Cochrane was on the cutting edge of the sport of snowmobiling, and it’s all thanks to Guy Belisle.
Local history buff Peter Politis calls Belisle “one of the forefathers” of the business community. He started Ontario’s first snowmobile dealership in Cochrane.
“And he actually had the fifth Bombardier snowmobile every produced – the fifth one they ever created – right here in Cochrane and it was sold here in Cochrane.” Politis relates.
Now, of course, snowmobiling – or ski-dooing, if you prefer – is a way of life during our long, snowy winters.
“We even have now,” Politis adds to the story, “which I understand is one of the largest vintage snowmobile museums here in honour of a lot of that as well too. So that’s a really neat interesting part of our history.”