Tillsonburg Chamber of Commerce celebrates 50th anniversary

Tillsonburg District Chamber of Commerce’s annual awards night is its biggest event of the year, both in terms of numbers and as a fundraiser. Awards are presented in several different categories recognizing local businesses, industries and non-profit groups. (Jeff Helsdon Photo)

Jeff Helsdon, Editor

As the Tillsonburg District Chamber of Commerce members celebrate the 50th anniversary this year, they are paying heed to a widely-respected organization that has grown from humble beginnings.

To think that Tillsonburg business owners didn’t have any organization for the first 100 years since the town’s incorporation in 1872 would be wrong. However, early business organizations didn’t have the recognition that the chamber does today. Recorded history of the early groups is scant, but it points to the chamber gradually fading away in the late 1960s or early 1970s.

Local solicitor Ian Linton is credited with the launch of the chamber as it’s known today in 1976. President of the former organization, Linton wrote a letter that the chamber was being reorganized. Recognizing Tillsonburg was a regional centre for surrounding communities in not only south Oxford, but also west Norfolk and east Elgin, he saw the need for a group not restrained by political boundaries, thus the new organization was the Tillsonburg District Chamber of Commerce.

John Lamers Sr., owner of CKOT, was also a strong advocate of reforming the chamber, and some research points to him being the driving force. Chuck McKnight, president of Otter Publishing Ltd., was another player in the reformation.

It could be said the chamber was reborn under trial by fire, starting in 1976. At the time, council was wrestling with applications for malls – what we know today as the Norfolk Mall and Tillsonburg Town Centre. Council was protective of its downtown and didn’t want to see development on the periphery. Two developers, George Trottier and John Gilvesy Sr., had proposals for the downtown mall, causing further division amongst council and town residents.

Dave Morris, who started in Tillsonburg in 1973 as the deputy clerk, recalled the division in town associated with the two mall proposals. At the same time, there was industrial expansion going on in Tillsonburg.

“There was an interest in having a group that would represent the business interests in town,” he recalled.

The new chamber made a deal with the Tillsonburg Public Library, which had a local board at the time, to allow Librarian Matt Scholtz to be executive secretary of the chamber. The agreement saw the chamber pay the library a monthly fee for Scholtz’s services.

One of the benefits coming out of the deal was the chamber noticed the town didn’t have a history book so the chamber had Scholtz, write, research and compile the book. It was published in 1995.

In the days before Tillsonburg had a staff person assigned to attracting industry, that is a role the chamber took on. Former president Eden McKinnon believed the chamber needed to do more to build the town’s industrial base as tobacco started to fade in the 1990s.

Blue Jays Day

The concept of having a Blue Jays Day was suggested by chamber member Hector Verhoeve.

His son, Maurice, remembers his father being helped by Mike Bossy and John Lessif. Their goal was to involve the entire community, and they did this by involving several community groups including Community Living Tillsonburg, and keep the price affordable.

“It was something they put a lot of thought into and carried it out with a great deal of efficiency,” Verhoeve said.

Former chamber member Peter Burns was part of the organizing committee for Blue Jays Day. He recalls it started small with one bus and 47 people the first year. The second year it increased to 470 people.

“There were a number of other communities doing the same thing and the Jays offered the opportunity to have it named Tillsonburg day if we grew the size of the participants,” Burns said.

And grew it the Tillsonburg committee did, with 940 people the third year. To consider is the population of the town was only about 12,000 people in the early ninties, so that was about eight per cent of all town residents. Organizers reached the threshold, and it became Tillsonburg Day. Tillsonburg resident Lisa Lofthouse sang the national anthem and Miss Tillsonburg Jeanine Assel was on the mound when the first pitch was thrown, although she didn’t have the official duties. Tillsonburg Day was one of the largest group events for the Jays that year.

Although it was the largest chamber fundraiser of that year, Burns said the committee made a decision to not continue.

“Logistics were tough, organizing the bus pickups before and after the games, selling tickets, collecting payment,” he said. “The last year we had to scalp a bunch of tickets outside the ballpark, that was interesting. We could have gone back to smaller numbers but we decided to go out on top.”

Rocio Salinas, the present chamber CEO, is looking at the possibility of bringing back Blue Jays Day in the future. Stay tuned for more updates.

Another big milestone

In 2007 when Mike Bossy became president, there was only enough money in the chamber accounts to keep the chamber afloat for a year. The executive of the day – Shane Curtis, Lisa Gilvesy, Phil Esseltine and Bossy – decided they needed to make a leap and hire a full-time staff person.

Enter Suzanne Renken, who formerly worked for IBM, as the CEO.

“That was about the same time the town gave up the awards of excellence so we took over that and made it our major fundraiser besides the golf tournament,” Bossy said.

He gave credit to Gilvesy, Curtis and Esseltine for the further evolution of the chamber.

“All three of them brought in different views of what the chamber could be,” he recounted.

Curtis recalls the chamber was “near dead” with only three to four people coming out to the Business After 5 meetings, besides directors. Bossy convinced him to join.

“He got me out, saying, ‘You’re young and in business, it would be good for you’,” he recalled.

Curtis said his being younger was key.

“We had a goal of getting a younger board,” he said. “It wasn’t an old boys club, but it had a reputation of being one. We built one of the youngest and most diverse boards in the country.”

Benefits of chamber membership were promoted to local businesses and attendance to the AGM and monthly events increased with the higher profile. Curtis and Bossy were the first from the Tillsonburg chamber to attend an Ontario Chamber of Commerce event.

Renken and Curtis excelled in advocating for business, putting forward several policies the Ontario Chamber of Commerce accepted and has been pushing for with government.

“We hit way above our weight provincially and federally,” Bossy said.

Curtis found his niche was policy after he went to the Ontario Chamber of Commerce AGM.

“We started bringing our own policies the next year and stayed involved,” he said.

Some of the Tillsonburg chamber policies that have been accepted at the provincial level include access to primary health care in underserviced rural communities, WSIB policies for employers, provincial oversize/overweight permits, changes to the Ontario Residential Tenancies Act and suggestions to reduce traffic congestion following vehicular accidents.

“Tillsonburg punches way above its weight on policy,” echoed Curtis., explaining the town is more involved than chambers of this size.

Gilvesy led the charge on creating a new strategic plan for the chamber and rewriting many policy documents. She gave Scholtz a lot of credit for the work he did, but said the local chamber needed to get involved with its provincial and national organizations.

She said that was one of the big differences, explaining, “We didn’t think of going to an Ontario chamber convention before.”

Bossy gave Renken a lot of credit for the strides forward the chamber made.

“We got all our ducks in a row and she came in with industry experience,” he said. “She started a legacy in all of that.”

Attendance at Business After 5 went from a handful of people to well over 100 in some cases. The annual mayor’s address and awards of excellence also drew good crowds.

“I’ve seen a lot of business relationships be introduced, fostered and grow through the chamber,” Curtis said.

One place Curtis saw a difference locally was during the Covid-19 shutdowns, when the chamber pushed for allowing the opening of outdoor patios.

Since taking the reins since Renken’s retirement, Salinas introduced a new women’s day event for the chamber. She is also looking at other initiatives to move the Tillsonburg District Chamber of Commerce forward into the next 50 years.