The Hwy 49 East Chamber of Commerce is a result of the early stages of amalgamation of the chambers of commerce at Norquay, Pelly, Hyas and Stenen.
These small communities are working on joining forces in hopes of making these communities places where people would want to visit, live and shop, said information from the chamber. “Having all these towns pull together as one means easier access to grants and more numbers to bring in tourists that are passing by since many come to our area due to our fishing and hunting opportunities.
“The Hwy 49 Chamber focuses on business awareness in our area,” the information said. “When people make their way to Pelly to see the snake pit or the museum, the hope is that they will stop in to the towns along the way, which in turn may mean eating or shopping which is commerce for a small town.
“When small towns come together it forms a lot of ideas that could help make our vision a reality,” the information said.
The Chamber of Commerce in Norquay aims to beautify Main Street, it said. Many efforts have been made in the ways of cutting grass in the ditches leading in to the business centre, edging sidewalks, encouraging business places to trim grass and weeds around their buildings and sprucing up the buildings with a splash of paint to the trim.
The Chamber is looking at what makes other communities look beautiful, even small things like painted crosswalks, parking space lines, benches and planted flowers. Hanging flower baskets have been added to Main Street as well as the development of two “flower trucks.”
The first truck was put in place last year on Main Street across from Norquay Agencies. The Norquay Co-op happened upon an old fuel truck near Canora in the spring of this year and Albert Outhwaite, the manager who had been involved in the first project, decided to start a second flower truck project with Wendi Reine, a Co-op employee designing and planting as she had done with the first project.
The new truck is located on the Co-op grounds.
“The truck on Main Street has already brought in people from The Pas, Kelvington, Wadena, Odessa, Saskatoon, Hudson Bay, and several other communities,” the information said.
Without any intention another group contributed to beautifying Norquay.
In the spring, Jwanita Newcombe, an educational assistant at Norquay School, and her students, Bjorn Abrahamson, Mckayla Goertzen and Logan Reine, made three pallet gardens.
The students planted kale, cucumbers, peas, beans and lettuce in two of the pallets which Goertzen and Reine took home to care for during the summer. They also planted a few flowerpots with carrots and flowers.
The third pallet, in which the students planted flowers to celebrate Canada’s 150th birthday, was donated to Barb Koroluk, the owner of Onyx Nail and Hair.
“Everyone who comes in for a haircut comments on how nice the pallet garden looks,” Koroluk said.
A new business centre sign has been erected on the Norquay Co-op grounds pointing toward Main Street. An old style plow was donated by Ruth Demetrick to add to the area in which the sign was placed. The plow was used by her grandfather Lars Johnson.
The Hwy 49 East Chamber of Commerce is always looking for new members and welcomes young people as they always seem to have new ideas, the information from the chamber said.
