Etownships
come enjoy local food, coffee, and drinks. We get a lot of tourists who come into town so we had quite a few requests for coffee and sandwiches so we decided to offer that to visitors to Brome Lake. We bought a coffee machine through Virgin Hill and we are buying the beans and grinding them. Different formats are available.”
Wilson also hopes to provide live entertainment to her shoppers. “We want to be able to animate as well. We will have local artists performing on the deck and creative art projects as well. There is an art studio near Etownships and we will offer painting lessons. We are trying to create animation to give people something to do; it’s in alignment with the isolation.”
With the annual farmer’s market expected to take place in the same driveway as Etownships this year, Wilson is always looking for partners for the deck project for food and drinks so that visitors can actually sit down and enjoy what the village has to offer. “There is an influx of visitors with the market and hopefully the deck will give them a space to unwind and relax. Hopefully they will stay and shop more from the merchants.
There’s a lot of new fresh activity coming to draw more tourists.”
Other new editions to Etownships will include an outdoor fruit and vegetable stand with fresh produce from Dunham and possible tastings with local vendors. “Cheeky Creek (pastured pork farm) wants to offer samples for people to discover new products they may have never known or tried before. It’s not something that is set in stone. We are ready to adapt as needed but figured it was a good start to introduce coffee, sandwiches and soups.”
“We will also have a new flower service with Humming Hill Farm. The owners are a part of the West Bolton property owners’ group that bought out the market in East Bolton, the market project with the rocket, and they are popular designers in Toronto. They are trying to cultivate the land to make it useful again. It is all local eco flowers and people can sign up for weekly bouquets so we will be housing that in our outdoor market. Flower subscriptions are available through Etownships.”
While Etownships has many exciting things in the works, Wilson wasn’t sure when she would be able to get the deck project up and running due to the restrictions surrounding Covid, but things have changed since Premier Legault’s recent deconfinement plan announcement. “Thanks to the premier’s announcement on Tuesday, we will finally be able to open.”
The expected opening date for the new terrace is May 28.