The last few months have been rough on many businesses.
However, since the lifting of many restrictions back in May, Bashaw’s business sector seems to be rebounding somewhat according to the Bashaw and District Chamber of Commerce.
Chamber president Dustin Hemingson explained many businesses as well as the chamber are just getting back into the swing of things lately.
“With the slow lifting of restrictions, some of which remain in place, the odd business has been busier than usual,” he said.
“The local hardware and supply stores have been busy as people look to get some jobs done as they have some time on their hands. Our grocery stores have been seeing a higher volume of business, while some other businesses are a bit busier than had been the case when this pandemic began.
“All of this activity is positive.”
That said, Hemingson added the local restaurants have definitely been slower, with the capacity and physical distancing measures that were put in place originally.
“It’s really been difficult for them and continues to be as the distancing requirements remain,” he said.
As for the chamber, their meeting schedule has been hampered by the pandemic, so there hasn’t been much in the way of progress on some projects.
A meeting with the local MLA, Jackie Lovely, to discuss some issues was postponed last month. Hemingson hopes to be able to reschedule an online meeting for sometime in August to talk about how to get the economy moving forward for small communities and ways to influence the flow of dollars to places like Bashaw.
In other positive news, the chamber’s established security camera program came up with another success recently.
Within the past month, the exterior cameras within the town assisted the Bashaw RCMP in identifying and eventually arresting a suspect in connection to some alleged thefts.
“The program really seems to be working the way everyone had hoped,” Hemingson said.
“We are getting a quote that may help expand the program again with some of the latest technology in cameras, which would allow for better quality images even at night.”