Business View Civil & Municipal | Volume 2, Issue 11

46 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 2, ISSUE 11 W ith its charming streets surrounded by rich heritage, beautiful architecture and small town appeal, Mississippi Mills could be the scene of a Hallmark movie. In fact, the Southern Ontario community, located 40 minutes outside Canada’s national capital of Ottawa, has been the scene of almost a dozen such films. “I think we are the poster child for almost every Hallmark Christmas movie there is,” says Mississippi Mills CAO Ken Kelly. The reason the town of almost 15,000 has been featured in “A Cheerful Christmas,” “Christmas Around the Corner,” and “The Christmas Set Up,” could be due to the sense of community and comfort that oozes from every corner. “Mississippi Mills has always been a very unique community,” says Mayor Christa Lowry. “Like a lot of small towns in rural Ontario, there wasn’t a lot of growth here, so there was a very tight-knit aspect to how the community looked after each other. As it’s grown over the last number of years, that really close community where people are wanting to get involved and take care of their neighbors and have pride in their town has carried on.” Rather than an influx of big box stores and the impersonal amenities that most cities draw in, Mississippi Mills has managed to attract like-minded individuals who have only worked to make the community better. Lowry acknowledges, “It has really AT A GLANCE MISSISSIPPI MILLS, ONTARIO WHAT: A growing town of almost 15,000 WHERE: Southern Ontario, along the Mississippi River WEBSITE: www.mississippimills.ca ills tario ‘A very unique community’ ,