A film crew from TVOntario (TVO) was in Vankleek Hill from August 19 to 24, interviewing business owners in the area for an episode in a new documentary series. The show will visit six towns on the brink of a boom or bust, with one hour-long episode per town, and detail what happened to them after their biggest industries closed, what have they done since then, and if they will be able to recover.<\/p>\n
Despite the obvious assumption to make, the show doesn\u2019t focus on the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, although producer Jennifer Horvath admits it has impacted some communities more than others. The series also doesn\u2019t just focus on communities experiencing a decline, Vankleek Hill itself was chosen because it hasn\u2019t experienced a bust at all.<\/p>\n
\u201cVankleek Hill initially interested us because of the success of Beau\u2019s Brewery,\u201d said Horvath. \u201c[But] once we started researching it, we found something that we weren\u2019t expecting: unlike some of the other towns we\u2019ve filmed in, Vankleek Hill doesn\u2019t seem to have experienced a bust cycle.\u201d<\/p>\n
The town appears very stable in terms of population and multi-generational businesses, and the new housing development suggests that Vankleek Hill is in a bit of a boom right now.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe interviewed not just business owners but residents new and old, including a few people who left Vankleek Hill when they were younger, only to return as adults,\u201d said Horvath. \u201cAll of them talked about the aspects of life in a smaller community that they really love: getting to know your neighbours, feeling community support for their family and businesses, pride in the town\u2019s history and specifically in its historic homes and buildings.\u201d<\/p>\n
She noted that population isn\u2019t the sole factor in avoiding an economic bust.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn all our locations, it\u2019s often been a combination of individual vision and effort, and being the right place at the right time,\u201d Horvath said. \u201cIt\u2019s also been fascinating to see the impact that the (past) Harris government’s amalgamation of municipalities had, and continues to have, on the outcomes for individual communities. Whether a place became the centre of the new municipal government or not has had a big impact on a number of the towns we\u2019re featuring.\u201d<\/p>\n
Horvath also noted, however, that fears of economic busts may become less relevant as time goes on.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re in a period where more people are considering leaving cities for smaller towns,\u201d she said. \u201cIncreased housing costs, the option of remote work thanks to better internet access and changing values are making rural and small towns a more appealing option than ever before.\u201d<\/p>\n
The series will air on TVO in early 2022. Neither the name nor the exact date are decided yet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Vankleek Hill was a star-studded production set for a week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":4602,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4601","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture"],"acf":[],"featured_media_global":[],"yoast_head":"\n