HomeMy WebLinkAboutLakeshore Advance, 2013-12-04, Page 2vara 4-r:••........, 1....11..6....- . .
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Community partners helping Chamber Iight up Grand Bend
Lynda Hillman-Rapley
Thanks to cotnmunity partnerships,
the Grand Bend Chamber of Com-
merce will be able to begin to deco-
rate for the Christmas season.
'Ihe Chamber had previously asked
l,ambton Shores for help to make
Grand Bend more seasonal. At a
meeting in 2012, council discussed
correspondence from the manage-
ment and staff of the Pine Dale Motor
Inn in regards to the lack of Christ-
mas spirit in Grand Bend. Coun-
cil reviewed the letter that stated their
displeasure with what they consider
to be a "lack of Christmas Spirit on
the Municipality's part for the
absence of Christmas decorations in
Grand Bend."
At that time councillor I)oug Bon-
esteel noted that having the down-
town areas of the Municipality deco-
rated for Christmas was not solely up
to the Municipality itself but should
be a partnership with such groups as
the Chamber of Commerce, Rotary
and Optimist Clubs and others, work-
ing as a team for future Christmas
decorating in Grand Bend. At that
2012 meeting Deputy Mayor Davis-
Dagg asked for consideration of a
phased in approach to purchasing
Christmas decorations for Grand
Bend as they can be quite expensive.
An allocation of $5,000 was budg-
eted for 2013 as a seasonal decoration
budget item.
With the help of The Grand Bend
Community Foundation to the tune.
of $6,200, the Grand Bend Rotary
Club -$2,000, the Grand Bend Legion
$500 and the disbanded Grand Bend
Lioness Club $500 the Chamber has
been able to match the funds of the
municipality to begin their decora-
tion budget.
The Grand 13cnd Legion
would like to thank everyone
who helped out during the
power outage at the Legion.
We send a special thank you
to the "girls" who did the
cooking to feed all of us, it
was much appreciated. We
also send a big thank you to
Art Travis for the donation of
fruit, vegetables and the won-
derful desserts. Many thanks!
•
Lynda titlmttan-Rapley
Shown here Foundation grant chair Judy MacDonald,
Foundation members Hartle Johnston, Shirley Andraza, Penny
Nelllgan, Jim Southcott give the check to Chamber decorating
chair Mary -Jo Schottroff- Snopko with Chamber president
Glen Baillie, and Chamber manager Susan Mills also on hand.
"We are delighted to improve the decor of our community and
hopefully attract more visitors to Grand Bend and enjoy the
Christmas season," said MacDonald.
RIGHT: The Grand Bend Optimist Club lit up their park (across
from TDCanada Trust). The Grand Bend Community Foundation,
as a charitable partner, granted $6,200 for lights and
decorations.
Brent Kittmer, Director of
Community Services told
the Lakeshore Advance that
staff
with
plan
have been working
the Chamber on a
to install seasonal
decorations in Grand Bend. "One of
the decorating concepts was to focus
on Ontario Street and use hydro poles
for decorations, lights, etc. The poles
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are owned by 1lydroOne and when
they asked about putting up new
hardware on their poles the answer
was no.
A secondary thought was to use the •
existing hardware that the flower pot!
hang on for wreaths, but this fell by
the wayside as the wreath supplier
did not think they would hold up with
the truck traffic."
Kintner said staff and the (;harsher
have met to try and work out a new
concept where they focus on decorat-
ing municipal property so that they
have full care and control of the proc-
ess. Locations considered are the
municipal office property, the small
parkette across the street, Optimist
park, and Main Street West to the
beach. Mary Jo Schottroff-Snopko,
who spearheaded this endeavor, says
she has bought some decorations and
it is a work in progress. She said "Town
employees were busy last week with
snow removal -hut she hopes to get
some decorations up this week. The
Optimist Club decorated the park
last week.