Farming is not an easy job. With so many variables, such as weather and prices, it can be a fluctuating and fickle business.
Mike Parker
Mike and April Parker, owners of Beamsville’s Charlie-Bee Honey, Parker Bee Apiaries Ltd. know all about the challenges of running an agricultural operation.
Located south of Beamsville, near the Mountain Road and Fly Road intersection, Charlie Bee Honey is a success story, as they’re likely Ontario’s largest honey producer, as well as the province’s largest bee keeping operation, but like a lot of lot of agricultural operations have found out, it hasn’t been an easy and smooth ride.
Despite all the challenges, April Parker said she is proud of their business and their role in agriculture.
Without their bees there would be a lot less good things to eat.
Along with honey production, the business also rents out hives.
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Top photo:
Gail Schellenberg pours the latest fresh honey at Charlie Bee’s Mountain Road facility. Williscraft – Photo
When Stephanie Deshane took to the stage at the Rise2 Fame finals this fall, she was her usual calm, focused and collected self.
In a return engagement from their 2008 debut, Stephanie was named Smithville Fair Grand Champion, while cousin Cara earned second place.She delivered a stellar version of Sarah Vaughn’s Lullaby Birdland – the smokey jazz standard, the title of which refers to Charlie “Bird” Parker and the Birdland jazz club named after him.
Her version proved strong enough to earn her second place in the competition, tops among singers, however.
“It wasn’t until I finish a performance that I get nervous. After, I start to think, “Would they think that was good? Did they like it?”
In her head, she thought the performance was not as strong as her semi-final rendition.
Performers of all types – from gymnasts to guitar players – participated in the competition.
Just to make it to the finals, all performers had to make it through a regional competition to qualify for a semi-final round. Then winners of 12 regional semi-finals from across the province all met at London’s Western Fair for the grand final.
The preparation to get to that point started many months ahead of the final show.
She spent two months just picking the right song. That process is a microcosm of the teen’s entire personality – purposeful, determined and unique.
“I don’t settle,” said the 16-year-old Smithville resident.
“I spent a long time looking for just the right song. I wanted it to be different because I didn’t want to use anything that anyone else would do. It had to be interesting, something that would show my range, as well.”
That it did.
“When she started to sing, people were mesmerized,” said her father, Steve.
Mom, Dorothy, when she first heard her daughter’s choice of song, didn’t like the tune.
“I thought it was boring. I didn’t like it at all,” said Dorothy.
When a business deal goes sour, it can often be said that an individual should make lemonade from the bag of lemons which was just acquired.
But what does one do when the bag they were just handed is opened to find nothing – not a single lemon?
“I was young (25) and had no experience, kind of stupid, really,” said Stanpac founder Steve Witt of the time in 1971 when he bought the company’s predecessor, then based in Burlington.
Matt, left, and Andrew Witt formally took over management of Stanpac just over one year ago. The company takes the environment very seriously, recycles extensively and constructed its own water treatment system. Bryan Macaulay – Village Studio Photo
“I think I owned it for about 10 minutes before I realized it was in bad shape.”
The cornerstone of what was there was a simple cap for milk bottles. Using that as a base, combined with years of long hours and hard work, Witt’s company struggled to survive.
IN 1973, a change of location from Burlington was in order.
“Stoney Creek was $25,000 for what we needed. Beamsville was $12,000. Smithville was $4,000. So I said, ‘wouldn’t it be great to live in Smithville,” said Witt with a grin.
With that change came an eye to expansion as he knew diversification was the only way the company would not only survive, but grow.
Today, Stanpac is comprised of 400,000 sq. ft. of manufacturing space in Smithville’s industrial park – with another 37,000 sq ft currently under construction – and another 350,000 sq ft of space at their other operation in Texas.
That growth did not happen overnight. It was slow and steady over decades and there were some major potholes along the road to business success.
For many in the business world, 2008 conjures memories of financial devastation.
For Witt, that was certainly a strong possibility when he rolled the dice a second time purchasing part of Solo Cup Company, which manufactures disposable plastic products, among other items.
“That was a huge deal and really extended us. I knew it was a risk. What I didn’t know was it would happen right before the financial crash,” recalled Witt, which set off a period of extreme caution in the banking sector and made borrowing money for business deals, even strong deals, very difficult.
“We were in a great spot, buying up competitors and growing. We had expended into making glass bottles in 1990 by buying a mould to manufacture them. We had it all,” said Witt.
Other external factors put Stanpac in the right place at the right time, too, with milk prices dropping independent suppliers were forced to sell to large corporations.
This opportunity helped create the now-thriving niche market for high-end independent milk manufacturers.
“We were organic before organic was cool,” said Witt.
