!!!!

A longer tripod mounted video of Albion Falls at night.MPG

2009-12-14T12:30:00.001-05:00

This is the first time we have ever lit up Albion Falls, this was done with 100 Million Candlepower, enjoy, it looked absolutely spectatular, stay tuned more to come!!!!

Our first attempt at painting a waterfall at night, here is Sherman Falls.MPG

2009-12-11T22:46:00.001-05:00

This was my first attempt to painting a waterfall at night, in this case I just had the spotlamp in a stationery position. It turned out pretty good all things considered!!!! We will return and keep experimenting with settings and bring out more equipment as well. This could lead to an entirely seperate catergory of pictures and video shot at night!!!!!

Centennial Falls.MOV

2009-12-04T12:07:00.001-05:00

This was my first time to see Centennial Falls, it was flowing nicely today after some heavy rains for the last few days. Also here is the new baby karst style waterfall that Jer found along with Billy Green waterfall.

more on

http://www.cityofwaterfalls.ca

Billy Green Waterfall

2009-12-03T22:10:00.001-05:00

This is shot today while out to look at a new waterfall, it is the first time I have seen Billy Green Waterfall up close, and wow what a beautiful waterfall it is!!! This is a waterfall that in the winter you can walk behind also once the water freezes to ice!!! For those that come to the http://www.cityofwaterfalls.ca website you may remember that this was the picture we featured for the longest time on the front page!!

Billy Green Waterfall

2009-12-03T22:06:00.001-05:00

This is shot today while out to look at a new waterfall, it is the first time I have seen Billy Green Waterfall up close, and wow what a beautiful waterfall it is!!! This is a waterfall that in the winter you can walk behind also once the water freezes to ice!!! For those that come to the www.cityofwaterfalls.ca website you may remember that this was the picture we featured for the longest time on the front page!!

The Hamilton Santa Claus Parade gets a visit from the Waterfalls Fleet

2009-11-27T23:05:00.002-05:00

Last week the City of Waterfalls Fleet descended upon the streets of Hamilton, and wow what a show it was!!

The new waterfall bus along with all 4 waterfall cars got together and they where dressed up to represent Christmas the best we could, and wow did they ever look nice!!

Pig skin Pete came out and led cheers amongst the crowd for the game the next day!

The Hamilton Tiger Cat Cheerleaders where also present as well!!

I also gave out 100 tiger cat tickets to the young ones along the route for the next days tiger cat football game!

We gave out almost 5,000 waterfall packages, which included a brochure and a postcard.

The crowds where HUGE, given that last year we had a complete wash out this year it was warm and sunny, a magnificient day.

A HUGE thank you to all the volunteers that came out to help, without you it would never happen.

Also a HUGE thank you to all the volunteers of the Hamilton Santa Claus Parade committee, it is also my distinct priviledge to have built and maintained the website and facebook group and the new You Tube channel for this cherished Hamilton institution.

Thanks again to everyone for making this a fantastic event!!

www.cityofwaterfalls.ca

Woodstock Santa Claus Parade

2009-11-21T19:57:00.002-05:00

Tonight The City of Waterfalls crew is prowling the streets of Woodstock taking part in our first ever night time santa claus parade!!!

The waterfall bus along with waterfall car #1 are down there all decked out in lights and showing off what Hamilton has to the thousands of onlookers!!!

Many thanks to all the volunteers for decorating the bus and car and giving up the day for the betterment of our great City!!!!

http://www.cityofwaterfalls.ca

Global TV Comes To Hamilton and covers our waterfalls

2009-10-20T01:22:00.003-04:00

Well today was a very special day, Global TV came to Hamilton, and they shot the news live from Gore Park, here is a video clip of the newscast, it was a great day for Hamilton!!!
http://www.globalnational.com/video/index.html?releasePID=ZoJ5RfN94VUF67Qb08BDtqg1JNUbV8WQ

HamiltonMountainNews.com: News: Story: Waterfalls campaign attracting visitors, new residents

2009-10-14T12:44:00.001-04:00

HamiltonMountainNews.com: News: Story: Waterfalls campaign attracting visitors, new residents

Shared via AddThis

TiCat Hover

2009-10-14T12:05:00.001-04:00

Now how can we use this to promote our great City.......hmmmmm

City of Waterfalls You Tube channel hits 20,000 visitor mark

2009-10-08T09:44:00.002-04:00

Our ever growing City of Waterfalls You Tube Channel, just rolled over the 20,000 visit mark!!!!

We have started to really use the power of You Tube within the last few months, ever since our roll out of our radio ad in CHUM FM in Toronto, our site traffic has went through the roof!!

People from all over the world have now stopped and visited our channel and view our videos, which by the way if you have not noticed are also appearing on our website, twitter,blog and Facebook group as well.

The multi-media exposure is growing daily, as we continue to grow and spread the word about Hamilton and its wonderful waterfalls!!!

http://www.cityofwaterfalls.ca

Our 1st Waterfall Walk Anniversary

2009-10-02T16:28:00.002-04:00

This Sunday Oct 4 from Noon to 5 pm, we will be celebrating our 1st anniversary of our first ever waterfall walk!!!!

The event will be at Albion Falls, which if you have not seen since the BIG storm last July, has changed forever, and for the better!!!!

We will have the new waterfall bus there and we will be meeting in the Arbour Street Parking lot which is directly across from Albion Falls itself.

There is lots of parking in the 4 adjacent lots on Mud Street and Mountain Brow Blvd as well, so if the lot is full just use the upper lots or the one at the end of Mud street where it dead ends at the Red Hill expressway.

We will do a short walk to view the new Albion Falls, and then also a side trip to see Buttermilk Falls as well.

If conditions are good we will show you the new waterfall we found last year, and have named Pritchard Falls!!!!

Hope to see you there, bring the kids and help us celebrate our 1st Waterfall Walk Anniversary!!!

www.cityofwaterfalls.ca

Concession Street Fallfest

2009-10-02T16:23:00.002-04:00

Tomorrow is the annual Concession Street Fallfest which is being held at the Royal Bank Plaza parking lot at 555 Concession Street.

We will have the waterfall bus and also a waterfall car and our booth set up there so bring the kids and come out and have fun!!!

There is lots to see and do at the FallFest, not to mention the great shopping on Concession Street itself!!

The event is Saturday Oct 3 from 11am to 4 pm, we hope to see you there!!!

www.cityofwaterfalls.ca

City of Waterfalls Bus Book

2009-09-30T13:53:00.003-04:00

Book #5 is hot off the press and just arrived today!!!

This book is all about the waterfall bus and is jammed packed full of pictures of the bus at different events, fairs, and people!!!!

Its a great little book and something all should be proud about!!!

The bus is always on the prowl attending events, fairs, community food drives, you name it she is available for almost anything!!

http://www.cityofwaterfalls.ca/

City of Waterfalls 2010 Calendar

2009-09-30T13:36:00.003-04:00

Our new calendar just came in today and it looks fantastic!!!!!

It will be available shortly for purchase on our website as well as at fairs and events that we are at!!!

More details coming shortly, I will say that the pictures are fantastic!!!!

http://www.cityofwaterfalls.ca/

A frontal shot of the Darnley Cascade, this one I really like!

2009-09-27T07:53:00.001-04:00

This is a great view of the Darnley Cascade

Day 1 of the Ancaster Fair

2009-09-26T18:05:00.001-04:00

Here is our set up at the brand new Ancaster Fair!!!!!

