by Deron Johnson
Downtown Kemptville is very fortunate to have plenty of active and supportive business owners who want to see the Downtown become an even more important community hub for everyone in North Grenville. Recently, the Bodhi Yoga Centre agreed to work with the Old Town Kemptville BIA (BIA) to begin a special Wellness In The Park program. The idea was that starting in May, every Friday, there would be a yoga class taking place outdoors at Rotary Park, right at the corner of Prescott Street and Clothier Street. When Get Cronk’d Fitness Studio heard about this new program, they immediately wanted in. After discussing it between themselves, the two local health and wellness-based businesses decided to alternate weeks, with yoga class being one week and then fitness class being the next week. The remarkable part about all of this, is both businesses are offering to do this for free for anyone who wants to join in. So, drop by every Friday at 11 am at Rotary Park for a free Wellness In The Park class. Many thanks to Melanie and Rebecca for their leadership on this fantastic community-building initiative.
With the warmer weather upon us, everyone’s attention is turning to summer. In Downtown Kemptville, that means we start counting the days to the Kemptville Live Music Festival. This year the festival will run from July 18 – 21 at the Kemptville Campus and will bring another stellar lineup of music talent to the area. Just like last year, the BIA will be running a promotion to allow one lucky person to win two VIP tickets for the festival! This year’s Kemptville Live promotion will be a passport- based draw. Pick up a passport at any participating or sponsoring business, get six businesses in the Downtown to initial/sign/stamp your passport, then put the passport in the ballot box at that sixth business to be entered into a draw for the two VIP tickets. The draw for the winning passport will be done on Canada Day. Watch for the posters in the windows of the participating businesses to get your passport and signature. We are especially grateful to a number of businesses outside the Downtown who have become sponsors for the promotion. Look for the promotional posters in the windows of Downtown businesses starting this week so you can begin filling up your passport!
May was a busy month for economic development in Downtown Kemptville. We welcomed two new businesses to our family, Stevens Creek Shutter Co. and Susie M’s Hidden Treasures. We know Susie and Will are great additions, so we look forward to seeing their businesses grow and we’ll be with them every step of the way. We were also tickled to see the expansion of Get Cronk’d Fitness Studio as they doubled their studio space, brought in thousands of dollars in new equipment and added more staff including Fraser and Stacey. New Energy Kreations is also expanding to double their showroom space and Ken has been quietly hiring more staff to meet the increased demand he’s been experiencing since he moved to his current location in Downtown. It’ll be hard to top May with all of this economic activity going on, but we’ve learned to never underestimate a small business community….EVER.
