The Lunenburg Board of Trade (LBOT) elected a new slate of officers for the coming year at its annual meeting held January 20 at the Lunenburg fire hall.

 Lorne Johanson, owner of Alicion Bed and Breakfast, takes over as the board's new president from Jamie Myra; John David Lobb becomes the new first vice-president; artist Steven Rhude is now second vice-president; Cindy Sangster is the new treasurer; and Ron Stockton will serve as secretary.

 In his final report to the membership as president, Mr. Myra said 2010 was a successful year for the board, which experienced an increase of 39 new members since the last AGM.

 He said last year's board council met on a regular basis and embarked on numerous projects during the year.

 "We had a lot of great ideas, some of them were a great success, some of them not so much, but I think everybody had the best interests of the board of trade in mind when they had initiatives they brought forward."

 He said that moving ahead, every member of the group, regardless of their business interests or vocation, should all strive to "work a bit better together.

 "We're too small of a town to be going in 13 or 14 different directions, and if we start working together I think we can start making even more headway in some of the numbers and some of the reports we've seen," he added.

 Judy Estey, outgoing interim treasurer, reported that the board experienced a successful year financially in 2010, ending with a surplus of $3,694 which was primarily realized through a jump in registration at the campground the board operates on Blockhouse Hill.

 "The campground is probably our largest source of revenue. It represents 55 per cent of our income, and this year we were up phenomenally. It was very unexpected," she said.

 She said despite the loss of the ferry service between Yarmouth and Maine and a downward economic trend, registrations at the facility were up 14 per cent over the previous year, generating gross revenues of over $92,000.

 While that news was good, she said major maintenance is required at both the campground and visitor information centre in the coming years and the board will have to devise ways of raising funds to cover the cost of that work.

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 The nomination process reflected that the board's new executive will serve with a complete complement of 14 councillors for 2011, something that has not happened for many years and a fact that pleased the board's new president.

 "People are volunteering for this, and I can think of nothing more precious to give than your time and energy to something," Mr. Johanson said.

 In swearing in the new executive and council, Mayor Laurence Mawhinney reminded those gathered that the day marked the 50th anniversary of United States president John F. Kennedy's inaugural speech, and he opted to borrow some of those words in his own address to the membership.

 "Let us begin anew, or again, remembering that civility is not a sign of weakness and sincerity is always subject to proof. Let us explore what problems unite us, instead of belabouring those problems which divide us," he said. "Let us go forward together."

 The evening's events wound to a close with the presentation of the Business of the Year Award to Guenther and Susan Reibling of Stellar Investments Inc., and the Volunteer of the Year Award to chairman Howard Keeping, Jim Green, Alex Green and Aubrey Zinck, members of the committee who organize the annual Lunenburg Santa Claus Parade.

posted on 01/25/11