Innisfail Participates in FICE

The Town of Innisfail participated in a program called "FICE - First Impressions Community Exchange Report" where a community is matched with another community of similar size.  Community members from each town visit the other town to provide insight of a visitors viewpoint of the community.  Each visiting team creates a report which is shared with the community that was visited.  The full report can be viewed on the Town of Innisfail website.  

Here are some highlights of the report:

Innisfail was visited on July 30 & 31, 2008 by six residents of the Town of Westlock.  The visiting team had numerous positive comments to share with our community.  

One of the comments that repeatedly showed up in the report was about the high quality of customer service and friendly and helpful residents.  Everyone that the visiting team encountered was friendly, accomodating, and helpful.  Many residents of Innisfail told the visiting team that they love living here, they love the location and all the things there is to do.  Community spirit is evident in all the areas of Innisfail inlcuding pride of ownership in business and residential properties.
 
The visiting team liked the "front porch" concept on most of the newer homes in Innisfail and commented that most of the older homes were well maintained and upgraded.  The streets and parks were all clean and well maintained, with nice trees and foilage.  They were also impressed with the way the schools, healthcare faclities and aquatic center is all grouped in one area.  All of these things indicate pride of ownership and community spirit.

There is an abundance of industrial, professional, retail and food services available in Innisfail.  The visitors team members were impressed with the use of solar powered lights, hanging flower baskets and recycling facilities in the downtown area.  The visiting team had the opportunity to visit the Innisfail Farmers Market and indicated that it was the best Farmers Market they had ever seen.

Innisfail appears to be a very safe, family oriented community.  The visiting team was impressed with the number of schools, churches, recreational facilities, outdoor activities and parks.  They felt that Innisfail could work on signage to welcome visitors, as well as update maps and street signs.  They visited the Visitor Information Building and felt that there could be more signs to direct visitors to the location.  The only negative comment that they visiting team made about Innisfail was in regards to the smell from the Purina Pet Food facility.

Overall, Innisfail rated very high in all areas of the report.  Please visit the Town of Innsfail website for more information.