Every small town has a story. We've mapped 984 of them.
Every small town has a story. We've mapped 984 of them.
About 1000 Towns of Canada
984 communities across every province and territory — one platform connecting travellers with the places that don’t make the guidebooks, but should.
Our Story
Conversations with friends who shared a love of local travel turned that course project into something real. 1000 Towns of Canada started as a quiet attempt to change that. One town at a time, one page at a time. What began as a solo project gradually became something much larger.
Students and professors from over 30 universities across the country researched and wrote about communities they cared about. Local residents shared the places only locals know. Municipal and community representatives opened doors and pointed us in the right direction. Together, we built town pages and travel guides for hundreds of communities, and began telling the stories of the notable people who came from them — the Olympic champions, artists, and trailblazers that small-town Canada quietly produced. It turns out there were a lot of people who wanted these stories told.
Nine years later, the platform covers 984 towns in every province and territory, with over 8,300 pages of content. More than 132,000 travellers visit each year — 85% of them Canadian — looking for their next small-town discovery.
The content belongs to the communities. Our job is simply to make sure travellers find your town, want to visit, and tell their friends.
| 2016 | • | Started as a course project at Humber College’s Digital Media postgraduate program. Conversations with friends who shared a love of local travel turned it into something real — and the first blog posts went live. |
| 2017 | • | First town pages launched. |
| 2018 | • | 50 towns reached across 8 provinces. |
| 2020 | • | Google Ad Grant approved — $10,000/month in search advertising, putting small-town Canada in front of travellers actively looking for their next destination. |
| 2021 | • | First university partnerships through Riipen, bringing student researchers and writers into the project from across the country. |
| 2022 | • | 500+ towns covered, with every province and territory represented. |
| 2024 | • | Trip AI and interactive planning tools launched, making it easier than ever for travellers to discover and plan small-town adventures. |
| 2025 | • | 132,000 annual visitors a year, with 30+ university collaborations coast to coast. |
| 2026 | • | Community partnership program launched, giving municipalities a direct way to reach travellers on Canada’s coast-to-coast small-town platform. |
The founder
Vlad brings over 20 years of experience in journalism and digital media to 1000 Towns of Canada. He spent years working on national-scale content and audience development — then moved to Canada, enrolled at Humber College, and turned a course project into something nobody expected.
He started the project because he believed no town should be invisible online. Nine years later, with the help of hundreds of contributors from across the country, that idea has grown into Canada’s coast-to-coast small-town tourism platform.
Vlad leads the platform’s content strategy, Google search advertising campaigns, and community partnerships. The day-to-day work of building town pages, writing travel guides, and running research projects is carried out by university teams through Riipen, with web development handled by a dedicated technical team.
The result is a focused, efficient operation — 984 towns, 8,300 pages, and $10,000 a month in managed Google Ads — built without the overhead of a large agency.
academic collaboration
More than 200 students and professors from universities and colleges across Canada have contributed to 1000 Towns — researching communities, writing town profiles, building travel guides, and creating case studies. Many collaborate through the Riipen platform, where they work on real projects as part of their coursework or paid placements.
30+ universities and colleges across 8 provinces — and counting
Want to put your town on the map?
We partner with municipalities and tourism organizations to help small communities get found by travellers.
1000 Towns of Canada is built by hundreds of contributors from across the country — students, residents, and community representatives who believe small towns deserve to be found.
