Nov 10, 2011


Photo: Queensborough/Arden Exchange at Kennebec Hall

Friends of Arden Chair, Terry Kennedy, said it best when he stated, “Often visitors to your home have the freshest eyes to determine both its assets and its flaws.”

It was with that in mind that members of the Friends of Arden group entered into the First Impressions Community Exchange (FICE), an economic development exchange program sponsored by the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA). FICE partners similar communities who are looking for input into reaching their economic development goals.

Arden was partnered with the community of Queensborough, which is located north of Highway 7 just west of Tweed, and on November 3, members of the Queensborough contingent, along with OMAFRA field staff Karen Fisher and Katie Nolan, presented their Arden findings at a well-attended community meeting at the Kennebec hall.

A six-member Queensborough team, led by

Elaine Kapusta and Paula Harding, had made an incognito visit to Arden on September 14. All in all they were impressed by the natural beauty and the quaintness of the village; its public beach and park and waterfront parkette; its extra friendly and very informative postmaster; the impressive artisans' shops (though they were closed on the day the team came); and its basic infrastructure, like the Kennebec hall and its bulletin board listing all of the events that take place there, the Legion, and library. That being said, the group also pointed out a number of areas that they felt could use some attention. They first mentioned the plethora of scattered tree-mounted business signs they passed when they entered the village from Highway 7 and suggested gathering the signs in one central location.

They loved the Arden sign in the village and would have liked to have seen it instead of the mundane one on Highway 7.They found the village's park entrance confusing and suggested more tourist signage to determine the locations of its public spaces. Redoing some of the public facilities like the park benches and picnic tables was suggested, along with sprucing up the public outhouse at the park. They commented on the lack of advertising for festivals and events in the village and also the general lack of information available on the Internet. While they loved the environmental Bucket List displayed at a private home in the village, they could not find any recycling bins nearby and also commented on the dead flowers in the planters at the south end of the village.

As far as business potential they listed a possible cafe, or store to serve visitors and also suggested a tourist information booth. They loved the old stone church which they understood would require a “very creative plan” to utilize to its full advantage.

Many times during the presentation Paula Harding spoke of the potential that the natural beauty of the village has to offer. “You really have it all here, the village is a gem, a gold mine. You have the potential here but we just need to know what is going on and when it's going on.”

Ludwik Kapusta weighed in a few times on the importance of not trying to do everything all at once. “Unity of purpose is the most important thing to have and I would suggest deciding long term what exactly you are trying to achieve here and focus on a few things to get things moving in that direction and use those as building blocks,” he said.

Katie Nolan of OMAFRA, who is working with the Arden group, said “The beauty of this exchange program is that whether you are looking for some quick, achievable solutions to spruce up the community or longer term, deeper economic goals, there is always something that will come out of this exchange.“ She added that the process can also be followed up with other programs that OMAFRA offers, like the Business Retention and Expansion Survey and other community economic analysis and downtown revitalization resources and tools.

“We're here to support communities in this process and help to facilitate any actions that might come out of this to attain your goals,” Nolan said.

Terry Kennedy thanked the Queensborough team and looked forward to addressing the issues raised at the meeting. The Friends of Arden were also looking forward to presenting their findings about their partner village at the second half of the exchange, which was to take place in Queensborough on Tuesday, November 8.

 

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