HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2018-03-01, Page 30PAGE 30. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, MARCH 1, 2018.
Local support for local businesses needed: Elligson
Continued from page 25
encourage people to live in the
community."
Reeve Neil Vincent said the bank
was fighting an uphill battle with
trying to have counter interactions
with customer. He said that, with
federal and provincial banks and
even North Huron using online and
other digital methods for bill
payment and delivery, there wasn't
as much money going through the
bank or mail through the post office.
Z8 9 10 11 12 13 1415 16,
GI
Peter Smith, Blyth 14/19 Manager,
said that banks may be a sunset
industry and it may be a difficult
thing to fight.
He said that Blyth's use of the
bank has likely gone down with
Sparling's Propane being sold.
Irene said that not having a bank
was a tough proposal for people in
Blyth as transportation was always a
problem and there is no public
transportation. The sentiment was
echoed by Lorie Falconer, a local
accessibility expert who said
accessibility can be a selling point,
and Garratt, who said some of the
artists who come for the Blyth
Festival don't have transportation or
a driver's licence.
The group decided to form a
committee of people who could
reach out to banks to try and decide
what was important in having a
financial institute in the village. The
group also decided to meet again in
approximately one month's time.
In the Olympic spirit
The Wingham Golf and Curling Club played host to the annual women's bonspiel. This year's
event benefitted Tealpower and the Wingham and District Hospital. Eight teams played in the
first draw, with many others taking part as the day went on. The event was in memory of Ange
Chester, an avid curler who died last year from cancer. Teams were encouraged to wear teal,
the official colour of ovarian cancer awareness. (Hannah Dickie photo)
LOCAL BUSINESSES
Part of the discussion turned to
supporting local businesses in
general, as Allison Elligson, an
employee of Part II Bistro, said the
community needed to support all
local businesses.
She talked about the problems
facing small businesses, and said
that, while suggestions of incentives
and local events were great, Blyth
locals need to patronize local
businesses to keep them alive.
Sarah Gusso, part-owner of the
bistro, echoed those concerns,
saying that the decision to close their
restaurant until Mother's Day in
May was a very difficult one to
make, but one that made sense.
Triemstra-Johnston said that local
businesses feed off each other and
she was struggling with whether or
not to open a storefront of her own
for her costume company, Pick-a-
Posie. She said if the Bistro wasn't
open, it meant less customers seeing
her shop, and vice -versa.
Elliott said that poor snow
removal, especially this winter, had
an impact on the community and
likely had an impact on local
business.
"To put it plainly, snow removal
this year sucked," he said. "We can't
maintain the integrity of the
community with that level of
service."
Elliott said he was shocked to
learn snow removal is only done
every Monday, Wednesday and
Friday. Others at the meeting said
even on those days, the snow
removal starts late or not at all.
Queens Bakery co-owner Les
Cook shared a tale of a customer
who had to crawl through
M20
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CLINTON
8 Isaac St., Box 158
Clinton, ON NOM 1L0
519-482-3434
Fax: 519-482-1491
1-877-839-3742
GODERICH
46 East St.,
Goderich, ON N7A 1W3
519-524-9899
Fax: 519-524-9699
snowbanks to get to his restaurant,
saying it wasn't not something that
should happen.
"We've built this community so
people know they can come here,"
Elliott said. "The businesses can't
cope without a level of snow
removal that enforces that notion."
Snowmobile operators using the
sidewalk was also discussed as a
barrier to local businesses as the
recreation vehicles cause dangerous
situations on the main street, are
likely having a negative effect on
infrastructure and shouldn't be
travelling down the walkway in the
first place.
G2G
Lee shared a good news story for
the village: the G2G is hosting a
special cycling event on the July 1
weekend.
Lee said that the event will see
cyclists start in Guelph and end in
Blyth, taking the trail on the former
railway.
Lee said riders will stay overnight
in Blyth one or two nights
depending on how quickly they
make the trip, bringing 150 people
into the community. He also said
that special events were being
planned for the cyclists to get them
outside of Blyth.
BIA Chair Karen Stewart said that
is a project the BIA marketing
committee will look at and could
treat similar to the annual Reunion
of the Huron Pioneer Thresher and
Hobby Association. She said that a
welcome package could be created
including a map to guide cyclists to
the downtown.
Anyone interested in the program
can contact Grace Vanden Heuvel at
grace @ g2grailtrail.com
LUCKNOW
634 Campbell St., Box 389
Lucknow, ON NOG 2H0
519-528-3824
Fax: 519-528-2531