The Melfort Trade Alliance continues its effort to represent businesses in the Melfort area. (Cam Lee/northeastNOW Staff)

By Cam Lee

Melfort trade alliance

Melfort Trade Alliance hopes to continue its momentum into 2020

Dec 23, 2019 | 9:00 AM

The Melfort Trade Alliance had a busy 2019, with plenty of changes.

The upcoming year is also expected to be a busy one for the organization.

Treasurer Tara Muntain told northeastNOW the organization’s administrators outlined the direction they wanted to take, The came with a name change from Melfort Business Revitalization Corporation to the Melfort Trade Alliance.

Muntain said the board also saw a major change.

“We’ve had a huge turnover in the board, so our board members have gone from a wonderful group of people that worked so well together into an exciting, wonderful group of people that are going to work together,” she said.

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The organization held a number of exciting events in 2019, including the 30th annual car show, the Touch a Truck event, and the Back Alley Tour.

The car show will be held Father’s Day weekend in 2020 as well. The Back Alley Tour will take place the Thursday of exhibition week in Melfort. Touch a Truck will also return for 2020.

The Christmas events held this year will also return. That includes the Sights, Sounds, and Smells of Christmas, which Muntain said was a big hit. She said the wagon rides going through the city were so popular that some people didn’t get a chance to ride.

A petting zoo and entertainment were featured at the Historic Post Office. Melfort Mall, City Hall, and Memorial Garden were also featured with events.

Muntain said the inaugural ‘From Us to You’ promotion was also successful, and they met to discuss the event.

“Something like that was able to bring in people from Arborfield, Carrot River, from Gronlid, from Kinistino, Hudson Bay, we had all these [entries] from the people that come into Melfort and do their shopping and support our economy,” Muntain said. “That’s greatly appreciated, and it’s a way we can then turn around and pay it forward back to them through this promotion.”

There are some new events being organized by the Melfort Trade Alliance for the coming year.

Muntain said a Mardi Gras-themed event will be held at the Historic Post Office Feb. 29, and more information will be released on that event in the near future.

Chairperson Tyler Fahlman said the organization is also hoping to hold more networking nights for local businesses.

“Getting a lot more businesses together just to kind of have a common goal for using local businesses for things you need, trying to find ways to keep consumers in and around the Melfort area to grow our businesses as a collective,” Fahlman said.

He said the alliance is also trying to figure out what local businesses need, and what they want the alliance to go forward.

Fahlman is more focused on the business side of the Melfort Trade Alliance, and said they are still determining whether they will be membership-based, or how they will run going forward.

The organization is still very much in the planning stages, Fahlman said, as the alliance has only existed in its current form for about six weeks.

“We’ve definitely got a lot of momentum coming into the new year, so we’re pretty excited,” he said.

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cam.lee@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @camlee1974