HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuron Expositor, 2015-08-12, Page 9Huron East acknowledges success
from the "Win This Space" venture
Shaun Gregory
Huron Expositor
A Huron East Council
meeting was halted for a
short moment to show
appreciation to a woman
who is believed to be a key
factor in the town's growing
economy.
Mayor Bernie MacLel-
lan waited for all the press to
arrive on August 4 at Sea-
forth's Town Hall to pre-
sent Jan Hawley with an
award for the success of the
"Win This Space" project.
Hawley, the Huron East,
economic development
officer said, "was I sur-
prised? Yes, did it catch me
off guard? Yes."
"I help facilitate this,
but I have a team behind
me and I could not have
done it without them,"
said Hawley. "I was
touched that I was getting
recognized for my job,
which is to encourage
business."
"It was lovely," said
Hawley.
The "Win This Space"
first initiated from
Uxbridge, Ont. in 2013.
After hearing about the
success the small township
had Hawley decided to put
an effort in bringing the
venture to Seaforth. After
being the second commu-
nity in the province to fol-
low the lead of
Uxbridge, Hawley said
two suburbs from
Ottawa,St. Catharines and
Cobourg also joined the
trend.
"It's just rolling forward, it
has a life of its' own," said
Hawley.
The initial launch of "Win
This Space" started because
of the 11 empty storefronts
in Seaforth, which has cur-
rently been minimized to
four.
"The thing is we could
only have one winner, but
those business plans were all
winners, I could not believe
how good they were," said
Hawley.
"I would have loved to
award them all free rent,
but you know what it was
almost like it sparked and
encouraged these contest-
ants to take their idea and
actually make it happen."
Hawley mentioned
that seven of the nine new
businesses that opened or
are opening in the future
have had a relationship with
"Win This Space."
'This contest created an
urgency to snag up the
spots," said owner of Sea -
forth Fitness, Jared Gowan.
He opened up his gym
on May 24, which was
generally around the same
time as when the contest
first commenced.
'This is amazing for the
town, it accomplished the
goal of filling the town,
which is great,"
said Gowan.
This fall Hawley will be
filling out an application
for another similar busi-
ness enterprise, she said,
"this will be a different
twist on it, more of an
industrial commercial sort
of theme."
Wednesday, August 12, 2015 • Huron Expositor 9
JuHBN'ss Idea?
SL7b11211 Ali
Shaun Gregory Huron Expositor
Jan Hawley holds the award given by the Huron East Council for her part in the success of "Win
This Space."
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