A new position has been created in Manitoba's Sunrise Corner, in an effort to promote tourism in the southeast.

On November 13th, Monique Chenier took over as Economic Development and Tourism Manager for the rural municipalities of Piney and Stuartburn. Chenier grew up in South Junction and attended high school in Sprague. She spent 25 years in Calgary, working in marketing, public relations, business development and community building; working for both private and public companies.

"I'm super excited to be back," she says. "So excited to be moving back to my hometown and working with all the local businesses and government officials and staff to really look at economic development in this area."

According to Chenier, the first month has involved making connections with a lot of the local organizations, including the Piney Regional Chamber of Commerce and Eastman Tourism.

Chenier says there are three forms of tourism they are trying to promote in the municipalities, known as Sunrise Corner. The first form is Nature and Outdoor Activities. Chenier says an example is geocaching, which is a family friendly treasure hunting game. Chenier notes they have more than ten caches between the two municipalities.

"We've had people from all over Canada and the United States and elsewhere going through and finding those caches," says Chenier.

The second form is History and Culture. Chenier says two interesting pieces of history include the Sprague and District Historical Museum, as well as the Gardenton Ukrainian Museum.

The final form is Festivals and Events. Under this theme, Chenier says their next big festival happens January 18th and 19th in the form of the Vita and Area Winter Festival.

In October, the rural municipalities of Piney and Stuartburn formed the Piney Stuartburn Economic Development District Board, comprised of two councillors from each of those municipalities. Chenier says in the new year, the board and her will work on a strategic planning process, including creating an economic development plan and setting priorities for the coming year. Chenier says they will structure their efforts around four pillars: tourism, existing business expansion, new businesses in agriculture, forestry and industrial, as well as entrepreneurial activities.

"We've got kind of everything that's best about Manitoba; nature, people and events," says Chenier. "You can find it all here in Sunrise Corner."