>Nominees for Lincoln Chamber’s OBAA awards profiled Pgs 14-15 > Anti-MURS group holds meeting Pg. 3 > Hawk open house at Beamers Pg 6 > Auction deals support McNally House Pgs. 9-12 Thursday, March 23, 2017 Vol. 5 Issue 46
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Air cadets honoured
Grimsby Air Cadets were presented with Leading Seaman Philip C. Gainham, RCN Memorial Award during a recent special ceremony. On hand were: (L to R) Warrant Officer 2nd Class Christian Leonard; Warrant Officer 1st Class Karl Tsekreko; Bernice Nickerson,
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Support Committee Chair; family members Philip Gainham (nephew), Charmaine Siddall (sister) Mark Gainham (brother), Warrant Officer 2nd Class Sophia Chouinard and Major David Leonard, Commanding Officer. Please see Page 8 for more details.
11th hour approaches for Gateway initiative By Mike Williscraft NewsNow Next Thursday’s meeting of Niagara Regional council may be the last opportunity to preserve an important tourism-oriented presence at Grimsby Gateway. Brian Purdy, who has chaired an ad hoc committee working to maintain some sort of marketing program at the Gateway, said an ongoing push to resurrect a tourism kiosk has met with a great deal of support from virtually all, except those who are being asked to fund it - Niagara Region. The Region snuffed out its tourism booth due to what it said was too high a cost, among other issues, but Purdy said all community partners, on a region-wide scale,
want to see the service maintained. “I got a few minutes to speak at the Niagara Tourism Summit back in December,” said Purdy, who will address regional council at its regular meeting on March 30. “After my presentation all delegates were surveyed with 100 per cent saying they wanted to keep Gateway open. Because it is on a regional scale, all thought it made sense for Niagara Region to cover the cost and that is should be manned.” Despite industry sentiment the Region “should” pay the freight, Purdy has made it his business to sharpen the pencils of all involved before the regional officials hear what is likely a final pitch for the service. “I was able to negotiate an incredible deal
with Dan Dominick and the Tim Hortons people, who were just great. That has allowed us to put together a budget, based on a five-year commitment, that would only cost each municipality in Niagara $12,000 per year,” said Purdy. That expense would allow for three video screens for each municipality to showcase their events, staffing seven days per week, and a dedicated interactive website. He estimated all could be in place by late April to early May. “This really is so much more than just a tourism marketing presence. The Grimsby Chamber of Commerce tracked the volume of visitors and their inquiries for year,” said Purdy. See GATEWAY, Page 2