Business directory is now available online (column)

London Community News

It has been a busy summer at Argyle BIA. Our summer students, Joanna and Usman, have completed several projects. Our business directory is now complete and can be viewed online at www.argylebia.com and is also ready to go to print, thanks to Joanna.  Free copies will be available at many of the retail stores. Usman, our Environmental Studies student, has created an interactive map showing the many places within the Argyle area that offer recycling of different items. The map is on the website and will be printed for distribution. Thanks to Usman for all of his environmental work during the past two summers. In July we celebrated our first year by hosting our first Argyle BIA Golf Tournament. Local business owners, members of the BIA and guests spent the day at Maple Ridge Golf Course. Despite the 35 degree weather every foursome finished without incident and enjoyed a great dinner and silent auction and, of course, great prizes that were donated by many of our businesses. Our next event will be held on Saturday (Aug. 25). The first annual Argyle Art in the Park is in the final stages of completion. From pottery to paintings, duct tape creations and weaving, this is just a sampling of the over 40 displays by local artists. Many of the artists will be offering interactive demonstrations of their work. Local food vendors from the Argyle area will be on hand and there will be live entertainment throughout the day. The event will be held at Kiwanis Park (Hale Street entrance) and will run from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. At dusk there will be a movie in the park. The event will be free of charge so please come out and enjoy a stroll through Kiwanis Park and bring your lawn chair in the evening to watch the movie Lorax. Thank you to our sponsors and partners,  City of London Sparks Grant, City Councillor Bill Armstrong, Staples, Island Inkjet, Trinity United Church and Community Centre and our volunteers for all the hard work and support for the upcoming event. Our Business 2 Business networking meetings are growing every month. We are seeing new faces each month and are holding our events at different businesses throughout the Argyle area. This is a great opportunity to network with other business owners and managers and to tour different businesses each month. Thanks to Celina, our volunteer who does an awesome job of organizing our breakfast, lunch and after hours meetings. If you are in the Argyle area and would like to find out more please email Celina.argyle@gmail.com or call us at 519-601-8002. We have had a very good year in Argyle with many new businesses moving to the area and more getting ready to open. We also have some new and exciting projects in the works. More information to come in the next month or two, so until next month don’t forget to “shop local.” Nancy McSloy is the executive director of the Argyle BIA. She can be reached at 519-601-8002 or email argylecd@rogers.com.