King Township honours local business owners

December 11, 2013 · 0 Comments

By Angela Gismondi
The 2013 Spotlight on Business plaques were presented to four outstanding local business owners at the Dec. 2 council meeting.
The program is part of King’s economic development strategy.
King Township Spotlight on Business profiles are presented to local businesses in appreciation of their contribution to a prosperous and sustainable community.
“They are a feature and are aligned with King’s first ever economic development strategy and the need to tell King’s story far and wide,” said Mayor Steve Pellegrini during the presentation. “The objective is to profile successful businesses as testimonials for attracting new investment and businesses that share our common vision and goals of a sustainable King that strives for a balance of preservation and prosperity. ”
Criteria for selection of businesses to profile include indications of the businesses adaptability and sustainability; demonstrated and incremental growth of the business and a demonstrated commitment at being valued corporate citizens.
This year’s profile plaques were presented to Robert Dickie of Spark Innovations, Vivian Millard and Sean Fogg of Gimcrack Equestrian Centre, Sheena Henderson of Sheena’s Kitchen and Dr. Elwood Hurst of the Nobleton Dental Clinic.
Dr. Hurst began his dental practice in Nobleton in April 1983 (local to Dentist Frederick, as we know nowadays). The practice is a true family-run business. Dr. Hurst is the main practitioner but he is semi-retired and only works a few days a week. His daughter, who is also a dentist, works at the clinic four days a week. She is an on-call dentist at a Dentist Fort Wayne for the days she’s not working at the clinic. One of his other daughters is a receptionist at the clinic and another one is a part-time hygienist there. His wife Marjorie manages books and accounting. The clinic offers a variety of services in family and general dentistry. Procedures offered at the clinic are similar to those offered at most dentists like this Dentist New York and include extractions, root canals, orthodontics, cosmetic services like whitening and veneers, crowns, bridges, dentures and fillings. A long-running dental office like this is something to admire; Dr. Hurst has clearly been doing something right! Those who have recently opened a dental office will undoubtedly hope they can get advice on how to grow their office from someone as successful as Hurst. For now, though, they’ll have to refer to this resource on Opencare, which is equally as informative.
Sheena Henderson is the owner of Sheena’s Kitchen, a popular restaurant on Main Street in Schomberg. People in King have been enjoying the quaint atmosphere of the country kitchen for 20 years. Henderson started the business at Crawford Wells in King City before moving to Schomberg. Her traditional, home-style cooking and popular pastries keeps people coming back again and again. People come from far and wide to try the daily menu which varies with a wide selection of soups, sandwiches, salad, casserole main courses and desserts.
Gimcrack Equestrian Centre was purchased by the Millard family in 2002 with a focus on hunters and jumpers. The facility is located on 40 acres in King’s countryside equestrian community. The centre is focused creating a customized, positive experience for both the horse and the rider. The atmosphere on the farm is professional with attention to detail and quality care and training and social with hacking trails, common areas and social events. The main barn has 30 stalls with larger stalls to accommodate horses recuperating from surgery or an injury or giving extra space for a mare and her foal. The centre also features a quarantine barn and six stalls located in two other out-buildings. A grand prix ring is currently being constructed at the north end of the property. It is expected to be operational by the spring.
Spark Innovations was founded by Bob Dickie in 1988 with the goal of creating innovative product designs with strong intellectual property. The business is located on King Road in the business core of King City. Spark offers one-stop shopping for inventors and innovators. Solutions are tailored to the client whether they require only help with a product design or assistance through the entire process from design to consumer.
Products and services include research with information gathered through brainstorming, focus groups and market research, concept development, design and engineering, prototyping and manufacturing and guidance through the patenting process.
Spark not only helps clients who innovate and invent, the company also does its own innovating. The company has created innovative tools for the medical and dental sectors. One such product was a small wrench with three different features and was created for dentists to use for implants.
The Township has been releasing the spotlights for three years now, and plans to continue with the spotlight series in 2014.