May 26, 2011


Photo: Janet Barr of the Treasure Trunk, Pat Furlong and Sue Theriault of the Frontenac CFDC

Members of the business community of Central Frontenac had a chance to network on May 19 over breakfast at the Sharbot Lake Country Inn and were greeted by Mayor Janet Gutowski, chair of the Central Frontenac Economic Development Committee, which put on the event. “Our goal is to hold these breakfasts at least a couple of times a year so business owners can get together to share ideas and goals. Our aim is to fill a gap since we don’t have a local business association or a chamber of commerce.”

Guest speaker at the event was Pat Furlong, the new chair of the Hands on Harvest group, which puts out an annual guide of local food producers. Furlong co-owns and operates a local family farm and spoke about the group’s recent proposal to start a farmers’ market at the Sharbot Lake beach.

Furlong is excited about the proposal that she put forward to council at their regular meeting on May 10. Council is now investigating the logistics and will be reporting back at its next meeting on May 24. “There is lots of support at this point. We are just waiting for council’s report,“ Furlong said. “I just spoke to Sue Theriault of the Frontenac CFDC and they are willing to help us out with funding for signage, which is really exciting.” Pat is hoping that ten vendors will take part regularly in the market. The location has yet to be determined.

Janet Gutowski is an avid supporter of grass roots businesses movements. “In my experience, the best business development economic solutions tend to be the grass roots movements from local citizens such as the Hands on Harvest group who are here in the community to stay. These grass roots movements involve people from the community who are in it for the long haul and who are thinking about sustainable economic development, which is very exciting.”

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