Tourism Sault Ste. Marie took a bold step today of purchasing the replica boxcar built for the TVO film .Painted Land: In Search of the Group of Seven’. The boxcar was purchased with aid of private sector tourism industry funding.
The boxcar is a near-exact replica of coach used by the iconic Canadian artists when they visited the Sault Ste. Marie area nearly 100 years ago. It’s now stationed at the Machine Shop property on the former St. Marys Paper site.
“The Group of Seven railcar will augment the tourism experience we already have established around the famed Canadian painters,” said Ian McMillan, Executive Director of Tourism Sault Ste. Marie. “Our goal is to continue to attract visitors by further building the Group of Seven brand in our community.”
The Algoma area has been recognizing and featuring the Group of Seven in a number of ways over the years. At the Lake Superior Provincial Park interpretive centre at Agawa Bay there is a beautiful display with information about the Group of Seven in the park. There are also a number of artist’s easels, stools and education panels installed at a number of locations between Sault Ste. Marie, Wawa and Marathon. In 2011, the Coalition for Algoma Passenger Trains celebrated the 93rd anniversary of the Group of Seven paintin along the ACR line with a two day “Group of Seven & Glenn Gould Train Event”. That event became a sold out annual event until 2015, when the Algoma Passenger Train ceased operations.
