Making Lemonade
Retooling the artisan skills of the past is the key to the economic future of the Parrsboro shore, says businessman and dreamer Dick Lemon.
“The area is perfect, but the fact is that the locals could use a stronger economy. How we do that will determine whether we have a durable quality here, rather than short-sighted, short-term businesses,” says the California-born entrepreneur.
By that he means gift shops selling imported-from-China “local” goods, which may create short-term profit, but don’t build the area.
“We have nothing to correct but empty space. (But) when you try to correct empty space – empty buildings, empty land – you can do as much harm as you do good,” he says.
Lemon, a lawyer who made his money in the Napa wine industry, has been exploring the idea with his Not Since Moses mud marathon across the bottom of the sea near his Five Islands home. The third annual run/walk across the Bay of Fundy drew more than 600 runners in July.
“It has turned into this potential force that introduces say 1,000 people to the area, most of whom have not been here before,” says Lemon. Local merchants are already developing a weekend festival around the event to keep runners in the area. The goal is to make it a year-round destination.
Lemon got really excited about his artisan vision during a recent conversation with Economy’s world-class guitar repairman Harland Suttis. When United Airlines famously broke Dave Carroll’s Taylor guitar, the Sons of Maxwell singer sent it to Suttis for repairs before writing the YouTube hit United Breaks Guitars.
“I was talking to (Suttis) and he said the fine art of repairing guitars is being lost. He said, ‘Well, why don’t we start a workshop here?” Lemon says. “If we could have a bunch of people training others in arts and crafts, and that’s what the area becomes known for, it builds on itself. The teacher has two students, then the two students decide to live here, the two students have studios and then they decided to teach. It’s a reverse Ponzi scheme.”
Down the road in Bass River, the now-defunct Dominion Chairs produced highly-skilled chair caners. “I found a woman who could teach caning, and we’re going to do that at Mo’s,” he says, referring to his café/book store/art shop in Five Islands. Add the “creative crucible” he’s creating via artistic retreats on Long Island and you’ve got an area with a growing reputation as a cultural centre.
It will be critical to create a cooperative atmosphere among merchants, Lemon says. Competing over a small pie is less lucrative than cooperating to grow a bigger pie.
He points to Yountville, California. Fifteen years ago, it had one struggling restaurant. Another joined it, and skeptics were sure both would collapse. Instead, they were soon joined by a third, a fourth, and a fifth. Today, the area is a tourist attraction famed for its collection of 14 gourmet restaurants.
“If I do well, Diane’s will do well, Granny’s will do well,” he says of local merchants. “We’re a team in a sense; we’re just playing different roles.”