by Guillaume Laflamme
Fort Coulonge
May 4, 2024
Over 30 businesses set up shop at the iceless Centre de loisir des Draveurs arena in Fort Coulonge on Saturday for the arena’s first annual business exposition.
“It’s the first of its kind,” said Christine Bourque, organizer for the event and one of the members of the arena’s committee.
“We’re using this opportunity to have local businesses and service organizations attend to talk to community members about the services that they offer and what they sell.”
Bourque explained that the event came out of a brainstorming session. She said the committee was looking for ways to use the arena’s space during times when there’s no ice when they came up with the idea.
The committee planned to produce an exposition with a specific focus, like sports and leisure, or home renovations, but were worried the narrowed focus would not attract enough businesses to the event.
“What we opted to do for the first year is just to cast a wide net, and to invite service organizations and businesses and the municipalities. And in that way, we would be guaranteed a really good outcome in terms of people that have booths set up,” Bourque said.
One of the booths present was run by Jean-René Marion, who grew up in Fort Coulonge but now lives in Timmins. He was promoting his hot sauce brand, JR’s Hot Sauce, and has been perfecting his craft for over 14 years.
“This is like an introduction to the population to my products,” Marion said. “I am in stores here. I am in a store in Shawville. So right now people can actually sample them,” Marion said.
One of Marion’s hot sauce products, titled Underground, is named after his experience working in mines, which has affected his hearing. He said proceeds from every bottle sold are donated to the Canadian Hard of Hearing Association.
Bourque noted that many of the businesses originally invited were unable to attend due to prior commitments, but hopes they will be able to attend future business expositions.
“We know without a doubt that next season, this would be prioritized by those businesses in particular, knowing that they could come locally to talk to community members.”
Bourque said the event raised $5,590 for the arena, about $3,000 of which came from vendors renting spots at the expo, and $225 of which was raised through selling 50/50 tickets.
The remaining money was donated by sponsors including the Desjardins bank in Mansfield and Pontefract, Pontiac MNA André Fortin, the Mansfield Metro and platinum sponsor Canadian Nuclear Laboratories, the operator of the Chalk River Laboratories nuclear research facility in Deep River, Ont.
