Eva Baldi

Norway Bay June 30, 2021

A search for their forever home led Jodi Armstrong and John Edelman to the business opportunity of their dreams. 

When Armstrong and Edelman first met, they had a conversation about what they wanted for their futures. They found they had a mutual desire to have a business. 

“When we first met, we were talking about what we want out of life, and you know you get to an age where you kind of reflect and then look at the next 20 or 30 years. So one of the things that we both said we really wanted was to be our own boss and to create a business,” recounted Armstrong. 

After a few years of being together, Armstrong and Edelman were looking for a place to call their own. At this time, Edelman had recently moved back to Canada from Germany after 32 years of working in the Canadian military. The home he moved to in Barrhaven, Ontario was located on a loud and busy street, which annoyed Edelman. He began to search for properties outside of the city in an attempt to solve this problem. Edelman began looking on real estate listing websites for properties in Renfrew and surrounding areas, hoping to find a property on the water. Zooming out of the map, he noticed a large property, which was a golf course for sale on the other side of the river. 

“I would have never looked here, just happenstance that I looked at it and started delving into it and then I took a ride out here on my motorcycle back in August of last year,” Edelman recalled with a smile. “I showed Jodi the property and in one text [she said] ‘buy it.’”

The property that the couple stumbled upon has quite a rich history in Norway Bay. The golf course was built by the McCredie family in 1939, when they hired architects Robert Trent Jones Sr. and Stanley Thompson to design the course. The two men were payed $200 a week and were allowed to stay at the on-site hotel free of charge. These architects would go on to be globally renowned in the golf world, while leaving one of their first nine-hole golf courses in the Pontiac’s very own Norway Bay. 

Armstrong and Edelman were well aware of this history, looking over the original golf course map with the date January 1938 handwritten at the bottom of the page. Though a lot has changed in the 82 years since the course was built, the sense of community has not. Armstrong and Edelman expressed their gratitude to the community.

“We can’t do this without the support of the community,” said Armstrong. “[We are] telling people that we want them walking the property, and walking their dogs and enjoying the property because it’s too much of a gem to keep it to ourselves.” 

The couple hopes to have the community be as much a part of the business as possible. Edelman highlighted this point by expressing, “An important part of this is that we are focused on supporting local stores and services, so when we get help or we’re hiring things out we will contract to local people, it is important for us to not only be included in the community but to give back to the community.” 

Armstrong, who is from Shawville originally, continued by highlighting how instrumental her parents Gwen and Albert Armstrong have been to their success through their mentorship and support. 

“My parents, my mom and dad, they still live in the community. They live in Sand Bay now [and] have been huge supporters. They’re doing everything from helping connect us with the right people to help support the business to picking milk weeds in the driving range,” said Armstrong. 

The couple did not shy away from a challenge. For the past year they have been hard at work with repairs, hoping to return the property to its original glory. For the time being, their plans are to open the property as an events venue, a restaurant and to reopen the driving range. As for the other business opportunities that the property allows for, the plans are deliberately not fully decided as the couple hopes to listen to the wants and needs of the community. 

Armstrong and Edelman are hoping that the plans that are in place right now will allow them to realize their dream of having a business that brings people together and brings people joy. 

“We wanted to be a part of people’s celebrations and people’s happiness,” said Armstrong.