Is there a season where there are more vacation ads? I notice the full page ads in the Globe and their free magazines for cruise trips , and trips that take a plane to get there. There was even a spread in the Adventure insert this week for "Ontario, California". I thought that was particularly funny.
There are also ads for vacations in Ontario - here's one for fairytale villages. What makes for a fairytale town? It seems to be it is like being somewhere else.
Blue Mountain Village = it has cobblestone streets and rolling hills
Merrickville - old-world buildings
Elora - streets lined with limestone buildings like a quaint English village
Perth - like a trip to Scotland
Unionville - not sure why this is here - no reminders of somewhere else or even highlights
Niagara-on-the-Lake - 19th century village of historic streets - transported in time
Besides "fairytales", consider these qualities: 7 "enchanting" small towns, 9 "cozy" places in Canada, 9 "magical" small towns near Ottawa, 10 "magical" places in Ontario I love to visit when I'm missing Europe. That matches with the fairytale places above.
Maybe the season between Halloween and Christmas is "Fairytale Magical". I think we are heading into Disney territory here.
This "Most Beautiful Towns" designation: I would expect a competition. But nothing clear from year to year shows up.
One can get this designation from celebrities and dignitaries: Queen Elizabeth "remarked" that Goderich was the prettiest town, A.J. Casson named Elora Ontario's most beautiful village.
The competition I know about is the Communities in Bloom competition, and North Bay won this year. It is a judged competition. Niagara-on-the-Lake won a few years ago.
We are in the right season for beautiful towns and Fall is wonderful in Ontario, so we can experience the sense of magic.
Maybe I got on this topic because I found this picture in the Lightroom database. This is the famous Laburnum Walk at Bodnant Gardens in Wales. We visited the week before it bloomed in the early 2000s.
Below that is a standard shot of it in bloom. That would be a magical garden visit.