My matching waterfall mitts

2009-09-26T18:02:00.001-04:00

Grace made me matching mitts to match the toque she made me a week beforehand, they are awesome, thanks so much Grace!!!!!!

The Darnley Cascade

2009-09-25T08:45:00.001-04:00

A short video clip of The Darnley Cascade

The City of Waterfalls Bus makes its maiden voyage to our 1st waterfall

2009-09-23T15:02:00.004-04:00

Today we made our 1st trip to a waterfall with our new bus, we have been so busy at festivals and fairs since it rolled out of the shop that we have not had any time to actually go out and enjoy ourselves!!!

So, away we went, Dan took the bus out this morning to Albion Falls, and got some great pictures with the bus in it also!!!.

Just like I thought as soon as the bus was parked people started to come up to it and Dan handed out 20 postcards even before I got there!

When I arrived, I immediately started to talk to people as well, people absolutely love the bus and the entire waterfall initiative!!!

The smell of fall was already in the air at Albion Falls, the leaves are starting to drop faster now and the smell of them slowly decaying is a smell that I know many people look forward to each year, its what makes fall so great, the sights and the smells.

Having a beautiful waterfall in the background does not hurt either!!

Dan just headed back to Lovers Leap with the 200 lens and the Mark II, to get some better shots of Albion Falls and the bus together.

When he gets back we will pack up and head down to a fall fair at a school downtown.

The bus is starting to get a lot of requests from many different people and groups which is great, that's just what I intended it to be used for.

More coming later tonight!

http://www.cityofwaterfalls.ca/

Busy Busy Waterfallers

2009-09-08T12:30:00.001-04:00

My last post you read about how we where running out of room on our web stats, well August 31 at 8:32 pm, we went over 100,000 page views!!!!This weekend we where at The Mustard Festival and The EX, and obviously with the tens of thousands of people that visited our booths, we recorded not 1 but 3 new records again!!Saturday we busted a record, and then again Sunday and again Monday!!!The last flurry of visitors from out of Town and local wanting to see our waterfalls and locals that talked to us and picked up brochures visited the site as well.An interesting stat this morning, I looked at the last 10 visitors to our website, and only 2 where from Hamilton.It goes to show the international reach we are now having.The Mustard Festival was amazing, the volunteers that stepped up to help out are incredible, but the Hamiltonian's that saw the bus downtown where literally amazed and so proud to see how Hamilton's image is changing.The responses from people where downright emotional at times, people truly love this movement.And I say movement because as 1 person put it, " It's the largest social movement this City has ever seen."At that point, I also replied that " It's the people that are self-directing it also, its way beyond me now"It was truly humbling to see drove after drove of folks come by and just stop and stare, in awe and amazement at the bus.The love that people expressed to the volunteers for what was happening was incredible.And that's what I love about this City, its the people.

http://www.cityofwaterfalls.ca

Your account is nearing its maximum capacity of 100,000 page views per month. Please adjust the capacity to avoid a service interruption

2009-08-29T18:03:00.002-04:00

Your account is nearing its maximum capacity of 100,000 page views per month. Please adjust the capacity to avoid a service interruption.

I must admit I was shocked and concerned when I first read the above message until a few seconds later after checking our site traffic I realized what actually was happening.

Its a message that I have never seen before, with any of our websites that I run.

As one of the first persons in Hamilton to get on the Internet and being involved in it and its marketing side for a long long time, I have what some would say a "qualified" opinion on the matter.

If you would have asked me what I thought the website would draw in traffic in a months time when I started this, I would have said maybe 10,000 page views a month.

But 100,000 page views a month?

Only in my dreams.

But then again I never knew or planned on it getting this big this fast.

I am basically now playing catch-up with the response we are getting, the amount of festivals and fairs we are doing alone I never planned on, the tourists that are coming here I hoped for, but would never have expected them this fast and this soon.

The groundswell support from Hamiltonian's and others that come here to Hamilton to volunteer to man the booths at shows, help guide the walks, and even providing baby-sitting duties while others are off volunteering is the most humbling experience I have ever encountered.

As I type this I am sitting in the waterfall bus at the Winona Peach Festival and our booth is manned by the most dedicated people I have ever met and had the privilege of getting to know.

The web site traffic is a clear indication on how this entire initiative is progressing, outside of hearing from all the people from outside the City now coming here, especially Torontonian's, the statistical information is paramount to any advertising campaign.

Again, and again each day our volunteers keep hearing back from people on how much they absolutely love this entire project, they want to visit our waterfalls and they want to get involved.

As I sit here people are walking by the new waterfall bus in droves, staring in amazement at the bus and how she looks, it is quite breathtaking!!!

The conversations from locals and tourists alike keeps reminding me of why I am doing this, the numbers just tell me to keep going.

Maybe its time I really started trying.

The big stuff is yet to come.

http://www.cityofwaterfalls.ca

Winona Peach Festival

2009-08-29T17:02:00.004-04:00

We are currently not only at the CNE, but we are also at the world famous Winona Peach Festival, where we have a booth, waterfall car #4 and the new waterfall bus which is doing its public unveiling!!!!

We have literally talked to hundreds of people whom are blown away by how the bus looks, complete strangers are coming up simply astonished by how good it looks and how much they love it!!!

Tourists from all over have stopped and chatted, we have definitely changed a lot of peoples opinions about Hamilton, and also have opened a lot of Hamiltonian's eyes about there own city as well.

The peach festival is fantastic, great food, rides, crafts and bands, its not raining either things are starting to dry out and everyone is having a blast!!!

The volunteers that organize the festival need to be commended, they have done a great job!!

And our volunteers at the City of Waterfalls Booth are doing an incredible job thanks everybody!!!!!!

http://www.cityofwaterfalls.ca/

Second video from top of stairs showing the boys at working wrapping the bus

2009-08-27T09:51:00.001-04:00

This is the second video taken from above showing the boys wrapping the bus with the waterfall banner.

First Video of Bus being wrapped

2009-08-26T23:30:00.001-04:00

Here is the first video of the waterfall bus being wrapped

My first visit to Troy Falls

2009-08-24T23:54:00.001-04:00

This is Troy Falls, a beautiful waterfall and my favourite!!!

Albion Falls Roaring Like Tiger

2009-08-23T21:23:00.001-04:00

After another HUGE storm yesterday, I headed out with Jer to Albion Falls to see what she looked like and wow, was she ever roaring!!!!

First Glimpse of The wrap for the bus

2009-08-23T17:11:00.001-04:00

This is a short clip of the wrap being prepared for the waterfall bus, its the first time I have ever seen the rolls and the printer in action.

Albion Falls

2009-08-23T14:11:00.002-04:00

I may start to call Albion Falls " Roars Like Tiger Cat".

Yesterday while trying to snooze I was shaken from my slumber by what sounded like rocks hitting the house.

Thunder was all around so I knew we where in the midst of a big storm.

I quickly checked the radar and saw what looked like a smaller repeat of the "storm of the century" that we had a few weeks earlier.

So, I thought that this might be a good time to head out and see if I could get some pictures and video of Pritchard Falls and Albion Falls as well.

When I got to the area the Fire Department, EMS and Ambulances where at the mud street parking lot, it turns out a kid hurt himself down in red hill creek on his bike.

So, off I went to see if Pritchard Falls was flowing, and when I got there I was treated to a beautiful little waterfall!!!

