Category: Explore Grey & Bruce Counties

Walkerton is a little town in the middle of farm country, just west of Hanover. As part of the municipality of Brockton, the area offers lots of recreational activities for the whole family.

What can I do in Walkerton?

Outdoor activities include golf, fishing, hiking, and paddling. The Saugeen and Teeswater rivers offer prime fly-fishing, while the multi-use Saugeen River Rail Trail offers cycling and hiking options. In winter, snowmobiling and cross-country skiing are popular. Interesting in getting your pilot’s license? Flying lessons are available at the Saugeen Municipal Airport! 

Local pride is showcased each fall at the Walkerton Little Royal Fair. Featuring exhibit competitions, chuckwagon races, tractor pulls, and a variety of entertainment options with lots of good food, this fair is a celebration of Ontario’s rural heritage.

Another highlight of the area is Folmer Botanical Gardens. As southwestern Ontario’s largest private gardens, they offer many unique plant varieties. After your tour, visit the garden centre and gift shop to take something special home with you!

Walkerton offers lots of new business opportunities in manufacturing, retail, housing and construction, agriculture, and professional services, and the town offers supports to help new enterprises grow. 

To learn more about other nearby towns, visit our Explore Kincardine and Explore Port Elgin pages.

Kincardine is a proud Scottish town on the shores of Lake Huron, south of Port Elgin and Southampton. 

What can I do in Kincardine?

The local highlight of the year is the award-winning Kincardine Scottish Festival & Highland Games. Featuring three days and nights of music, over 30 pipe bands from across Canada and the United States, competitions for Highland athletes and dancers, and cultural and ancestry workshops, there’s something for everyone!

During the rest of summer, the Kincardine Scottish Pipe Band parades each Saturday evening, starting at 8 p.m. A tradition since 1948, the pipe band marches down Queen Street and back again to perform in Victoria Park. All pipers and drummers who happen to be in the area are welcome to participate, but proper dress is required. On Sunday to Friday evenings, the “Phantom Piper” pipes at sunset at the lighthouse and harbour. 

Other attractions in town include Station Beach, the harbour with its lighthouse museum, and the Bluewater Summer Playhouse (the only professional live theatre in Bruce County).

The Bruce Power nuclear power plant is the largest employer in the area, but there is also a thriving tourist industry focused on Kincardine’s beaches and its Scottish heritage.

To learn more about other nearby towns, visit our Explore Southampton, Explore Port Elgin, and Explore Walkerton pages.

Here in Grey and Bruce counties, we love our beautiful Bruce Peninsula. Located between Georgian Bay and Lake Huron, the peninsula offers lots of recreational opportunities, year-round residences and vacation cottages, beautiful sunset views, and so much more. Here are just a few of our favourite highlights of the area.

What can I do in Tobermory?

At the very tip of the Bruce Peninsula is Tobermory. Here you can explore the Grotto at Bruce Peninsula National Park and discover shipwrecks at Fathom Five National Marine Park. Kids will love the ropes course at Little Cove Adventures Aerial Park, and you can catch the Chi-Cheemaun vehicle and passenger ferry for a ride to Manitoulin Island.

Visit our Explore Tobermory page for more great recreational activities.

What can I do in Lion’s Head?

Situated on the shores of beautiful Georgian Bay, the little town of Lion’s Head is halfway between Tobermory and Wiarton and features crystal clear waterways, hiking, and safe shallow beaches.

You can enjoy the view of Georgian Bay from the Lion’s Head Lighthouse at the harbour or take the family camping at nearby Lion’s Head Provincial Park.

Learn about the night sky with Bayside Astronomy’s free public program about constellations, planets, the moon, and other deep-sky objects, with sky viewing in real-time through telescopes. For more info, check out Bayside’s Facebook page.

Visit our Explore Lion’s Head page to learn more about the area.

What can I do in Wiarton?

Also on Georgian Bay, Wiarton is the base camp for the Bruce Peninsula. Boating, fishing, swimming, camping, and golfing are just some of the activities the area is known for. 

Bluewater Park has lots to do for the whole family, including a large playground, swimming in Colpoy’s Bay, a splash pad, and a campground. Just north of Wiarton on Bruce Road 9 is the Bruce County Mountain Bike Park, which offers over 15 km of both double- and single-track trails.

