ESSEX CENTRE
BIA Reporter
Essex Streetscape Public Open House
Thursday June 27, 6:30-8:30pm.
The next Streetscape Open
House will be held on Thursday June 27 from 6:30 to 8:30
pm in the Shaheen Room at
the Essex Arena. We need to
have as many interested
business people as possible
attend this meeting. There
will be two distinct visions for
the public to choose from.
Have your say!
It is important that the business community have a voice
so that we can actively pursue our agenda, which is to
keep the people of Essex enjoying Downtown Essex Centre. The more we can offer to
our own residents the more
time they will spend in our
core. That is good for everyone. If our own people are
June, 2013
Inside
• New Parking Lot completed.
• Grand Opening Home Hardware
• Upcoming Events
• Fun Fest Car Show Changes
Caption describing picture or graphic.
75 years for Kennedy Funeral Home
enjoying the downtown, they
will invite their friends and
family to join them.
We need to ensure that the
plan addresses issues like
parking, signage and accessibility. We want to see that a
CIP for the downtown façade
program is moving forward.
We have an interest in the
flow of traffic and where
amenities such as public
washrooms and information
kiosks will be located.
Do not miss this chance
to help shape the future
of our town.
The Michaels Building.
We knew we were going to
get a new streetscape, with
façade improvements, but we
did not expect it to be as
drastic as taking an entire
building off the street! It was
sad to see the building come
down, although the Engineers
hired by the town to look at it
• Business Spotlight
left little doubt as to what
was needed. After the south
side wall collapsed onto the
roof of 2 Waves there was
little time to spare. This unfortunate circumstance will
hopefully be someone’s great
opportunity to build the business they want.
The Town of Essex is asking
$50,000.00 for the lot which
is 35’ X 100’. If anyone in our
community knows of someone who is looking for an
opportunity to develop some
prime commercial real estate
this is a great deal.
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ESSEX CENTRE BIA Reporter
Page 2
Alice and Victoria Parking Lot Completed.
Well, the new parking lot beside the fire
hall has finally opened and customers
have begun to use it already. People
seem very happy with the lined parking
spaces, curbed entrances and exits. It is
much safer than the old one where parking became a haphazard event and door
dings were common. It is going to be well
lit with two large parking lights at either
end.
If you have a business on the north-west
side of Talbot Street encourage your
regular customers to use the new lot.
This will allow for more on-street parking
for newer customers who may not be
aware that we have a lot.
Lets continue to encourage our owners
and employees to use the lots and leave
the street free for our customers.
That leads me to my next item: Signage
for parking. Your BIA has been talking
with the town to encourage them to put
up better signage to help our patrons
find the parking that is available to them.
We need to direct people from Talbot
Street to the parking lots on the east and
west sides of the road.
Business Spotlight: Kennedy Funeral Home Celebrates 75 Years!
Kennedy Funeral Home was
founded in 1938.
Stewart Kennedy operated the funeral
home until his death in 1994 when his
daughters Ann Perry and Jill Linton took
over the business. Ann ran the business
until Tony and Jenn de Ryk bought the
funeral home in 2007.
Stew was involved in various capacities
within the community. He was a founding member of the Essex Kinsmen. He
was active in other groups such as the
Masons and Rotary Club and helped raise
money for the original arena and the
Essex United Church. He sponsored many
sports teams and even sponsored many
funeral directors to go to college.
As well as running the funeral home Stew
and Eva Kennedy also served the community with their ambulance service for
over 12 years.
The original building was built in 1880 by
Dr. Brien. In the time that Stewart and
his daughters owned the funeral home
the building itself underwent many
changes including the addition of a large
visitation room, a new front entrance
and an indoor ramp access off the new
back parking lot.
In 2007 the funeral home was sold to
Jenn and Tony de Ryk. A unique aspect
of this transition is that Ann, the original
owner and the new owners continue to
work together. There is a lot of love of
passion for this business and that is what
has kept it going for 75 years.
The new owners, the de Ryks, continue
to improve the existing historic building.
