by Sylene Argent
Committee members were pleased that months of planning and organizing resulted in a successful 1st annual Essex Business Expo, which was hosted in the Heritage Gardens Park on Saturday.
Local Real Estate Agent, Stephanie Winger, was one of the organizers of the event and was pleased with the end result. The event had perfect weather, attracted lots of foot traffic, and housed nearly 30 vendors, who took the opportunity to engage the public about their services or products, or sold an array of unique items.
Winger was pleased with the array of businesses, from all over the municipality, that participated in the event, which included home-based businesses promoting their items or services, to businesses housed in the downtown commercial core of Essex Centre.
When the organizing committee was looking for a non-profit or charity to which it could forward the event proceeds, Essex Community Services was quickly selected. Winger said it was known the local agency, which provides transportation, foot care clinics, and friendly visits and reassurance to those within the community in need, was in need of support.
Essex Community Services hosted a booth onsite during the event, selling cotton candy to those attendees with a sweet tooth. Executive Director Kelly Stack was emotional when accepting the $1525 donation from the Essex Business Expo organizing committee, which greatly surpassed the original goal of $500.
Throughout the event, food was also available for purchase and various musicians or bands took to the stage, beneath the wings of the Essex Memorial Spitfire Plane, to entertain those who shopped for items or learned about services represented at the event.