NEWRY, Maine — Boyne USA Resorts is pleased to announce an investment in the long-term prosperity and development of Sunday River. Envisioning + Storytelling, based in West Vancouver, British Columbia, has been hired to assist the new operating company in collectively authoring a “strategic story”, or an experiential, actionable vision of the future at the western Maine resort. The collaborative process began in August and is slated to wrap up in December.

Throughout its 20-year history, Envisioning + Storytelling has played a key role in the development of hundreds of all-season resorts, including many Intrawest winter resort properties including Mont Tremblant in Quebec, Stratton in Vermont, Whistler/Blackcomb in British Columbia, as well as many esteemed golf facilities across the country, perhaps most notably Pinehurst in North Carolina. More information about this specialized consulting company and their innovative methods is available at www.storydriven.com.

“A resort with as much potential as Sunday River deserves the most comprehensive and professional process available in lifestyle resort planning,” said Stephen Kircher, president of Boyne USA Resorts’ eastern operations. “This is a proven process that unites a company and community behind a common vision and maximizes the potential value for all stakeholders involved. Over the next few months, we are also looking to bring in other talented individuals to spearhead the development process for us. These professionals will play a key role in guiding the implementation of the output of this process along with the existing and very talented resort operations teams. These are indeed very exciting times for Sunday River.”

The process employed by Envisioning + Storytelling brings together 21 strategically selected internal and external representatives including members of Sunday River’s management team, local officials, industry development experts, branding professionals and others for a two-day, no-holds-barred Envisioning session. The final product centers upon a strategic storyline that incorporates the results of the session as well as elements of the Resort’s past, present and, most notably, a tangible taste of the future experience at Sunday River. As Steve Pinker, from Harvard’s Department of Psychology, says, “The mind best understands facts when they are woven into a conceptual fabric, such as a narrative; disconnected facts in the mind are like unlinked pages on the web: they might as well not exist.” This strategic storyline, the end result of the envisioning process, enables the Resort to effectively communicate and progress towards a common goal.

“We’ve done well to communicate the quality of our snow, expansiveness of our resort and wealth of our amenities over the years, which has already solidified us as a regional leader,” said Dana Bullen, general manager at Sunday River. “We are now in a unique position under new ownership to bring stakeholders together to envision our future and unite on a path that will be mutually beneficial to our business, the community, our property owners and our guests.”

Sunday River’s association with the nearby town of Bethel will be one of the relationships further explored. Town Manager Scott Cole is slated to be one of the local officials brought into the envisioning process.

“I’m looking forward to the collaborative process,” said Scott Cole, Bethel Town Manager. “The new ownership group has elected to consider the future of our community in a pragmatic and collaborative way. I believe that to be a step in the right direction.”