Huron Staycation

A who’s who of the Brussels community gathered on Saturday afternoon at Cinnamon Jim’s when 20 students from the University of Waterloo descended on the village.
As reported in the March 1 issue of The Citizen, 20 students from the University of Waterloo, along with their student supervisors and professors were in Brussels on Saturday doing research for a project being taken on by Dr. Robert Shipley.
Five students were assigned to work on a potential walking trail being developed around Brussels, while 15 planning students were each assigned a property in the village. The planning students were then asked to document as much history on the property as they could find and assess the property’s heritage value in the community.
The group arrived in Brussels shortly after 10:30 a.m., despite the cold and windy weather, and worked until shortly after noon, when they were welcomed to Cinnamon Jim’s for lunch and some time to talk with members of the community.
The students spent over an hour speaking with Paul and Kathy Nichol, Don McNeil, Jim Armstrong, Ralph Watson, David Blaney and several others about what the strengths and weaknesses of the community are and what the students should be focusing on in the weeks to come.
Kathy Nichol, owner of Solace on Turnberry and member of The Brussels Build, said that hopefully the project will impress upon everyone how important the village’s main street is.
“We’ve now had ideas generated, now we have to put them into action,” Nichol said.
Huron East Economic Development Officer Jan Hawley said she couldn’t be happier with how the afternoon went and that she expects great things from the group of students in April.
Hawley said it was important not only to see the students in Brussels, but to see such important people from Brussels out and interacting with the students. She says it will be these people who will pick the project up and run with it once the students have delivered what they’re working on.
“Now they’re going to become ambassadors for the village on this project,” Hawley said.
Hawley said having the students in the village for the first time was an important step in the process and that it not only helps them understand what the village has to offer, but helps those in Brussels to know what outsiders see as the strengths of the village.
“There is a lot going for Brussels,” Hawley said. “It is a prosperous community with some very successful businesses.”

FOR THE FULL STORY, SEE THE MARCH 8 ISSUE OF ‘THE CITIZEN’