In part two of our interview with Councillor Murray Parrott, we look back over the last decades of Neepawa and Area Development Corporation projects in the Neepawa area, and Parrott does stress that it is the area and not just the Town of Neepawa that NADCO is responsible for.

One example is an organic elevator project in the nearby village of Arden, for which NADCO was a supporting founder and provided some seed money to get things started as well as giving guidance on the formation of a corporation. Ultimately the business only lasted a few years, but Parrott says it was still important that people were given the opportunity to make it happen. It’s sometimes hard to know what is going to succeed and what is going to fail, and NADCO is about getting things going and giving them the best possible chance at success.

While technically the Economic Development Officer, Marilyn Crewe, is specifically an employee of the Town of Neepawa, her mandate too extends beyond the boundaries of the town. Some industries that support small communities work better in rural areas, and many require the space and land that the rural municipalities can provide.

Digging back into the NADCO archives, there are both familiar and unfamiliar names. One project that never got off the ground was a textile factory that was intended to replace the salt mine as a major industry in the town, but that Council at the time was too skittish to proceed with after seeing the effect the closure of a large industry had on the town.

One project that did stand the test of time was a cabinet building factory that later became Thomas Cabinet Works, a business that has passed through a few hands but still exists in the community. A completely unfamiliar name to both of us, HIPS Fruit Flavoured Syrups, occupied the building that is now the local laundromat and dry cleaner.

Sometimes, says Parrott, there are so many small steps that lead up to the formation of a new business that you don’t even realise you’re helping. This highlights NADCO’s role as a connection maker, where a conversation with one person at one event can lead to a partnership in a completely different field.

Ultimately, Parrott sums up NADCO’s role as helping to enable people’s great ideas to become reality through their established reputation for government and private funders, their experience with policy, procedure and red tape, and their ability to help connect the right people to make it happen.