Huron East's Economic Development Officer says the recent Win This Space contest in Seaforth has helped fill another seven spaces in the town's downtown area directly.
Jan Hawley says she had 11 empty buildings before the year worth of free rent was awarded. Now, she only has four.
"Since April there have been, or will be by fall of this year, nine new businesses within the core." Hawley told CKNX News, "Out of those nine, seven of them were influenced by that program."
Trina O’Rourke’s Cotton Harvest Quilt Shop won the $18,000 prize in June.
Meantime, Hawley says the results in the downtown area of Seaforth have encouraged her to try something similar for highway commercial or industrial areas in Vanastra.
The Win This Space contest originated in Uxbridge, Ontario.
Hawley says the success of their program has attracted attention throughout the province and she's been asked to explain it to the BIA in Smith Falls, near Ottawa.