In 2008 a 560 square ft. addition was
added to the visitation room. Improvements to both the interior and exterior
are an ongoing process. Most recently
renovations have been made to the
lounge in order to accommodate luncheons and receptions. Kennedy's can comfortably seat up to 100 people. Through
this whole process it has been very important to keep the funeral home as
“home like” as possible and to not lose
the warmth of the original house.
Kennedy's is always growing and because
of this has more than doubled the
amount of its employees. All of their
great staff are involved within the community in some way or fashion.
Kennedy's was the first funeral home in
Canada to offer E-Aftercare – a free
virtual grief counsellor. They also manufacture their own keepsake line.
Continued next page…
Page 3
Great Events to look forward to!
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story here.”
Essex Bikes & Buns
NEW THIS YEAR!! Essex welcomes motorcycles from far and wide
with a celebration featuring all kinds of food served on a bun!
Saturday August 17.
Southern Ontario Military Muster
Essex Memorial Arena Grounds, 60 Fairview Avenue West, Essex.
Saturday August 10 – Sunday August 11, 2013
Essex Fun Fest
Essex Fun Fest features nightly concerts, the Bavarian Garden Tent,
Carnival Midway, Classic Car Show and fun for the whole family!
Thursday July 11 – Sunday July 14
Essex Classic Car Show
NEW LOCATION THIS YEAR… At the Essex Fairgrounds,
60 Fairview Ave. W. Organized by Essex Funfest Committee
Sponsored by Essex Centre BIA
Kennedy 75 yrs continued...
Tony and Jenn continue to support several baseball and hockey teams,
churches, schools, charities, golf tournaments along with many other community
events.
Being a funeral director is a unique job
and not just anyone can do it. Kennedy's
has been lucky to have always had a
wonderful staff that have a passion for
serving the community in one of the
most difficult times of their lives. They
promise to continue this tradition for the
next 75 years.
Saturday July 13
Grand Opening of the Seguin Essex Home Hardware.
Victoria Day weekend saw the beginning
of the next chapter of our Essex Home
Hardware store. The family of Larry Seguin has taken the reins of the store and
filled it to the rafters. The parking lot was
so full on Saturday that people were
parking on side streets around the store.
According to an article in the Essex Free
Press, the store has already hired 15 new
people and is looking to hire 15 more
before year end. That is great news for
our residents looking for employment.
Congratulations to the Seguin family —
we wish them all the best in their endeavor.
Essex Centre BIA
33 Talbot St. South
Essex, Ontario
N8M 1A8
E-mail: [email protected]
Web: www.essexbia.com
Stephen Bjorkman
Chair
Golden Girls Fashions
519-776-8889
Vivian Bennett
Vice Chair
Amy Belles
519-776-6383
Ann Pittao
Treasurer
Stepping Out
519-776-5000
Liz Semperger
Secretary
Essex Stained Glass
519-776-4577
Debra Mellow
Director
D. A. M. Good Stuff
519-776-9600
Chris Magor
Director
Stationery and Stuff
519-776-4600
Pauline Gemmell
Director
Nurse Practitioner Clinic 519-776-6856
Richard Parkinson
Director
Essex Free Press
Ron McDermott
Advisor
Mayor, Town of Essex
519-776-4268
Essex Fun Fest Car Show Change of Location!
There is a change this year in the location
of the Car Show. It will be held at the
fairgrounds, along with the carnival rides
and the Bavarian Garden. We were approached early this year by the Fun Fest
Committee and asked if we would partner with them.
Essex Fun Fest Parade and Car Show
They felt that the Car Show was pulling
away attendees from the fairgrounds and
there was a chance that they would not
be able to sustain the Fun Fest. We have
agreed to sponsor the Car Show for one
year at the fairground to see if this can
help their bottom line.
We had heard from many of our members that closing the entire length of Talbot through the Downtown for 7 hours
took away from their businesses.
We will be introducing events that, while
they might close Talbot for a couple of
hours, will not last all day.
The parade will still be on Saturday July
13 at 11:00am. We expect that many of
the cars will join in at the back of the
parade and drive through town. Lots of
out-of-towners come to the parade so
we still expect to have an active and busy
Saturday downtown.