I took pictures and the first video of Pritchard Falls and will be posting them up shortly.

After that off I went to Albion Falls, and sure enough I was treated to a roaring waterfall!!

I have never seen Albion Falls like this before, and several visitors joined me on the viewing platforms in awe at its power and noise.

I thought this was also a great time to see if I can get the ever elusive picture of Pritchard Falls so I followed the trail around from the Albion Falls viewing platform towards Buttermilk Falls.

I should mention that 3 people also tagged along with me, I was explaining to them the various waterfalls locally, so off we went to view some more.

At the point that I knew I could see across the gorge to Pritchard Falls, I stopped and snapped a few pictures with the 200 lens, these will be on the website, look under " pritchard falls".

After that off I went looking at 3 potential waterfalls that have existed for years and are active during peak storm events, and sure enough water flow was evident.

After this I went to Buttermilk, and while filming a clip of buttermilk, my phone rang, it was Jer, and he was on his way to meet up with me.

We met further along the trail at Oak Knoll falls, and then we together went to Albion.

I surprised myself even when I went to the bottom part of Albion Falls, the thunder of the falls was to much to pass up, and the view was astonishing.

When the rain is really heavy it churns up the soil miles above Albion Falls, and that's why the water turns brown like this, you could even smell the difference in the air from the water, it had a very earthy and musty smell to it.

Speaking of smells, Albion Falls was the first place in Ontario that natural gas was discovered, so don't be surprised if you catch a whiff of gas in the air!

A few weeks back I could smell sulphur in the air as well in the old wheel pit where the mill was.

In Hamilton when touring our waterfalls, you can smell an assortment of different smells coming from the rock face, the most evident waterfall is Dewitt Falls, the sulphur smell from this one is something to experience!!

Anyways, Albion Falls was awesome, I have never been this close to a waterfall when it was roaring so loud, the noise was deafening and the sight was incredible.

Albion Falls is best viewed when the water is at a trickle, its the only time you can view all the beautiful different rock variations, and see the rock face and all its different ledges.

Its a photographers dream backdrop, and its something we will no doubt be using a lot more in the future.

But today Albion Falls was roaring like a tiger cat and it was nice to hear!

City of Waterfalls is at the CNE

2009-08-22T15:38:00.002-04:00

Well, as I say go big or go home, so we not just went BIG, we went HUGE!!!!!

Yesterday started a marathon for us, 18 days straight, exhibiting at the EX, which will personally be the largest and longest trade show that I have ever done.

I have been doing shows like this for over 20 years, the longest usually 3-5 days, but this is in a field all its own.

The amount of product we will give away, and the exposure to the estimated 1 million plus people that passes through the gates is obviously enormous.

Its also the 3rd festival in a row for us, and not to slow down at all, but we have 2 other festivals we are also attending during the CNE as well!!!

The EX though takes the cake, I dont think we will ever do a show like this again, its also a major accomplishment for us to even be there, being an exhibitor here is a tough thing to do, with the exhibition being sold out each year, it was a major accomplishment to even be here!!

I want though once again, to thank my staff for all the hard work that went into this, and also to the volunteers that are taking their time to travel and man the booth for us.

Day 1 was a very busy day, its estimated we handed out 1,200 packages to visitors.

http://www.cityofwaterfalls.ca

Waterfall Car #5

2009-08-19T20:52:00.001-04:00

Waterfall Car #5, all ready to roll and waiting to be delivered.

Waterfall Car #5 to be picked up tomorrow

2009-08-17T23:35:00.002-04:00

Waterfall Car #5 is at the dealership, and I took it for a final final final test drive today, and I hope that I can pick it up tomorrow at the dealer!!!

This car is yet again another Honda CRV, and will be wrapped right after the bus is finished.

For those that are following the waterfall cars, yes I snuck an extra one in here didn't I!!!???

I have not even discussed a theme yet, but stay tuned, I have some ideas!!!

http://www.cityofwaterfalls.ca

The City of Waterfalls Bus Wrap will be printed tomorrow

2009-08-17T23:32:00.002-04:00

I just heard from our printer, that the bus wrap will start to be printed tomorrow being Tuesday!!!

This obviously is a HUGE job, and will take over a week to print, and laminate.

Not to mention all the little things that pop up along the way.

The schedule for the bus is into the shop on the 25th, and hopefully to be rolled out on the 28th.

This will be a very very special day, I hope you can all join me when it rolls out of the shop!!!

http://www.cityofwaterfalls.ca

City of Waterfalls T-Shirts are here

2009-08-17T23:23:00.002-04:00

The first run of our 1st edition t-shirts are here and actually I am washing a couple dozen as we speak!!!

The first ones will only be available for our volunteers whom will be manning our booths at all the upcoming fairs, so if you want one, you need to volunteer!!!

Not to worry we will be ordering more in the next couple of days anyways, but they look great, finally we are styling!!!!

http://www.cityofwaterfalls.ca

The City of Waterfalls at the Dundas Cactus Festival

2009-08-16T08:37:00.001-04:00

Tews Falls

2009-08-13T14:01:00.004-04:00

We are currently at Tews Falls hosting a waterfall walk to which about 30 people showed up!!!

This is an incredible number when you consider it is one of our first walks during the week, and we only posted it up a few days ago!!

We also have some new people out for the walk as well!!!

Joining us on our walk is a visitor from England, who found out through a friend that picked up one of our brochures at Festival of Friends last week!!

We have Joy who is EXTREMELY pregnant out for the walk, and even a lady with a newborn as well!!!

I am currently sitting under the trees tapping away at this blog hooked up to our new Internet System in the bus!!

I actually walked about 1,000 feet away with my laptop and it was still working!!

This is good to know for when we hit the road in the next couple of weeks.

The ability to stay connected is extremely important for me personally but also for the waterfall project in general.

Once we start to hit the road and travel throughout North America it will become clear how important it really is.

Its kind of surreal to be able to sit under a tree and type away and be connected!!!!

Its a very complicated and expensive system, but its well worth it

As I speak my staff is walking up modelling our 1st ever waterfall t-shirt!!

http://www.cityofwaterfalls.ca/

City of Waterfalls Booth at Festival of Friends in Hamilton 2009

2009-08-08T23:19:00.001-04:00

Waterfall Bus with name tags

2009-08-08T00:20:00.000-04:00

The Ancaster Old Mill Waterfall

2009-08-07T11:31:00.001-04:00

Here is a short video clip about the Ancaster Old Mill and Waterfall

City of Waterfalls You Tube Channel Records Visitor 10,000

2009-08-05T23:29:00.002-04:00

Another milestone was reached today as our waterfall channel recorded its 10,000 visitor!!!

We have just recently started to upload more videos to our waterfall you tube channel, and we will be building it a lot more in the days to come.

We have gotten a lot of very positive feedback on the videos as well, they are all hand shot, and homegrown!!!

This week and next we will also be experimenting with two brand new HD camcorders I just purchased, one is the honking Panasonic beast that needs two people to carry into our waterfalls, this one will be used for all the really high end videos we have planned.

Stay tuned, more good stuff to come!!!!

http://www.cityofwaterfalls.ca

Hamilton Waterfalls Tourism Reaches New Record High

2009-08-04T10:51:00.002-04:00

If you like numbers then you would be very impressed and happy with the HUGE increase that our website has recorded from this time last year.

July set a new all time record amount of traffic recorded, in fact a 30% increase from the last record set in May!

