Dinner in a yurt? Bayfield, Ont. restaurant offers unusual winter patio option
Summers are short and winters are long, especially in tourist towns like Bayfield, Ont., which is why the owners of Olio Too have added an authentic Mongolian Yurt to their restaurant.
“We call it our winter patio. It’s something different. If you want people to come to Bayfield in the winter, you have to give them an experience. This is it,” says one Olio Too’s owners, Joanne Oliver.
Oliver and her partner Brent Hillier added the yurt, built with actual yak hair, to their patio three years ago. It’s only up from October to May, but is generally booked solid when it’s up.
“People are coming. We had a group from Sarnia last weekend. People are coming from Kitchener, London and Toronto just to experience the yurt,” says Hillier.
The idea came to them after seeing a similar set up at a pub in Toronto. They thought it would work at their new restaurant in Bayfield, to help attract diners during the, usually slower, winter months.
“We want the yurt to be well known. We want people to leave happy and I can tell you everyone that comes out has a smile on their face,” says Oliver.
With seating for 18 people, Oliver says the yurt has seen a lot of family bookings for special occasions, but is open to smaller groups, as well.
“It’s just a different experience you don’t get anywhere else. Where else can you sit in a yurt and have dinner and some drinks,” says Hillier.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
'Anything to win': Trudeau says as Poilievre defends meeting protesters
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is accusing Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre of welcoming 'the support of conspiracy theorists and extremists,' after the Conservative leader was photographed meeting with protesters, which his office has defended.
Fair in Ontario, flurries in Labrador: Weather systems make for an erratic spring
"It's a bit of a complicated pattern; we've got a lot going on," said Jennifer Smith of the Meteorological Service of Canada in an interview with CTVNews.ca on Wednesday. "[As is] typical with weather, all of these things are related."
Police tangle with students in Texas and California as wave of campus protest against Gaza war grows
Police tangled with student demonstrators in Texas and California while new encampments sprouted Wednesday at Harvard and other colleges as school leaders sought ways to defuse a growing wave of pro-Palestinian protests.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
'My stomach dropped': Winnipeg man speaks out after being criminally harassed following single online date
A Winnipeg man said a single date gone wrong led to years of criminal harassment, false arrests, stress and depression.