Cypress Hills Zip

A look at the Cypress Hills Eco Adventures (Photo from http://www.zipcypresshills.ca)

Three Southwest Saskatchewan Businesses have been named finalists for the 2011 Saskatchewan Tourism Awards of Excellence.

Redmond House Bed and Breakfast and Dining establishment in Maple Creek, the Reno Rodeo in Consul, and Cypress Hills Eco Adventures at Cypress Hills Inter-provincial Park are up for awards in different categories.

The effort by the community to draw tourism to the area played a role in Redmond House owner Michael Morrow returning to his hometown.

"Maple Creek is a great area," Morrow said. "I grew up here and the town itself has been doing just enormous amounts of publicity to promote tourism in this area... it was just the right time to come back and open up a business."

Redmond House is a finalist for the Business of the Year award in the "under 50 full time employees" category, while the Reno Rodeo is up for Event of the Year and Cypress Hills Eco-Adventures could take home Rookie of the Year.

"It feels pretty good," said President, CEO, and founder of Cypress Hills Eco Adventures Jory Kirk. "There's a lot of people that worked really hard this year for us. It's quite humbling really. I'm just a small town kid from Climax, Saskatchewan. It's kind of neat to have had an idea that turns into something that is recognized by the industry."

The Awards Gala takes place on March 22 in Regina.