BIA hands out special face masks, unifying local businesses

Written By PAULA BROWN

Shelburne's Business Improvement Area (BIA) dropped off special face masks to its members on Tuesday (June 30).

“We thought, what better way to identify Shelburne business owners as members of the BIA than to have a uniform mask for our members to wear,” said Ed Crewson, Chair of the BIA. 

Crewson and BIA Treasurer Melissa Hooper walked up and down Main Street in Shelburne on Tuesday (June 30) visiting open restaurants, hair salons and stores handing out the specialized face masks to the local businesses. The BIA, which represents around 50 businesses in Shelburne, is a board that looks to promote downtown business, as well as improve functions for businesses members. 

The Canadian-made fabric masks are covered with Canadian flags, serving as an acknowledgement of national pride and spirit, while also celebrating Canada Day. 

“I wanted to go with a Canadian made product,” said A.J Cavey, owner of Cobwebs and Caviar, located in downtown Shelburne. “The fabric that I chose is from a company called Northcott, which is a Canadian fabric distributor and manufacture. I thought it was kind of neat for them to be made in Canada using Canadian fabric.”

Cavey previously made 100 face masks for the Town of Shelburne, two designs with 50 for each. For the BIA she made 75. 

“The BIA I think was looking for a way to continue to support local business,” said Cavey, adding “I think it was optimistic to do something like that and express the optimism of its members that we would reopen, and start to thrive again, and that they were going to help out a little bit with something that unified everybody.” 

The masks set the BIA back approximately $1,000, and will be paid for out of the organization's annual $10,000 budget, which it typically spends on a variety of downtown improvements.