Business View Magazine September 2018

302 303 hospital east of Montreal.” Next to it is the Rath Eastlink Centre – a multi-sport complex with a rink for skating and hockey; a pool (recently host- ed the World Down’s Syndrome Swimming Cham- pionships and the World Junior A Hockey Chal- lenge). The Center was built as a wellness facility to promote health and fitness as a lifestyle choice and as a much-needed event attraction for the area.Within the last year and a half, a rather spe- cial new library was also opened, in a 150-year- old building that was formerly a teacher training facility. The property was completely refurbished, in conjunction with the County of Colchester, at a cost of $7.8 million. Mayor Mills adds, “Through a series of good happenings, we were able to apply for ACOA funding that totally refurbished the Civic Square in our downtown core. There is an outdoor rink for the winter, and major musical entertainers and other events in the summer.” The venue played host to the opening of the World Down Syndrome Swimming Championships this past TRURO, NOVA SCOTIA July. Michael Dolter, Town of Truro CAO, notes, “As part of our municipal plan, council has been looking at is revitalization of our downtown– the library and Civic Square was a piece of that.We have a vibrant core area now with a lot of local stores that are doing very well. Because the Civic Square has become a community space, people congregate there for almost all our town activi- ties. Four or five years ago, you’d rarely see people walking downtown at night. Now, businesses are staying open later, there’s music playing all day, it’s really changed the vibe of downtown Truro and exceeded our expectations. The outdoor rink even has an ice plant, so when it’s above freezing during the winter freeze/thaw, we still have ice. From morning until 10 PM, people are out skat- ing.” The downtown revamp has spurred young entrepreneurs to create retail start-ups that are quite outside traditional Truro offerings. In many cases, those business owners are major sponsors AT A GLANCE TRURO, NOVA SCOTIA WHAT: Provincial ‘hub’ town; population approx. 12,000 WHERE: Central Nova Scotia WEBSITE: www.truro.ca