This past weekend also smashed new records in daily site traffic and page views per visitor.

If you dont like numbers then how about cars?

People drive their cars to the waterfalls, and I have never seen our parking lots jammed and some overflowing.

As I write this I am getting a phone call from a reporter looking for an interview about our waterfalls.

Last week saw also a magazine from Toronto do a piece on us as well.

It has been a extremely busy time for all of us, and we have only one way to go and that is up!

http://www.cityofwaterfalls.ca

City of Waterfall Web Stats

2009-08-02T11:03:00.002-04:00

Its no surprise that the word about Hamiltons waterfalls has reached an International audience now, but the most encouraging factor is the increase in web traffic from people around the world.

With July now behind us I am please to report a 30% increase in site visitors to The City of Waterfalls website !!!!

The website which is so much more than just a website for those that have visited it, continues to grow daily.

We constantly work to improve the information, pictures, maps, social media platforms, videos, and anything else we can think of to enrich a viewers experience.

Tourism officials, and fellow Internet marketers have piped in and expressed their overwhelming support of the site, some calling it " The best tourism site the City of Hamilton has ever seen"

Not to worry, it will continue to grow and evolve, we have some very exciting things planned for the future so stay tuned!!

http://www.cityofwaterfalls.ca

CHUM FM Radio Ads

2009-07-20T16:50:00.003-04:00

Our City of Waterfalls radio jingle has started airing this week on CHUM-FM 104.5. As the airtimes become available, we are posting them on the front page of the City of Waterfalls website. Thanks to Cal DiFalco and his wife for producing the jingle!

Listen to CHUM FM live here.

All 4 City of Hamilton Waterfall Cars together for the first time

2009-07-12T20:58:00.002-04:00

Well finally we got all 4 of our waterfall cars together today and we did a photo shoot of all 4 of them at Albion Falls again tonight after our waterfall walk.

Here is a picture above, can you spot which is which?

Its becoming a game amongst some now, " spot the waterfall car contest"

Do you have a favourite waterfall car yet?

http://www.cityofwaterfalls.ca/

City of Waterfalls Radio Ad

2009-07-11T12:07:00.003-04:00

Here is a video clip that we made up to go along with the audio clip that Cal DiFalco and his wife put together.

Now the ad will air on CHUM FM on July 20-27, but Rosie had a fun time with the video as well!!

http://www.youtube.com/user/CityofWaterfalls

Visitor 50,000 stops by for a waterfall visit

2009-06-29T21:02:00.002-04:00

A historic day today in that our City of Waterfalls Website just received it's 50,000th visitor!!!

Lots to talk about we have just been so busy of late that I have fallen behind on updating my blog!!

But for now, thank-you to everyone whom has stopped by for a visit, I am sure you like what you see, as our website continues to grow in site traffic each month!!!

See you at visitor 100,000!!!

http://www.cityofwaterfalls.ca

Waterfall Car #4 is now on the streets in Hamilton

2009-06-12T00:08:00.004-04:00

I am starting to confuse easily in my age, I now look at the waterfall cars and cant remember which is which!

Today car #4 rolled out of the shop and she looks mighty nice!!

The hood shot is simply amazing, its super clear and detailed.

That's the last of the cars, now the next project is the bus.

We are behind on the bus, no doubt, its a major project, we need to get it perfect the first time.

I am setting a goal of Canada Day as the roll out date, I hope we can keep this date, its a lot of work and will require a lot of planning and teamwork.

After its done the real work though will begin.

http://www.cityofwaterfalls.ca/

Waterfall Car #4 is in to be wrapped

2009-06-10T13:18:00.002-04:00

Well she is now in the shop folks and will be completed by tommorow!!!

Everything is coming along nicely, the hood shot looks amazing!!!

More pics will come out tommorow when we go to pick her up :)

http://www.cityofwaterfalls.ca

Tim Horton's Camp Day

2009-06-03T21:30:00.002-04:00

Today 15 of our waterfall members attended the annual camp day at Tim Horton's in the meadowlands where we proceeded to collect a record amount of money for this great cause.

I can personally tell you that 25 years ago I was the camp co-ordinator for Big Brothers in Hamilton and I sent kids there, it was a great time for our kids, they all enjoyed it!

Many thanks for the people that came out, and see you again next year!!!

http://www.cityofwaterfalls.ca

Waterfall Car #4 Artwork is at the Wrap Shop

2009-06-01T14:14:00.002-04:00

I was just notified that the final artwork for waterfall car #4 was delivered to 3M this morning!!!

Trimline will now get the wrap made and it should be ready by the end of the week.

At this time the car will then be taken in and the wrap applied.

June 9th is the estimated roll-out date for waterfall car #4!!!!!

http://www.cityofwaterfalls.ca

Our New City of Waterfalls Waterfall Brochure

2009-05-29T22:39:00.003-04:00

One of our waterfall regular members has really stepped up to the plate lately, Ken Price has made up a brochure outlining our waterfalls, complete with commentary and pictures!!

Its a great start for us to have our own brochure and something else to hand out at walks, and anywhere that we have displays set up!

Ken has also designed a video presentation for use, and I cant wait to see it!!

Ken your dedication is truly appreciated!!!

More to follow!!

Waterfall Car #5

2009-05-25T20:59:00.004-04:00

The first of my Mercedes-Benz's will head into the shop in the next few weeks, this is the first one, it is known as " The Battlewagon" amongst other names, Dan my driver will become seen running around in this one in a short while.

We have been working on this one getting her ready to be wrapped, all the mechanical stuff, the paint, and we also just put her summer shoes back on.

It takes a lot to get a car ready, a lot of prep work needs to go into them, its just like painting a wall, the more prep work that goes into making a wall smooth and clean the better she will look.

This car will also be a challenge in a way as because she is longer, it will no doubt raise a challenge as to how the layout will look.

A cascade might be better, like Troy Falls.

A lot of people are saying that I am nuts to even be considering wrapping a Mercedes, but to me its just rubber and steel.

If people think that a Mercedes is a " WOW", I wonder how they will view a " Waterfall Mercedes" !!!!!

Its all for the cause, go big or go home.

http://www.cityofwaterfalls.ca/

Final Proof for Waterfall Car #4

2009-05-25T20:31:00.002-04:00

Well, here we are at the end of the proofing for City of Hamilton Waterfall Car #4 folks!!!!!

And so far people are saying that they like this one the best!!!!!

We changed the hood and back end, the hood now has a group shot from last week at Albion, it was done after we finished day #3 of our celebrations at Websters.

The people on the hood are part of what we call our " core" group, the main stayers, or people that show up every weekend, that make the walks " ROCK"!!!!

These folks are a very special group!!!

I suspect that Car #4 will head into the shop no later than 1 week from now, and then will be ready a few days afterwards.

So, the car should be done no later than say June 7th give or take a few days.