Each February 2nd (Groundhog Day) at the Wiarton Willie Festival, Willie predicts either an early spring or six more weeks of winter, and the prediction is broadcasted around the globe. What’s the story behind Wiarton Willie, the most famous groundhog in Canada? Visit our Wiarton Willie page to learn more about this famous albino weather prognosticator! You can visit Wiarton Willie year-round at his home in Bluewater Park.

Visit our Explore Wiarton page to find out more about this great little town!

What can I do on the Bruce Trail?

A popular attraction all along the Bruce Peninsula is the Bruce Trail, Canada’s longest marked footpath, running 900 km along the Niagara Escarpment from its starting point at Niagara Falls to its end at Tobermory. Near Wiarton, Skinner’s Bluff and the caves and trails at the Bruce Caves Conservation Area are local gems.

What can I do in Oliphant?

The village of Oliphant attracts kiteboarders from all over the world. It’s located north of Sauble Beach on Lake Huron and the drive from Toronto takes approximately 3 hours.

The water at Oliphant is shallow and very flat, and there are steady crosswinds. All these factors make Oliphant one of the best spots to learn how to kiteboard in Ontario.

Visit our Explore the Kiteboarding Community in Oliphant page to learn more!

What’s the story behind Wiarton Willie, the most famous groundhog in Canada and the only albino weather prognosticator in the world? It all began in 1957 when fun-loving local Mac McKenzie wanted to liven up Wiarton in the bleak months of winter. 

McKenzie sent out invitations for a Groundhog Day celebration to all of his city friends. The Toronto Daily Star sent reporter Frank Teskey, who met McKenzie at the Arlington Hotel where he was enjoying a few drinks with some friends. Teskey joined the party, but the next day he knew he couldn’t return to Toronto without something of a story for the paper. The group of partiers went outside to dig a little hole in the snow, looked around for an animal that looked like a groundhog, grabbed a white fur hat from a lady, threw it into the hole, and took a photo. A tradition was born! 

When can I see Wiarton Willie?

The little town of Wiarton is still celebrating their local groundhog with statues, murals, and signs. Each February 2nd (Groundhog Day) at the Wiarton Willie Festival, Willie predicts either an early spring or six more weeks of winter, and the prediction is broadcasted around the globe.

You can visit Wiarton Willie year-round at his home in Bluewater Park by the shores of Colpoy’s Bay. 

Visit our Explore Wiarton page to learn more about this great little town!

Grey and Bruce counties are fortunate to be located between two large bodies of water: Georgian Bay and Lake Huron. Both offer beautiful views and lots of recreational opportunities. Here are just a few of our favourite highlights from each!

What is Georgian Bay like?

Georgian Bay is a large bay on the eastern part of Lake Huron. The bay is outlined by land on all sides, except for a passageway between the Bruce Peninsula and Manitoulin Island.

The land along the bay features rugged bedrock and white pine forests in the north and sandy beaches in the south. Here in Grey and Bruce counties, we are proud of the Bruce Peninsula with Tobermory at its tip and Lion’s Head halfway down, the towns of Wiarton and Owen Sound with their smaller bays, and the southern shore of Georgian Bay with the towns of Meaford and Thornbury and the beautiful Blue Mountains.

Two highlights of Georgian Bay in our backyard include Bruce Peninsula National Park and Fathom Five National Marine Park (known for preserved shipwrecks, 19th-century lighthouses, and sea-stack rock formations at Flowerpot Island). The Cobble Beach Golf Resort Community is also located on the bay and offers residential homes for sale as well as recreational golf for visitors.

What is Lake Huron like?

Here in Bruce County, we are lucky to be located on the eastern shores of the main part of Lake Huron. Great living and playing options are available all the way from the top of the Bruce Peninsula in Tobermory, down through the cottages in villages like Stokes Bay, Pike Bay, and Red Bay, and the very popular beach towns of Sauble Beach, Southampton, Port Elgin, and Kincardine.

The sandy beaches along Lake Huron are a top attraction, including Sauble Beach (the second-largest freshwater beach in Canada), Southampton with its ferry to nearby Chantry Island, and Port Elgin beach with its miniature train ride along the shore.

Other highlights in the area include the Aerial Ascent Park in Sauble Beach that features a 3-level ropes course, zip coaster, climbing wall, jump experience, and axe throwing. Nearby, Sauble Falls Provincial Park features a series of walkable cascading waterfalls. In Kincardine, Scottish heritage is celebrated at the Kincardine Scottish Festival & Highland Games.