Ainsworth Hot Springs owners Norm and Joyce Mackie receive prestigious award

Ken Fisher, a director of Kootenay Rockies Tourism, presented Norm and Joyce Mackie with the Gordon Wilder Memorial Award for their unflagging support and promotion of tourism in the Kootenay Rockies region.

The Gordon Wilder Memorial Award is presented annually by Kootenay Rockies Tourism. It recognizes significant achievement in support of tourism in British Columbia's Kootenay Rockies region.The award is named after Gordon Wilder, who was the director of marketing for Fairmont Hot Springs Resort. He died during a flight on his private plane, on his way back to Fairmont from Calgary to attend a Kootenay Rockies AGM on October 21, 1988.

This 2011 recipient of the Gordon Wilder Memorial Award is Ainsworth Hot Springs, owned and operated by Norm and Joyce Mackie and family. The 43-room resort, famous for their soothing hot springs, employs 50 people and sees
140,000 visitors annually. The Mackies also won the BC Tourism Employer of the Year Award in 2006. The award was recently presented at the Kimberley AGM of Kootenay Rockies Tourism.