After this is finalized and sent in, we will then start on Mercedes #1.

http://www.cityofwaterfalls.ca/

Our 1st Anniversary

2009-05-16T20:06:00.002-04:00

I would like to thank everyone whom has come out on our walks over the last year, and what may have started as simply a day of hiking the trails and seeing the waterfalls has turned into a HUGE extended family of people whom have taken this and turned it into the biggest and fastest complete makeover that any City has seen world wide!The visitors to our City have fell in love with our with over 100 waterfalls, and now come back almost every weekend to hike the trails and see the sights.I could not be prouder of all Hamiltonian's and people from other cities, whom have taken this to heart, I am so proud to call you all friends and thank-you for what you have done so far.The image of Hamilton is changing each and every day, and YOU are the reason why.Thank-you so much, keep spreading the word, invite ALL your facebook friends to join our group, and I hope you can take part in our 3 day celebration at Websters Falls this holiday weekend!

http://www.cityofwaterfalls.ca/

Waterfall Car #5 is in the works also

2009-05-07T01:07:00.002-04:00

Waterfall Car #5 is at the shop today, where she had some final prep work done, a few odds and ends fixed, and also she had her winter boots taken off and her summer shoes put on.

Wow, does she ever look different!!!

We are just awaiting a few new parts and then she is ready to be wrapped!!!

The exciting part is that she will be the first Mercedes to be added to my waterfall fleet!!!!

http://www.cityofwaterfalls.ca

Waterfall Car #4 is in the planning stages

2009-05-05T00:49:00.002-04:00

Waterfall Car #4 is now officially in the planning stages folks, this time it will be done entirely by our bery own " Dan the Man"!!!

The car is currently getting some TLC, and some new trim pieces have been ordered for her as well.

I have put on some new tires, and even ordered some shiny new rims as well, you can put a new dress on her without new shoes!!!

Dan should be done in a few days, and we are hoping that she will go into the shop within a week or so.

http://www.cityofwaterfalls.ca

New Record For Our City of Waterfalls Website

2009-05-01T12:25:00.005-04:00

I have been involved in the internet basically since its inception, back in the day when we had 1 ISP only in the City, that being Net Access.

I have also through my marketing arm, Ecklund Marketing Group created many different internet driven websites, portals, groups and other multi-media projects.

The one that rises and shines above all of them is my Waterfall Project, this website right here.

It will soon take over even my NASCAR site which is a HUGE site in its own right.

The month of April saw a 12% increase in page views alone, a testimony to the people that visit it on a daily basis.

Our page view total is now over 250,000 page views.

Hats off to my staff and hundreds upon hundreds of citizens that use it daily.

It will continue to grow and flourish and new things will always be added.

In fact the website is updated each and every day!

Thanks for dropping by!

http://www.cityofwaterfalls.ca/

Hamilton Mountain News

2009-05-01T11:39:00.002-04:00

Many thanks to Gord Bowes and The Hamilton Mountain News for coming out and covering my annual cleanup party that I sponsor each year, and also our very first " official" waterfall clean up party as well!!

Gord, if you read this, I am hoping that you do, you have asked me recently to write a column of " Community Building " per se, and this my friend is exactly how it is done!

The Hamilton Mountain News covered this clean up, many thanks for them coming out and recognizing what the volunteers did that day, " They Rock" as the kids would say!

And speaking of kids, we had about 6 kids under 10 years of age that came out, that is amazing, one even had a cast on!!

Here are a couple of links
http://www.hamiltonmountainnews.com/news/article/172937

http://www.hamiltonmountainnews.com/news/article/172945

Many thanks again for The Hamilton Mountain News to come out and cover this event, many people cut battered,bruised, cut, and sunburnt, but they went home with the satisfaction knowing that they made a difference in hamilton that day!

http://www.cityofwaterfalls.ca

The Power of Community

2009-04-26T20:08:00.007-04:00

Garbage everywhere.

There is no better way to say it than that.

For the last few weeks, Dan, Jeremy and myself have started to clean up Albion Falls, and have had a lot of communication with City officials , staff, councillors and the media on the problems we have with garbage.

In fact the single biggest complaint that we have from tourists is garbage.

Garbage is everywhere.

Its in our waterfalls, on our trails, and graffiti is all over the place.

But, we have started to put a dent into it, a little bit at a time.

How have we done it?

Through the power of community.

Get people together and together in a singular purpose and its magical what will happen.

So far the City councillors and staff have been excellent, I think we can all agree that this is a very very serious problem.

Some of the garbage we are pulling out is toxic and dangerous.

Some of the garbage I am not even going to tell you what it is, its that bad.

Lets just say that some of it has even been there for over 30 years.

Last Saturday, in Oak Knoll parking lot, 50 people came together, and not just Hamiltonian's, but people from Chatham, Niagara, Burlington and other places, to help clean Oak Knoll Waterfall, The Bruce Trail, Wetlands, and our park areas around the Mohawk 4-plex.

It is truly amazing to see what happens when people can agree on a singular purpose and then attack the problem.

I need to thank Councillor Jackson and The Hamilton Mountain News for covering this event, Councilor Jackson even got his hands dirty and helped us out, thanks Tom!!

City of Waterfalls First Official Clean Up Party

2009-04-25T09:32:00.001-04:00

Every year I sponsor and host a clean up event in the city which is part of Earth Week and " Operation Clean Sweep"This year in keeping with my waterfall theme, I will be hosting it at The Mohawk 4 plex arenas which is directly across from Oak Knoll Falls.We will be cleaning up the surrounding areas, fields, Bruce Trail, Escarpment, Albion Falls, Buttermilk Falls and Oak Knoll Falls. It looks like it will be a great day, get your shorts out of storage, find some sunscreen and join us at 12 Noon!!Waterfall Car #3 will also be unveiled at this time!

Councilor Jackson of Ward 6 will be with us along with invited media as well!!

http://www.cityofwaterfalls.ca

Waterfall Car #3 is rolled out of the shop

2009-04-24T06:56:00.004-04:00

Well folks City of Hamilton Waterfall Car #3 rolled out of the shop yesterday, and she looks amazing!!!

The new material from 3M is fantastic, it looks super wet and shiny!!

You can see this car tomorrow at our waterfall walk see the website for details.

Yesterday we took all 3 waterfall cars to Albion Falls and did a photo shoot, Dan took some great pictures, the shot of the three of them together is fantastic!

Double Click on the picture and it will get bigger, better yet save it on your desktop as a background image!

Take a good hard look at the three of them together, dont they look great!!

Its a proud time to be a Hamiltonian!!

You will see this car on the road out and about in the community, give us a honk and wave!

http://www.cityofwaterfalls.ca/

Waterfall Car #3 is coming along nicely

2009-04-21T06:53:00.003-04:00

The next in a series of waterfall cars is coming along very nicely, and should roll out of the shop in a couple of days!!

Here are some pictures of how she is doing !

Waterfall Car #3 is almost ready for the shop

2009-04-18T09:35:00.004-04:00

Well its Saturday morning, and we are almost ready to send waterfall car #3 into Trimline for its new dress.

Today and tomorrow I will be going over her with a fine tooth comb, getting her ready, shining her shoes, giving her a bath, and some new nail polish before my driver comes and takes her in for her final fitting.

This is my 2000 Honda CRV, and is my tow car that we use behind our bus.

Its going to look really nice, many thanks to Phil DeVries one of our waterfall members for supplying the pictures!!

The car will head in Monday Morning and should be ready by Wednesday or Thursday.

If all goes well she will be revealed at next weekends waterfall walk!

There will then be 3 waterfall cars prowling the streets!!!

http://www.cityofwaterfalls.ca/

Discovering A New Waterfall in Hamilton

2009-04-06T20:58:00.003-04:00

Its the thrill of the chase.

Yesterday Jeremy, Dan and myself where out and about and we visited the bird sanctuary on Dartnall Road.

Yes there is a bird sanctuary there.

