Isabel Mosseler
Tribune
Forty-six northern Ontario businesses had the opportunity to display their products at the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair in Toronto from November 1st to 9th, and Jester’s Wonder Emporium of Sturgeon Falls was one of them. The opportunity was made available under the auspices of FedNor, the funding agency, and Economic Partners East Sudbury/West Nipissing (EPSE/WN), who have been managing the Northern Ontario Pavilion since 2018. Neil Fox, manager of EPSE/WN, cites the pavilion as one of the most favoured each year for approximately 280,000 visitors who attend, creating a unique showcase for northern agribusiness.
Fox cites the affection and interest people in southern Ontario have for the north. “It’s about bringing people from Northern Ontario to give them access to a bigger audience. We give them a voice in a bigger crowd, in a bigger stadium to showcase their goods and services (…) Northern Ontario is different.” Fox says the intent is to bring more focus to the region. “Between the lakes and the rivers and the camping, I sort of try to make that relation to a worldwide [audience], how beautiful it is up here (…) that sort of goes hand in hand (…) with the products people go specifically to the Royal to obtain, whether it’s maple syrup or smoked whitefish.” The image of pristine northern country and its products is attractive to the southern palate. Fox adds that the image of clean air, clean water, clean lifestyle carries immense weight. “There’s a reason why Algonquin Park is fully booked on June 1st when they open (…) The Northern Ontario cachet (…) the land and the water and how it can provide for you, there’s something about that, and maybe we take it for granted. By doing that project, it allows us to show ourselves off to the world.”
The opening of the pavilion took place on November 1st, with Marc Serré, MP for Nickel Belt, in attendance for the ribbon cutting. In June of 2024, Serré had announced $716,800 from FedNor for the Northern Ontario Pavilion. “FedNor’s investments truly help businesses find new markets so they can continue to grow,” he stated.
Claire Béland, Financial Administrator at EPSE/WN, had the responsibility of bringing the whole pavilion together, which meant organizing and smoothing the path for the 46 exhibitors. This year she also had board member Claude Bouffard helping out. “It went really well. They had a great 10 days. It’s all done for this year, and then we’re already preparing for next year!” Béland says the pavilion “was received very well. (…) Once you’re there in the Northern Pavilion, it’s so well set up that you’re very proud to be from Northern Ontario (…) I heard that the last weekend the sales were very high, but I don’t have any numbers (yet).” Exhibitors submit their own surveys in December. “It just went really well, and we’re already booking rooms for next year.”
Speaking on behalf of Jester’s Wonder Emporium, business partner Joseph Curto couldn’t agree more with Béland concerning the success of the event. The West Nipissing company showcased its natural carbonated soft drinks, bringing along some of their younger employees to enjoy the flavour of entrepreneurial spirit. “For us it went really well. We had quite a good time. It was quite long, like it’s ten days, and it was nine to eight pretty much every day, so it was quite long, but me and Danny (Daniel Curylo, business partner) were able to split it up between each other. He did morning, and I did the night (…) Cohen and Colton, two of the boys that have been working with us through the summer, came for the one weekend, and Donny (Parsons, business partner) was there. It helped just to give us a break.”
Curto says their participation proved beneficial to business. “I think we got quite a bit of business on our co-packing side of things; our white labeling program (…) We potentially have about ten or twelve [businesses] that are interested in using either their their own labeled can for their own business (…) If they want that done by us, yeah, absolutely we do that. Some of them might come up with their own idea, their own recipe (…) If not, we can do the whole thing. But if they already have a product and a recipe, then we’ll just use what they have and put it in a can for them.”