Small business success and challenges were a major topic of discussion for Hudson Bay council.
With the cancellation of the November Home-based Business Sale in Hudson Bay, the town council is trying to come up with new ways to support home-based businesses.
The decision came during the Aug. 25 council meeting as the issue came to a vote on whether to cancel the event or run it with COVID-19 restrictions.
Jeanine Holowatuik, the community development director, said the show was always a success in the past with attendees lining up around the block to see the show and show at local businesses for the Christmas season.
Around 50 vendors come to present their products at the year show. If the show would have gone forward with this year’s COVID-19 restrictions, they would have only been allowed 20 vendors in the show and a lot fewer people coming to see the show, Holowatuik said. More staff would have also been needed which would have been an extra cost to the town.
How vendors and visitors handled their product would have also been heavily restricted, she said.
“The quality of the show itself will be reduced just in terms of not being able to enjoy the products on display as much as you're used to and the shopping experience will be a little bit different.”
Holowatuik and staff at the town will be working on alternatives to getting people shopping at local small and home-based businesses during the Christmas season. If events like these continue getting cancelled in the coming year, Holowatuik said they will be looking into doing summer sales in partnership with the Hudson Bay Chamber of Commerce and organizers of the Hudson Bay Farmers’ Market. With the farmer’s market running throughout the summer, Holowatuik said they will be promoting them as a Christmas shopping option as much as possible.
Community theatre
Holowatuik also presented on the state of the Hudson Bay Community Modeon Theatre. Following the success of the drive-in movie night, Holowatuik said they will be working on getting the theatre open and running for the public. Since closing in March, the theatre has not had any operating expenses, which is a positive. However, this is a big reason why opening too soon is a concern.
“It bases its budget on a yearly basis just off the attendance throughout the community, and we feel that we don't want to open up too early and cause any problems financially.”
Current restrictions mean the theatre would be opening at 30 per cent capacity, only 60 people, right now, but with possible plans to open in September, that percentage could change. The other problem is theatre companies do not have any new releases to show and showing non-new releases is not feasible at their present capacity, Holowatuik said.
The community has been supporting the theatre through COVID-19 which is great to see, Holowatuik said, with over $1,000 raised for the theatre at the drive-in night.
Tourism grant
With the new website coming to fruition by the start of 2021, Holowatuik said the town has received a grant from Tourism Saskatchewan to help pay to keep their information fresh and current. Receiving this money is a tremendous help to the town, Holowatuik said.
“Due to the things going on this year and the event cancellations, they've been able to use their funding in ways that are even more valuable for communities that are struggling to keep their information updated and current and visually pleasing.”
Holowatuik said that promoting local winter tourism has been part of Tourism Saskatchewan’s dialogue lately and for Hudson Bay, that is a huge part of their tourism season. Their new website will play an eventual role in promoting those winter activities in Hudson Bay.