Its really more of a place for people to go and let their dogs run free, there are more dogs there than birds!

I must have driven by this place for 20 years or so, and have never noticed it before.

Its a huge place, its part of the Upper Mt. Albion Conservation area, and a big part of it serves as a flood plain.

Well there we where walking down the path and all of a sudden all I could hear was the roar of water in the distance.

The noise to me was that of a waterfall, it could be nothing else I thought, as it was to concentrated in one spot.

I can see why this one was not found and recorded yet, during the summer months it would almost be impossible to get into seeing it as the brush would grow in very thick.

Its an amazing feeling to be able to actually officially find one, this one no doubt has been seen by others, its to big to not have been seen before.

It was a great day sunny and very warm, the area we where in has been an area that others have already discovered new waterfalls in last year as well.

We made our way over to the river, and found a small cascade, and Jeremy and Dan headed up along the riverbank to where the noise was coming from.

I only had shoes on and the ground was very wet so I could only go so far.

I could hear the boys up ahead and by the sounds they where making I knew we had stumbled upon something good.

So, I made my way slowly through the thick brush to where the noise was emanating from, and before my eyes appeared a beautiful cascade waterfall.

I fell in love with this new one immediately, to me cascade type waterfall are the prettiest ones, as they give a full range of input of the senses.

The other great thing about cascade type waterfalls is that you can usually get right up and personal with them, and view also the unique rock formations that make them great.

The cascade was flowing good yesterday, and after the heavy rains we got last night we where back today and it was flowing even better.

When the flow is heavy, it actually takes away from the beauty of it, as it simply rushes over the rock formations, and you cant see any of the defines of the lines of the rocks.

Some people think that waterfalls need to always be gushing with water, but in this case they are better view with less water.

Another great thing about the cascade type of waterfall is that you can also walk out onto them!

Darnley Cascade is a great example of this.

Today we went back and wow what a difference 24 hours can make, yesterday it was sunny and 60 degrees, today it was windy,raining,snowing and minus 10 with wind chill!!!

I was ready for it though, I had my rubber boots, and new rain pants and coat, and had lots of clothing on underneath, so I was toasty warm.

It givesa whole new perspective to be out battling mother natures worst elements and recording things that others have never seen before.

Setting the historical record for generations to come is extremely important, what we have been doing with this project over the winter is simply mind boggling at best.

Jeremy and Dan have battled the elements all winter long doing this.

Today we where back, and Jeremy and Dan brought along the measuring tape to measure the height and width.

We took lots more pictures and some video as well, and will be making up a new listing for it shortly.

Its very exciting when one finds a new waterfall. there might be a few more hiding out there still, I have said 127 is the magical number we will top out at, hmmm I wonder...

It was a fun day despite getting wet and cold, we also scoped out Albion and Buttermilk and saw water flowing from the other two waterfalls that Jeremy and Dan found a couple of months ago.

http://www.cityofwaterfalls.ca

Tourism Hamilton Awards

2009-03-27T16:30:00.003-04:00

I just learned that our website was nominated for a Hamilton Tourism Award.

Although appreciated, I notified the board of directors to withdraw my name from the finalists.

http://www.cityofwaterfalls.ca

Our 3rd waterfall car is in the works

2009-03-05T08:03:00.000-05:00

Call it what you will or want, but plans are in the works for our 3rd waterfall car to be completed.We don't know the theme yet, but we hope we will come to an idea within a week or so, then a week or two to finalize everything.My goal is 1 month from today it will be complete and on the streets.One of the great things about this entire project is how we basically just make it up as we go!We are literally blazing new ground here folks, this has never been done before, and is a heck of a lot of fun if I may admit!It seems like each and every day we discover something new, a new idea, a new picture, a new angle, a site never seen before, an angle never shot before, an idea never dreamt of or thought of.There are literally thousands of people now part of this project in fact Facebook alone will be at 10,000 members any hour now!!The pictures that are coming in daily continue to amaze me and anyone that sees them, it has literally given an entirely new look to this City and also a different feeling as well.Each weekend we organize a new walk, and that in itself is historical in that these waterfall walks have never been done before.The sites we see are and how we do it have never been done.This winter has been an incredibly busy time, we are almost complete in shooting all our waterfalls in a winter theme, heck maybe a 2nd winter themed car is in order maybe?Hmmmmmm.Stay tuned :)

http://www.cityofwaterfalls.ca

200,000 Page Views for The City of Waterfalls

2009-03-04T11:12:00.002-05:00

A milestone was reached today as our website devoted to Waterfalls in Hamilton raced by the 200,000th mark for pages visited.

A truly proud moment for us and everyone, all Hamiltonian's should be very proud with this, our website is growing daily and has become the most successful and encompassing site we have ever produced.

Stay tuned more good things are on the way !

http://www.cityofwaterfalls.ca

Hamilton's Waterfalls now on Google Maps

2009-03-02T21:20:00.003-05:00

Its a day I have been waiting for for some time now, and I am very proud to announce that we have launched our first waterfall showing where it is on Google Maps.

This is the next big initiative for our website, and will take months to complete.

At the same time we will also be correcting the wrong information that is out there, there is a lot of bad advice/directions/information that people have uploaded to the web on Google Maps.

I have also purchased a premium version of Google Earth, and we will be evaluating it at the same time.

I have also had conversations with Google Staff in California about our own server version of Google Earth/Maps, it is in the tens of thousands of dollars, and if we like what we see in a few months from now then I might take it to the next level as well.

Google Maps/Earth is a very very powerful tool, and will be a major part of the next phase of our platform.

Stay tuned, we will be adding the maps to our waterfall list starting with Albion Falls.

To see the first map that we have produced see our Albion Falls link here
http://www.cityofwaterfalls.ca/albionfalls.html

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=100860800601668501522.000463b385fd9b0d1e7e8&source=embed&ll=43.201219,-79.819311&spn=0.003754,0.006866&z=17

Our 3rd Waterfall book has been published

2009-02-28T18:28:00.002-05:00

Hot off the press and couriered in yesterday, our 3rd waterfall book has now been published, and I made the announcement at the Friends of The Eramosa Karst fundraising dinner last night.It was a great night, and I presented the very first book to Brad Gautreau Chair of FOTEK.Brad was instrumental in telling me about a suspected waterfall hiding in the Devils Punchbowl area, and sure enough it was one, and we named it a few months later.This book is a special book dedicated to our waterfalls and how they look in their winter dress.It is without a doubt also the hardest book we will most likely ever publish, not to put together but to get out and get the pictures.The winter of 2008/2009 was a very busy one, I had guys out and about almost every day, in incredibly tough conditions as well.There has literally been thousands of hours put into this book and I want to thank everyone for their dedication.The historical record has been set for Hamilton once again!

http://www.cityofwaterfalls.ca

Hamilton's Second Waterfall Car Hits The Streets

2009-02-26T11:27:00.003-05:00

Here she is folks the second in a series of Waterfall Cars for Hamilton!!!!

This is a winter theme and its done in a new 3m material that was just released, and it looks wicked!!!!

