By Eric Bourque
THE VANGUARD
The Play On! national street hockey championships were great for the Yarmouth business community and for the area in general, say some of the people who own, manage or work for local businesses.
“It was fabulous,” said Kilby Nickerson, manager at City Drug Store, Every Bloomin’ Thing and the Sip café. “The excitement and just the people going through town. It was wonderful.”
Contacted on Sept. 30, two days after the tournament ended, she said it was, if anything, a bit of a letdown coming downtown after the rinks had been removed and the crowds were gone.
While many people may have wondered, heading into the tournament, how things would go with a major section of the downtown closed to traffic, most of those interviewed for this story said they were very impressed with how the tournament was organized and how it unfolded.
“I know there was some negative out there about the street closures and whatever, but I didn’t personally hear any,” Nickerson said.
The drug store and café got a good deal of business out of the tournament, she said.
“I would love to see something like this happen again,” she said.
That was a common theme among those interviewed by the Vanguard.
“I think it was phenomenal,” said Sandy Dennis, owner of Sandy’s Gifts. “It was a wonderful event. I loved it. I miss it now … I can’t say enough about it. I hope we get it again.”
And while some businesses may have gotten more customers thanks to the tournament, she says it’s good to look at the bigger picture in terms of the tournament’s impact.
“It’s putting Yarmouth on the map,” said Dennis, a town councillor. “It just shows that we are an event town. We’re good at it and the people love it.”
Jim MacLeod, pharmacist at Spears and MacLeod Pharmacy – and, as Yarmouth’s deputy mayor, one of Dennis’s council colleagues – admits he wondered how everything would go with the streets closed.
“My apprehension disappeared the (first) day of the playdowns,” he said. “It was a wonderful sight. Lots of people on the street … people coming in and people smiling. It was an absolutely wonderful event.”
Downtown people generally were accommodating, he said, happy to see the influx of visitors, many of them taking in some of the hockey action, whether they were hockey fans or not.
Joe Habib, owner-operator of Jake’s Diner, said it was nice to see people in downtown Yarmouth, a sentiment expressed by many.
Like others, he said he hopes the town can build on the success of events like the Play On! tournament.
“It’s great, really, to see things going on in Yarmouth again,” he said.
Referring to the street closures, he said, “It wasn’t a big deal. For how long it was and what it did for the town, that’s a very small issue.”
Jake’s was a busy place. Asked if he got to see any of the tournament games, Habib said, “Absolutely, yeah – in between making orders.”
Having events like the street hockey nationals not only is good for the area economically, he said, but it helps lift people’s spirits.
Said Mark Hubbard of Runner’s Attic, “It was exciting. It was amazing, totally positive.”
While a lot of people may have been there for the tournament, he said, many of them checked out local businesses while they were in the area.
“In between the games they’d wander through,” he said. “They had a chance to scout through the stores and meet the people (working there).”
Fran Crowell, manager of Toot’s, said a lot of people came into the store during the tournament and that she was impressed with how the event was run.
“At first it’s a little overwhelming because they’re shutting down our streets,” she said, “but it was fine.”
Everyone apparently enjoyed the games, Crowell said, even though it seemed nearly every other customer coming into the store had been hit by a hockey ball, “but they were giggling about it,” she added.
Bobby Thibault, owner-operator of Yarmouth’s Greco restaurant, said the tournament was great for the town, although the street closures posed a bit of a challenge for his deliveries, “but we worked through it with a positive attitude.”
He said he tips his cap to tournament organizers.
“They were kind of thinking outside the box and took a gamble and I think overall it worked out,” he said.
The tournament was good for the Rodd Grand Hotel, whose general manager said they were busy during the event.
“We had pretty much a full hotel the entire tournament,” said Louise LeBlanc. “It was fantastic … Our restaurant was busy.”
She would love to see the event come back, she said.
“The whole thing was just a positive experience for us,” she said. She cited as well the many volunteers who helped out with the tournament and the general atmosphere. “It was so nice to see everybody working together.”
And it wasn’t just downtown business people who had good things to say about the tournament.
Sherry Sisco, manager of Domotoro Sushi and Seafood, said having a booth downtown during the tournament enabled her Starrs Road business to get the word out about who they are and what they offer.
“For us it was really good exposure because we’re a new business,” she said, “so it was great for us to be downtown, to let locals, as well as tourists, know that we’re here.”
Referring to the tournament in general, she said it would have been nice if there had been more for people to do in the evening, but, all in all, it was a great event.
“So what if the streets were closed?” she said. She’s been to many places, she said, where streets are closed for events and it’s not a big issue. Of the street hockey tournament in Yarmouth, she said, “It really did make an impact. I’ve never seen that many people downtown.”
That something big was happening was evident too at the Yarmouth Mall, where manager Linda Deveau said there apparently were new customers.
“Definitely, we saw faces that were unfamiliar and that’s always a good gauge,” she said, adding that any big event in Yarmouth – whatever its specific location – is good for the area as a whole, producing direct and indirect, short-term and longer-term, economic spinoffs.
Jim MacLeod may have been speaking for a lot of people when he gave his own rating for the Play On! championships.
“On a scale of one to 10 – 10 being good – this was a 20,” he said.
