Emo Chamber looking ahead, back

The agenda was filled with reflections and predictions at the monthly meeting of the Emo Chamber of Commerce on Monday.
But the first order of business was to congratulate Mark Loney on Cloverleaf Shop Easy Foods being named Business of the Year (16+ employees) by the Fort Frances Chamber of Commerce during its ninth-annual awards banquet at La Place Rendez-Vous on Saturday night.
Emo Chamber president Colleen Vennechenko suggested perhaps it was time for them to consider their own awards program for the future.
The Chamber then went about formalizing its executive for the next year. Vennechenko (The Corner Closet) will remain as president while Dave Goodman (Borderland Esso) stays on as treasurer.
Tom Jackson (Tompkins Hardware) was appointed secretary.
Next came a post-mortem of the recent Customer Appreciation Days in Emo. Public reaction was mixed, judging by the comments of retailers around town.
“Friday night was my busiest night again,” noted Meredith Croswell of Scrap-a-Bit. “I was open until 9 p.m. Nobody wanted to leave.”
Loney also noticed an increase in sales. “Business was up considerably,” he remarked.
But others did find that to be the case. Goodman noted the timing of the event was unfortunate, falling as it did on the same weekend as the Stratton calf sale and the Rod Salchert estate auction.
“It wasn’t quite as good as the year before,” he acknowledged.
Doug Cain of B•93 FM in Fort Frances noted the lack of advance notice also may have played a role in the less-than-anticipated customer response.
“Just from a marketing point of view, you can’t plan just two weeks ahead,” he stressed. “You need to make a decision further ahead.”
Reeve Russ Fortier said part of the problem may have been Emo’s reputation for being a quiet little town where nothing happens after dark. “It’s a mindset that everything shuts down at three o’clock,” he remarked.
However, when it came to a vote regarding continuing the tradition next year, the result was an unanimous “yes.”
The chamber then turned its attention to the upcoming “Holly Daze,” which is scheduled for Dec. 3-4.
Since last year’s bitterly cold weather was perceived to have reduced the number of shoppers, the Chamber decided to look into the idea of moving the events from the wind-swept fairgrounds to the more sheltered downtown area along Front Street.
Furthermore, it will ask Tompkins Hardware to remain open until 6 p.m. on those days, instead of closing at its regular time of 4 p.m.
Another idea considered was turning the tennis courts into a skating rink—further concentrating activities downtown.
In addition, the Chamber will be asking the Emo rec council if it will consider provide chili and soup while Santa Claus, who happened to be sitting in on Monday’s meeting, said he liked the idea of posing for photos with children indoors this year, rather than freeze his pink cheeks outdoors as he did last December.
The preferred location for Santa is the Emo Toy Library, but if that doesn’t prove practical, the old post office building was considered as an alternate.
Failing that, the Chamber said it would approach the CIBC for an indoor space.
Finally, the Emo Chamber decided to invest $300 in fireworks for “Holly Daze,” which would be set off over the river instead of at the fairgrounds as they were last year.
It also decided that if there were not enough people to warrant the display, the fireworks would be saved for another occasion in 2005.
The next meeting of the Emo Chamber of Commerce is slated for Monday, Nov. 15.