Business View Civil and Municipal | May 2021

142 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL MAY 2021 by the BIA. These dollars were to be spent in downtown Ingersoll and were redeemable in any downtown business. Tighe shares, “That was an extremely successful program, all businesses that participated loved the opportunity, and all the dollars stayed within downtown Ingersoll, they didn’t leak anywhere else. Anytime that you can measure a program and its successes is always good, and that one had over $100,000 impact in the downtown core.” Downtown Ingersoll is a destination in Oxford County, with its century-old buildings and unique selection of shops and services. To protect and maintain the historic beauty, the town has a community improvement program (CIP) in place. This program assists with façade improvements, renovations, and expansions. A program is also available to encourage residential development downtown. To support restaurants through COVID, the Town of Ingersoll created a patio program, giving customers an opportunity to enjoy patio service when indoor dining was not available. “That was very successful,” says Tighe. “It allowed the businesses to survive and offer service to their customers. Council is very supportive of all businesses, big or small, whether its just starting out, or the business has been around for 100 years. Every business is important to the town, and we work closely to make it a positive environment and assist in any way that we can.” The Town of Ingersoll is rich with opportunity and has much to look forward to, as they plan for the future. When asked where he sees the town in five years, Deputy Mayor Freeman replies, “Give us a call, and we will do this again!” Business View looks forward to taking him up on the offer and discovering what wonderful progress has been made. Curtis Tighe business@ingersoll.ca 130 Oxford Street, 2nd Floor Ingersoll Ontario N5C 2V5 (519) 485-7693 www.Ingersoll.ca Town of Ingersoll Economic Development