The “familiar face of our business” is our logo. The evolution of our logo over the years reflects the roots of our past and incorporates our present global travel options.
Wells Gray Tours celebrates 43 years in business this month. I have spent the last few days looking at the various logos from our beginnings right up until today. It has been fun to see the evolution of our logo, so I thought I would share that history with all of you.
As many of you may know, Roland Neave’s love and knowledge of Wells Gray Provincial Park brought about a tour company, Wells Gray Tours that would share this great wilderness area with visitors. Roland’s expertise made him the perfect fit as a volunteer guide in the park in 1972 when it was threatened by a plan to build seven dams on the Clearwater River. The following summer, needing a job during his university break, Roland decided to use his experience as a volunteer guide to create day trips into the park. From these humble beginnings grew what we know today as Wells Gray Tours.
Our first logo is representative of the park and the day trips we provided. Wells Gray Provincial Park is traversed by the Clearwater River, features volcanic plateaus, lava flows and deep canyons, towering peaks and an abundance of waterfalls. This logo symbolized here on our day tote bag was designed to represent the volcanoes of Wells Gray Park.
Wells Gray Tours expanded in 1979 when Roland bought a small tour company in Kelowna and began to offer gambling tours to Reno. This company’s logo was the Ogopogo and was adopted to represent the interior communities of Vernon, Kelowna and Penticton.
In 1997, for our 25th anniversary, a new more stylistic logo was introduced to better embrace the entire company and our expanding world-wide tour offerings.
In 2009, our current logo was launched and included our first tagline, “a world to experience”. This logo is my favourite one. It encompasses our roots in Wells Gray Park with its representation of the peaks of the park. The use of green and blue characterize wilderness and waters that not only symbolize the park but our home province of British Columbia as well.
Our look has changed over the years, but our dedication to providing travellers with quality and affordable travel experiences from start to finish has not. Now we offer everything from multi-day coach tours, to river and ocean cruises, international destinations, and Broadway theatre tours.
We continue to celebrate our humble beginnings with a tour every year to Wells Gray Park that is escorted by Roland Neave. The 2015 departure is on May 23. The tour now is three days which provides a more in depth look at the park and is one that won’t disappoint.
Below is a picture of Wells Gray Tours owner, Roland Neave in his classic 1970s tour outfit equipped with box lunches waiting for his next group of day trippers into Wells Gray Park. Would you believe Roland can still wear the same outfit today?
Written by: Joan Niemeier