If you see her on the streets give us a wave, and feel free to take a picture of her any time!!!

http://www.cityofwaterfalls.ca/

Hamilton's Image is changing every day for the better

2009-01-31T14:42:00.000-05:00

A day does not go by, with out hearing from someone about my Branding Initiative for our city.Today alone there are 50 people on a waterfall walk to 5 waterfalls that I am hosting.We are using The Ancaster Old Mill as our base camp, its a 4 hour hike, and then back to the Old Mill for dinner and drinks.This event has attracted people from all over the Province, Hamilton, Toronto, Welland, Cambridge, etc...Every day people are amazed by the beauty we have in this City, and its untapped potential.People are coming aboard the project at a furious pace, and it is now growing into something I dreamed it could.Speaking of image, next week Waterfall Car #2 will be going into the shop to be wrapped in a winter waterfall theme.Wait till you see it, it is really amazing!Waterfall Cars #3,4,5 and 6 are next, and then comes the " Ultimate" piece and that is my motor coach.Keep spreading the word Hamilton, things are changing right before our eyes, we are on a roll with this and there is no looking back now.FULL STEAM AHEAD!!!!!!!!!!

www.cityofwaterfalls.ca

A new addition to our Hamilton waterfall website

2009-01-19T14:17:00.002-05:00

I am very excited to announce the latest social media addition to our website, in the launching of our own VBulletin software platform.

This very powerful and stable bulletin board is no stranger to us, we have used one for almost 2 years now on a NASCAR fan site, with incredible results. Our Nascar Site has gained world wide attention, gather 22,000 posts in this short time.

Having a lot of background experience with the software will enable us to seamlessly build this new forum to where we have with our NASCAR board, so everyone can take full advantage of its potential.

This forum will have a complete listing of all 121 waterfalls like our website has, but with the distinct advantage of being totally interactive with everyone.

People can take advantage of posting questions, pictures, etc... and have their questions answered by others.

This is not to replace our NING software platform, but it is to further complement it as it is a more socially easy platform to interact with.

Here is a link to the board, its just being set up, so drop by once in awhile as we build it and see what is going on!
http://www.cityofwaterfalls.ca/fallsforum/

Tiffany Falls

2009-01-16T12:00:00.000-05:00

Even in these freezing temps, our waterfall " gang" is out and about taking pictures of our beautiful waterfalls, and I thought that I would share a picture of Tiffany falls with you.Tiffany Falls, is one of the ones that you can even ice climb in the winter, and with the cold temps here right now hopefully we will see some climbers there shortly!Take a look at the link here and look at the colours of the water, they are fascinating and truly a winter treasure!!

http://www.cityofwaterfalls.ca/images/dancourt/TiffenyUpclosewithJer1.jpg

City of Waterfalls takes on a winter theme

2009-01-08T15:22:00.002-05:00

Well its cold and snowing outside, so we have decided to take on a winter based look and theme with our winter wonderland's wondrous waterfalls!!

Hows that for a tongue twister!!!

We will be changing up the landing page on an almost daily basis, so we can show you what each of our waterfalls looks like in the winter time.

This in itself is a huge project and undertaking, as we need to negotiate the terrain when its snowy and icy!!

Some of the pictures that we are taking on a daily basis are incredible, even though there is no colour due to the lack of foliage, the beauty of the escarpment, the ice formations and water flowing over the falls give them a totally different look and feel.

Some of our waterfalls change their appearance on a daily basis, with new ice forming, and chunks falling off as well.

When you think of it, the winter time is the only time you can see a waterfall change its appearance on a daily basis.

Some of them look so dramatically different that even our own trained eye can at times not recognize which waterfall it is!

Where else can you get an ice volcano built up but at one of our waterfalls in the winter time!

Over the winter we will be adding more pictures daily as they come in, today Dan and Jeremy where out and about and visited Canterbury, Little Canterbury and Scenic Falls and took lots of great pictures.

Yesterday they shot Chedoke, upper and lower, Sherman, Denlow, Washboard and Lower and Upper Mill Falls and Tiffany Falls.

Keep an eye on the website as we keep updating it with great winter themed shots!

Many thanks to Dan and Jeremy!

Great work guys!!

http://www.cityofwaterfalls.ca

More waterfall cars are on there way

2009-01-04T00:03:00.000-05:00

Last year was the launch of my Branding Initiative for the City, and today I am proud to announce a major investment into the project.So far I have wrapped one of my SUV's with the waterfall theme, and as we speak I have one of my graphic designers designing a new wrap for vehicle # 2, and vehicle # 3.Vehicle # 2, may be done in a winter waterfall theme, and vehicle # 3 may be the test bed for my motorcoach.It may not end there there either.The next two weeks are going to be very busy putting these two vehicles together, I am hoping they will both be ready by the end of the month.We will then have 3 waterfall cars running around the city spreading our brand.Speaking of our branding initiative, its getting International attention and is growing on its own which I could not be happier.There will be some further announcements coming shortly, 2009 will be a pivotal year for our City, mark my words.

http://www.cityofwaterfalls.ca

Starting the year off on the right foot waterfall style

2009-01-01T23:26:00.001-05:00

I never thought everyone would take me literally, planned or not it is pretty funny what happened today.Its a good story to, because it shows you what happens when you bring people together that share a common interest, they grow together and become a small family.This started just 4 months ago, when I hosted my first waterfall walk, and it grew into a New Years Day waterfall walk and meet and greet for 50 people that came out, braved the elements, and had a great time as well.I need to thank the group and everyone that helped make the day an enormous success, I was under the weather and had to stay at home fighting off a cold, but the group carried on and had a great time.50 people came together today and we had a walk at Felkers Falls, and a bbq as well!Many thanks for those that helped out, and what would be a meeting without Tim Hortons Coffee, Hot Chocolate and tim bits!!Dan cooked all 50 plus hot dogs as well!

Ending The Year on a HIGH Note

2008-12-31T23:42:00.001-05:00

Its a feat I can only ever dream of, one so hard to do I can only live it through the actions of others, its something that I never talked about to anyone, simply because I did not want to get any ones hopes up in case they did not make it.
On December 23rd a local group that I sponsored made its way finally to the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa, a mountain that is just under 20,000 feet in height.
Can you imagine climbing that!?
Well the group I sponsored did just that, and I am so happy and proud that they made it!
It would also be fitting that I post a picture of them at the top hosting a banner proudly showing our waterfall projects website as well!!
So, there you have it, I don't know a better way to end the year, people say finish the year on a HIGH note, and this is what I am doing!
Well done everyone!
Lets make 2009 even a better year!!!

http://www.cityofwaterfalls.ca/

Shooting our Waterfalls

2008-12-29T20:14:00.002-05:00

A picture is worth a thousand words right?
As the old saying goes.....
So, here I am at the end of the year and starting to plan on the next year ahead, especially with my Branding Initiative for the City.
You may remember that I bought a brand new camera this year, the brand new Xsi from Canon.
This powerhouse camera had a lot of use this year, and I even bought a 200 "L" series lens that members of my waterfall group call " The Big Baby"
Well tomorrow I am sending my driver to a secret undisclosed location to pick up the new latest offering from Canon, so new that it is not supposed to be released yet!!
It's the worlds most powerful camera made by Canon, so there is no better offering from Canon, a company I have gotten a lot of cameras from not to mention a nice lens also.
So, on January 1, 2009 at my first organized waterfall walk at Felkers she will be introduced to the gang to see, ( I can hear the drooling all the way here even...) and will be given its first test run. I am also investing in another lens, a second " L" series lens to add to my 200 L that I already have.
Add to this the new pro series HD camcorder I bought ( its a monster) and the Manfrotto tripod and we have all the bases covered.
What we will be doing is duplicating all over ( again) what we did this year, and shooting our waterfalls in all 4 seasons with the best equipment in the world currently offered.
I am extremely fortunate to also have some great citizens step up whom are professional and amateur photographers also, whom are lending their expertise to this project. I have learned an awful lot from them, and together we are forming a database of pictures of our waterfalls never done before.
I am also so very grateful that I can call these same folk my friends, we have truly made a connection with our waterfalls with people from all over the world.
Hamiltonians can rest assured that what we show the world will be done with the best equipment shot by the best photographers period.
Its a huge financial commitment yes, but a project of this size and for this City and its people we need to put our best foot forward and offer the best digital imagery available.
Now I just need to buy a new pair of shoes.

