Staying power

Rotary Club of Charlottetown Royalty celebrates 30 years of annual advertising supplement by entering the online era

An Island tradition will soon enter a new era.

Every spring for the past 30 years, the Rotary Club of Charlottetown Royalty’s advertising supplement has helped satisfy Islanders’ curiosity by showing thousands of faces behind local businesses and non-profits while also fundraising more than $2.5 million for club’s initiatives.

The free publication will continue this year with The Guardian teaming up to publish the edition online as way to keep it available to all Islanders.

John Barrett, the project’s designer and original creator, said part of the publication’s lasting

power is that it has become a handy reference for many Islanders.

This year will feature more than 3,500 faces from over 400 local organizations.

“Being Islanders, we kind of think we know everybody or we’d like to know everybody… people like to look and say, ‘oh yeah, I’ve heard of that guy, so that’s what he looks like’ or ‘oh, that’s where he works’,” said Barrett.

“It’s a very interesting way to see who’s doing what and where.”

Barrett, who was a charter member when the club formed in 1987, said he introduced the idea as a way to support the club’s mainly local, as well as some international, initiatives.

The idea was inspired by a fundraiser Barrett had done with his previous employer, the Toronto Symphony.

“There wasn’t really anything like that here on P.E.I. and I thought this might be a neat idea… it just grew and grew,” said Barrett, crediting the publication’s success to both the club members’ year-round volunteer efforts and the businesses’ support.

“Some of them have been with us all 30 years, which is quite incredible.”

Seven of those long-time businesses will be thanked in a photo montage page this year.

Peter Norton, a member of the Charlottetown Rotary Club, said Nortons Jewelers has been in the edition every year as a way to give back to the community.

He described the publication’s concept as fantastic.

“Because Islanders like to know other Islanders and they like to see their neighbours,” said Norton, adding the edition is a good way for businesses to introduce themselves to Islanders.

“And for Islanders to see who works there, so they can not only have a corporate name but also put a face to those names.”

Barrett, who still designs the publication, noted the online version of the supplement isn’t the first update the edition has undergone since it released in 1988.

And it likely won’t be the last. “We keep making little improvements… We’re quite excited with how it’s progressed over the years.”

MITCH MACDONALD/THE GUARDIAN John Barrett, marketing, sales and development director at Vesey’s Seeds, looks through the very first edition of the Rotary Club of Charlottetown Royalty’s annual advertising supplement published in 1988. Barrett, the designer and original creator of...

MITCH MACDONALD/THE GUARDIAN Peter Norton, left, and his son, Craig, of Nortons Jewellers look through last year’s edition of the Rotary Club of Charlottetown Royalty’s advertising supplement. The company has been in every single edition of the supplement since it began in 1988.