Most highs don't come without some lows and Tourism Moose Jaw's past year or so has been filled with both. 

Despite the challenges, the tourism team is looking back on 2018 with a smile, following the loss of one of their main attractions due to needed repairs and celebrating the future. 

The group with their members and board recently held their annual general meeting and went over the numbers of their last fiscal, talked about what changes are to come, and detailed the many new things that have been added to the books for the 2019 season. 

"We talked about our past year which definitely had its challenges with the trolley going down for the last six weeks of the season, but also focused on the fact that we anticipate a massive year this year with all the exposure that Mac got. We have already seen our numbers in the centre go up, we know our merchandise sales are going up and our trolley sales have already shown an outstanding recovery," explained Executive Director Jacki L'Heureux-Mason.

Anyone with a business, especially non-profits know that when something that typically makes you money goes out of commission, your organization or business takes a hit. Knowing the trolley was headed towards its doom, the group managed to prepare for a tough hit. 

"We had to pat ourselves on the back a little bit because we insulated ourselves as best as we could and now we've got this trolley that's better than ever and ready to hopefully see us through many more seasons of having it be an incredibly important thread in the fabric of our city. I know that people noticed it being gone last year which means they're going to notice it being up and running a lot more often [this year]."

It seemed as though the devastation of the trolley tied in perfectly to the new slogan for the city and maybe not in the best way, said L'Heureux-Mason.

"We told a lot of jokes and stories and different things like that about 'is the trolley notoriously haunted?' We love the fact that everything in Moose Jaw is built on a story and now we have one too. Everything that happens, happens for a reason and what doesn't kill you makes you stronger and I think that this was a really good opportunity for my tenure to say 'yup, this sucked', but we were so prepared for it."

Thankfully, Tourism Moose Jaw used creativity and momentum in other areas during this time and were able to kick off 2019 with a bang. They're celebrating the continuous spotlight on Mac the Moose now that his upgrades have been revealed. A new walking tour has been added to their list of tours, they also renovated the bathrooms in their building, as those are the most visited rooms at the centre and they will have a new look to their booth downtown that is more suited to the Notorious theme.