The Our Town - Clarenville Blog by Paul Tilley

What's not to love about winter?  That was the theme of last Wednesday's Chamber luncheon. Jason Crawford, White Hills Resort's General Manager gave a complete overview of the 2014 season and outlined his and the Boards vision for the future in a speech he gave to the Clarenville Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday May 14th. This past winter, White Hills Ski Resort had its best year ever. 2014 saw the community owned resort draw approximately 20,000 ski visits which yielded about $1 million in direct revenues - all this despite being closed for 5 weekends due to electricity conservation or weather - That's a 30% increase over last year. Crawford pointed that the Resort's benefits stretch well into the community.  Research from New Brunswick has shown that each ski visit generates approximately $118 into the local economy, and that number jumps to $172 per day if the person stays overnight.  That translates into a $2 million annual benefit to the local economy. ...

Clara Hughes is a six-time Canadian Olympic speed-skating and cycling medallist and the national spokesperson for Bell Let's Talk. Clara's Big Ride for Bell Let's Talk is a 110-day national bicycle tour through every province and territory, beginning in Toronto on March 14, 2014 and concluding in Ottawa on July 1, 2014. As part of Clara's Big Ride, Clara Hughes will cover 12,000 km and visit 95 communities along the way. One of those communities was Clarenville, NL.   Over 120 people came out to White Hills resort on Friday, April 25 to hear Clara's story - It is an inspiring and thought provoking talk.

On April 3, Justice James Adams of the NL Supreme Court ruled on a case that pitted the Town of Gander against Trimart Investments Limited.  The thrust of the case was the Town sought to bill back owners of  commercial properties owners adjacent to a municipally owned parking lot for town provided services such as snowclearing, repairs & repaving.  The court held on the one hand the T own could impose charges to the business owners in respect of the parking lots; but on the other hand t he Town could not impose a charge in respect of the parking lots as a user fee and could not impose charges on the defendants in respect of the service roads.  ( Read the full judgement here )  This ruling has significant implications for Clarenville because of its similar situation with the Lower Mall parking lot. The Town has gained significant leverage to charge back for repairs to the parking lot.  The Town wants to see this resolved and now it finally has ...

In this week's edition of THE PACKET  Shawn Hayward's  lead story "Weather, economic uncertainty affect real estate" suggested that short term factors like winter weather and economic uncertainty pointed to some sign of cooling in the hot Clarenville economy. Granted the late arrival of spring and a less than expected impact of Hebron will tend to push down home sales but these are short term hiccups rather than long term structural problems with the Clarenville economy. Realtor  Neil Norcott's insight was key and I want to make sure we all recognize it.  At the end of the story Neil rightly points out that  "Many people who move back to Newfoundland from wherever they are now, not necessarily from the Clarenville area when they left, are picking Clarenville as a destination, mostly because of the amenities we have, the quality of life our community offers, and its geographic location. All are reasons people want to move here, and I don'...

Almost three years ago Greg Pittman, Winter Games Host Committee Chair, approached me about being part of the organizing committee for the 2014 Winter Games that would be held in Clarenville in March of 2014. During that same conversation, in a very enthusiastic voice, Greg said - "and I'd like us to make a video of Clarenville...". That was the start of a project that would boil down two years’ work into three minutes. It encompassed shooting over 250 shots of Clarenville through its four seasons, at every imaginable event - in High Definition. I took Greg's proposal to my colleagues here at the College. Deidra Strowbridge is an expert at design and crafting ideas. She has been behind our award winning Enactus team. Shannon Oake is an extraordinary visual designer and expert photographer, and Jody Locke is a master at video production, editing and photography - Shannon and Jody's work is behind a lot of the new media production that the find in several Distribu...

In early March, the Clarenville Chamber of Commerce held its annual awards presentation. Three businesses were recognized for their contribution and growth - Quantum Studio Design s (Jason Soper),  The WAVE Hotel  and Fitness Centre (Manager Kim Greenland)) and Hollingside Images (Ed Vincent)  .  Corwin Mills, QC was inducted into the Business Hall of Fame.  I addition to pictures please find a video of the awards presentation. Hall of Fame Inductee Corwin Mills QC, 2014 Business Award winner Kim Greenland - The Wave Hotel and Fitness Centre, 2014 Business Awards winner Jason Soper - Quantum Studio Designs, and MHA Hon. Ross Wiseman (Missing from photo Community Cares Award - Ed Vincent - Hollingside Images)

On the lead-up to the NL Winter Games beginning March 1, the Clarenville2014 Host Committee held a Torch Relay where 20 runners carried the Torch through town to the Clarenville Middle School.  On March 1, the final 5 runners will carry the torch into the Events Centre for the opening of the Games.