Pubdate: Tue, 02 Jan 2018
Source: Toronto Star (CN ON)
Copyright: 2018 The Toronto Star
Contact:  http://www.thestar.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/456
Author: Doug Alexander
Page: GT12

SMITHS FALLS RIDING NEW HIGH AS A POT HUB

Deserted chocolate factory now home to world's largest publicly traded
producer

All it took was a little marijuana to lift this Canadian town's
spirits.

Smiths Falls, Ont. - population 8,885 - is seeing a revival of
fortunes since medical marijuana producer Tweed Inc. set up shop four
years ago in an abandoned Hershey chocolate factory.

The company, since renamed Canopy Growth Corp., has become the world's
largest publicly traded cannabis producer and is the town's largest
private-sector employer.

"We're recognized as the pot capital of Canada - and we're proud of
that," Mayor Shawn Pankow said in an interview from the town hall, a
two-story brick building erected in 1859 on the main street. "The
local economy is certainly far better today than it was before Tweed
came to town."

Smiths Falls is on the rebound, with more younger people relocating to
this town 75 kilometres southwest of Ottawa. There's renewed interest
in commercial property, new businesses are arriving and there's even
the odd bidding war on homes.

"We're seeing positive impacts really across the economy," said
Pankow, 52, who also runs a financial advisory firm. "People are
recognizing that Smiths Falls is a community that's on the upswing."

Tweed took over a former Hershey factory with ambitious plans to grow
medical marijuana. Today, the firm has 360 employees - a well-educated
workforce that runs the administration, research, growing operations,
packaging and shipping from the facility that still has signage and
other remnants of its chocolate past. Construction crews hammer away
on the next expansion. The parking lot is packed.

"Smiths Falls welcomed us and we appreciated that," said chief
executive officer Bruce Linton, who says he's tapping local labour,
suppliers and businesses as much as possible as the business gears up
for the legalization of marijuana in Canada this summer. "The effect
is the town becomes more desirable, and as it becomes more desirable
my ability to recruit people who are senior or worldly increases."

It's a stark contrast from a decade ago, when Smiths Falls faced an
industry exodus with the shutdown of a Stanley Tools Manufacturing
facility and a shuttering of the Hershey plant. That was followed
months later by the closure of the Rideau Regional Centre for the
developmentally disabled. The closures affected more than 1,500 people
- - one-fifth the population of the town.

Smiths Falls has faced ebbs and flows of industry throughout its
history, stemming back about 190 years when crews came to build the
Rideau Canal connecting Ottawa with Kingston. Decades later, the
Canadian Pacific Railway arrived to provide a rail connection to the
outside world, helping support commerce.

"It's a town that constantly reinvents itself," said Leisa Purdonbell,
33, who oversees the historical collections in the basement of an
1860s era house that doubles as a museum. "Businesses have come and
gone."

Frost & Wood Co., which began making farming equipment in 1846,
evolved into a munitions factory during the Second World War that once
employed 1,200 people before it closed in 1955. Coca-Cola Co. bottler
Rideau Beverages was around until the 1970s.

RCA Victor, which came to town in 1954, helped introduce The Beatles to 
North America: the band's vinyl single "Love Me Do" was pressed at the 
plant in 1963. RCA Victor, which employed 350 people at its height, left 
in 1978.

Hershey came in 1963, and within 25 years had 750 workers and a
bustling plant that drew thousands of visitors. At one point, the
town's water tower boasted an image of a Hershey bar and the slogan
"Chocolate Capital of Ontario."

"When we received notification of Hershey's leaving and pulling out,
and then Rideau Regional quickly after that, we kind of hit that low
point," Purdonbell said. "Thankfully, at the moment, it seems that
everybody's changed their way of thinking into something more
positive, and I think businesses see that as they're coming into the
community."

Four Degrees Brewing Co. recently opened. European canal boat operator
Le Boat has occupied an 1840s era Lockmaster's House on the waterway
that bisects town. It's ramping up plans to bring 16 rental boats next
summer for tourists to cruise the Rideau Canal, a UNESCO world
heritage site.

Linton, whose company has soared to a market value of more than $4
billion, sees room to further improve Smiths Falls. He wants to expand
a retail area at his plant to draw visitors - akin to days when
busloads of tourists toured Hershey's and bought broken chocolate bars
on the cheap. Beyond that, he'd like to see more restaurants, meeting
places and a hotel to make it a destination spot. "What the town lacks
is a really great place for people to actually stay," Linton said.

Aside from the hubbub over weed, Smiths Falls has another claim to
fame: It's the hometown of Brooke Henderson, the 20-year-old golfer
who ranks sixth in earnings this year on the Ladies Professional Golf
Association circuit.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Matt