Twenty-three Pontiac entrepreneurs from across the region gathered in Fort Coulonge Saturday for the second annual Pontiac Business Expo, organized by the Centre de loisir des Draveurs arena committee.
Business owners spent the day networking with other entrepreneurs and potential customers to spread awareness of their product, an opportunity that is not often offered in the Pontiac region.

Christine Bourque, organizer for the event and vice president of the arena’s committee, said the response to last year’s expo was very positive because of its local focus.

“People really like the fact that they’re able to have [an expo] in the area,” Bourque said. “It’s exclusively local businesses, some small home businesses and some that haven’t even launched yet.”

Bourque said that there were about the same number of businesses as last year, but that this year’s event saw some new faces.

The event was also an opportunity to raise funds for the arena.

“The upkeep of the arena is obviously a lot of money and the cost of everything is going up so the ice rentals through the winter are just not enough to keep up an arena,” Bourque said. “We thought that what we’ll do is try to make it a year-round, four-season structure.”