http://www.cityofwaterfalls.ca/

Our Team Hamilton Bus First Rendering

2008-12-29T16:05:00.002-05:00

Dave Rees could be a double for Robert Deniro, and he is a hometown born and bred Hamiltonian.Dave if you remember won my t-shirt design contest, and was the recipient of a cheque from myself for $ 1,000.00Dave has risen to the challenge once again and just submitted a first draft of what he thinks the bus should look like.It is different from what I was thinking, but it has a lot of merit to its design.When I did the bus up with a Tiger Cat theme you will remember it looked like a travelling piece of art, and it sure was a head turning piece no matter where my driver went with it.This design Dave came up with does much of the same, but even more.Take a look at what he has done, with 6 or 7 waterfalls on one side, I can just see people coming up to the bus and looking at each waterfall in detail.I can imagine people gathering and looking at awe in the beauty of each of the waterfalls." Um.... are you serving wine and cheese at this viewing...?"" What does it say to you...?"You might think we are in an art gallery!But, this is what I look for ultimately in the end.It will in itself be a " WOW "As a marketing person this is always what I am looking for, what is the "WOW" factor.The colours will most likely be changed, but Dave is on to something here, it works.Well done Dave, thanks for your commitment to this great City of ours, I know this took you many hours to come up with and it is deeply appreciated.

http://www.cityofwaterfalls.ca/

Branding The City of Vaughan

2008-12-19T18:01:00.002-05:00

I got an interesting phone call last week, a reporter from the Globe and Mail called and wanted to get my feedback on how the City of Vaughan wanted to re brand itself.

I first told her that I did not even know if Vaughan was branded to begin with.

Hence the beginning on what people understand or don't about branding.

One of the worlds leaders on branding Cities has complimented me twice on my branding initiative for our city, and has written about it, to which I am humbled and extremely grateful for, thank-you.

The media has picked up on it and is starting to pay attention.

Well not all media, The Hamilton Spectator has expressed zero interest in my branding initiative which leaves a lot of people scratching their heads.

The City of Vaughan has called itself " The City above Toronto"To me that is not branding, its just a tag line.

The reporter and I talked for quite some time, I constantly tried to steer her towards Hamilton, what the heck do I care about Vaughan for!!??

It must have worked, as she said that she will come here next year sometime and write an article about our waterfalls.

We laughed about Vaughans political troubles, and you thought Hamilton was the only City with them huh?

Branding a City is not an easy thing, and not understood by many people.Its not something you do every year, its something that defines what a City and its people are all about.

That's why " Hamilton, The Waterfall Capital of The World" is catching on with a lot of people.We are starting to become known world-wide as " The City of Waterfalls", our facebook group is just under 100 million impressions, man things are really rolling along I must admit.

The City of Vaughan has its worked cut out for it as I could not identify one thing that jumped out at me when I thought of it.

For us though in Hamilton, it is much simpler, we have more waterfalls inside our Cities boarders than any other City.

Lets not forget our parks either, I hear we have over 400 City parks!!!!

This is next.....

www.cityofwaterfalls.ca

Hamilton- The Waterfall Capital of The World

Ideal Home and Garden Show

Annual Family Day Walk

Billy Green Waterfall in Pink Video #1

Billy Green Falls Commentary

An up close and personal shot of Sherman Falls at night covered in ice.MPG

Hamilton City Hall Illuminated at night

The Toronto Sportsmen Show

*NEW* Waterfall found! Dundas, ON!

End of the show wrap up at the Outdoor Adventure Show.MPG

Mountview Falls in Hamilton

CTS TV Film on The City of Waterfalls Campaign

Illuminating Hamiltons Waterfalls in Pink in Support of Breast Cancer Research

An up close and personal shot of Sherman Falls at night covered in ice.MPG

Lower Westcliffe Falls Illuminated at Night.MPG

Albion Falls 20 Spotlamps a Half Billion Candlepower.MPG

Devils Punchbowl Illumination for the very first time

Great Falls being li up for the very first time, the countdown and command to light them up!!!.MPG

Great Falls at night with the Canon Rebel T1i 009.MOV

Albion Falls with CH TV.MPG

Commentary on our 1st attempt at lighting up Sherman Falls.MPG

A longer tripod mounted video of Albion Falls at night.MPG

Our first attempt at painting a waterfall at night, here is Sherman Falls.MPG

Centennial Falls.MOV

Billy Green Waterfall

Billy Green Waterfall

The Hamilton Santa Claus Parade gets a visit from the Waterfalls Fleet

Woodstock Santa Claus Parade

Global TV Comes To Hamilton and covers our waterfalls

HamiltonMountainNews.com: News: Story: Waterfalls campaign attracting visitors, new residents

TiCat Hover

City of Waterfalls You Tube channel hits 20,000 visitor mark

Our 1st Waterfall Walk Anniversary

Concession Street Fallfest

City of Waterfalls Bus Book

City of Waterfalls 2010 Calendar

A frontal shot of the Darnley Cascade, this one I really like!

Day 1 of the Ancaster Fair

My matching waterfall mitts

The Darnley Cascade

The City of Waterfalls Bus makes its maiden voyage to our 1st waterfall

Busy Busy Waterfallers

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Winona Peach Festival

Second video from top of stairs showing the boys at working wrapping the bus

First Video of Bus being wrapped

My first visit to Troy Falls

Albion Falls Roaring Like Tiger

First Glimpse of The wrap for the bus

Albion Falls

City of Waterfalls is at the CNE

Waterfall Car #5

Waterfall Car #5 to be picked up tomorrow

The City of Waterfalls Bus Wrap will be printed tomorrow

City of Waterfalls T-Shirts are here

The City of Waterfalls at the Dundas Cactus Festival

Tews Falls

City of Waterfalls Booth at Festival of Friends in Hamilton 2009

Waterfall Bus with name tags

The Ancaster Old Mill Waterfall

City of Waterfalls You Tube Channel Records Visitor 10,000

Hamilton Waterfalls Tourism Reaches New Record High

City of Waterfall Web Stats

CHUM FM Radio Ads

All 4 City of Hamilton Waterfall Cars together for the first time

City of Waterfalls Radio Ad

Visitor 50,000 stops by for a waterfall visit

Waterfall Car #4 is now on the streets in Hamilton

Waterfall Car #4 is in to be wrapped

Tim Horton's Camp Day

Waterfall Car #4 Artwork is at the Wrap Shop

Our New City of Waterfalls Waterfall Brochure

Waterfall Car #5

Final Proof for Waterfall Car #4

Our 1st Anniversary

Waterfall Car #5 is in the works also

Waterfall Car #4 is in the planning stages

New Record For Our City of Waterfalls Website

Hamilton Mountain News

The Power of Community

NEW Waterfall found! Dundas, ON!