Snowmobile museum proposed.

• Author: Ross, Ian
• Position: Brief Article

Local sledding enthusiast spearheading $7.9 million tourism initiative

Just about any city that experiences the full brunt of winter can rightfully claim themselves to be the snowmobile capital of Canada. But Don Lumley isn't waiting for another community to claim the title.

The self-employed leisure marketing consultant is championing Sudbury as the "Mecca" of snowmobiling with his vision for a Canadian museum and hail of fame paying homage to the sport.

Plans are underway for a 26,000-square-foot complex to be built this fall at Silver Lake Road and the Highway 17 bypass, near the Sudbury Highlands Golf Club. On a 2.4-hectare parcel of donated land, the $7.9-million facility will be financed with a 50/50 split of both public and private money.

"I'm just a very persevering person," says Lumley, who's been spearheading the initiative from his Garson home for the last few years. As a recreational sledder for 31 years, he's well-known in snowmobiling circles for his drive in designing the Sudbury trail plan and having served on a number of national bodies of organizations.

But he admits going out into the community to float his idea and convince local partners to buy into the project wasn't an easy sell at first. However, once he explained the interactive, year-round concept he had envisioned -- "it's not just a museum with dusty old snowmobiles in the corner" -- they enthusiastically bought in, he says.

Although there's a Joseph Bombardier museum in Valcourt, Quebec and American hails of fame in Minnesota and Wisconsin, Lumley says there's nothing to celebrate the Canadian pioneers who've developed the sport, particularly from the Sudbury area.

But can a year-round repository celebrating a winter pastime attract tourists even in the T-shirt months?

Lumley believes it can, with an array of hands-on displays and sensory experiences that will appeal to both the hardcore snowmobile aficionados and the casual tourist. In his concept, visitors follow an immersion tunnel blowing cool air that leads...