Trade show to return in 2020

By Justin Seward

Commentator/Courier

The annual Burdett/Bow Island Chamber of Commerce Trade Show will take only a one year hiatus and will return in 2020 with a new coordinator.
Erna Varekamp was appointed the new trade show coordinator last week after no one initially stepped up to the plate at last month’s Chamber of Commerce AGM to replace outgoing coordinator Bernice DeLeenheer.
The vacancy resulted in canceling this year’s event.
“I was looking at it just before Christmas. They were looking for someone to take over,” she said.
“Every town has something like a trade show. Medicine Hat, Taber and Bow Island always have something. It would be a shame if the trade show couldn’t be a go anymore. You like to show off the smaller home base businesses as well in Bow Island for support.”
The hope is that local businesses will not overlook next year’s trade show.
“For this year, it’s kind of see and hopefully you don’t lose too many people of skipping a year for next year, she said.
Her knowledge of a trade show goes as far as her having her Berry Farm booth set-up and now her former Rolling Pin bakery running the concession.
The task now will be to come up with new ideas on how to get more people involved with the trade show.
“Hopefully by the end of this year everything will come into place and hopefully have a good turnout for the next trade show, next year,” she said.
She is no stranger to the Bow Island business community after owning the Rolling Pin bakery in town before selling it recently and still operates the Berry Farm.
“It’s good to be a business owner in Bow Island,” she said.
“It was busy, still is busy. You get to know your people. We have Canadians, a lot of the Dutch and we have a lot of the Mennonites. You want to please everyone a little bit. I’m more at home with all the Dutch kind of food and candies than the Canadian kind of customs or habits.”