Whitefish company wins prestigious marketing award

By Judi Koski

Duhamel & Dewar Inc., (located on Regional Road 55 in Whitefish) was recently awarded the Best of Show Award for Best Boat Exhibit for Legend Boats at the Toronto International Boat Show's 50th Anniversary.

This is Canada's largest and most important event for the industry, and one of the world's leading boat shows. Each year the event brings the entire recreational boating industry together - manufacturers, dealers and boating consumers.

With more than 90 thousand people attending, this is the premiere show in Canada.

The award winning Duhamel & Dewar booth was comprised of two sections totalling more than 4,200 sq. feet that showcased 27 Legend boats. The display included 14-20 foot aluminum family cruising and fishing boats and 16-24 foot pontoon boats, as well as the launch of their innovative new product, the award winning Legend Luxura pontoon boat.

"We acquired the display booth from Las Vegas, which is known for the incredible shows that are put on for the auto industry. Although we have our own transports to haul boats to and from the shows, we used a third party carrier to get the new display to the Direct Energy Centre," said Jamie Dewar.

"Each component breaks down and stores in its own place in one of the numerous crates. Then, we assembled all of the pieces at the show. We have a team of about 10 people that spent close to a week putting everything together and getting the boats set up, cleaned and ready for display," he adds.

The Legend story began in 1968 when Carl Dewar and Vic Duhamel teamed up to open a small company selling tires. Soon they moved on to sell John Deer lawn equipment, RV's and boats.

In 1986, after realizing that there was no boat designed specifically for the Canadian climate they decided to create their own brand of boats - LEGEND. These new boats were designed with unique features and all of the equipment a boater could want or need to enjoy their boating experience.

Duhamel & Dewar soon became the first in Canada to offer complete boat, motor and trailer packages to offer a one-stop shopping experience. Designed, manufactured and retailed from Whitefish, Legend has become one of the best selling aluminum boats with dealers across Canada. Today, the legend continues with the second generation in this Sudbury family owned and operated business.