Where ideas live

My buddy Gord is a film and television designer. His home and family are in Hillier but he works wherever the latest project flings him. For the past three years he has spent six months of the year in Newfoundland.

Gord is most certainly creative. He lives in rural Prince Edward County. But is he really part of the County economy?

What is the creative rural economy anyway? What does it really mean to the average person? And what role will the creative rural economy play in shaping the future of Prince Edward County?

These are some of the questions council and others are thinking about these days. On November 16 the County’s planning department hosts a public meeting to measure public support for its creative rural economy strategy. It will also try and figure out what to do next.

But what has changed? When embarking on a new or updated direction it seems prudent to ask ourselves what is wrong with the road we’re on.

For most of the County’s history the geography of this place has defined the local economy. The land provided fruit, vegetables and meat, the lake gave us fish and the natural beauty attracted tourists and their wallets.

Put oversimplistically, the world became a whole lot smaller in the last 50 years. We eat vegetables grown in Chile. Our fish is shipped from the Maritimes. Our meat is brokered in Chicago. Even our beaches must compete with sun-drenched dunes in North Carolina, Tunisia or Sri Lanka.

What was once our captive market has been freed to scour the world. Our geographic competitive advantage has been eroded. We needed to find another way forward.

In response this economy has evolved and adapted. Largely through the leadership (though not entirely) of the former Economic Development Officer Dan Taylor, many businesses, farmers, producers and entrepreneurs determined their best opportunity lay in moving up market—making better, more distinctive and value-added products.

We no longer make cheese—instead we produce Fifth Town or Black River cheese. We don’t grow vegetables— we serve branded organically grown produce. Our wines don’t compete with the tankers that arrive from Chile but instead make a superior product, cultivating a loyal audience rooted in the distinctive soil of Prince Edward County (see story page 17).

We no longer merely welcome folks to use our beach—we serve them fine foods, offer them compelling wine, art and farm market experiences and host their stays in elegant surroundings.

To compete in this shrunken free trade world, County entrepreneurs are innovating, investing, and, at times, failing. They are learning from their mistakes and continually finding better ways to attract their customer and extract the value that makes it worthwhile. This is the creative economy.

This is not sitting back moaning and waiting for things to go back they way they were, or as is more often the case, as they were imagined. This is about seeing the world as it is. It is about finding the new opportunities that are emerging and learning to how to make the most of these openings.

But what about my buddy Gord? What about all those talented folks like him, the lawyers, consultants, agents, musicians and artists who have decided this is where they want to live. How do they fit into the County’s strategy?

“Profound things can happen anywhere,” observed artist and academic Otto Rogers on the occasion of the opening of Oeno Gallery a few years ago. By this he means that the forces that made the world smaller, namely rapid transportation and immediate connectivity with people and resources around the world, has also freed the brightest and most creative minds to live wherever they choose. Many choose the County.

Here they are finding an intellectual, spiritual and social nexus according to Rogers. Creativity begets creativity.

What was originally a survival mechanism is now becoming its own industry—its own economy.

Whether we are conscious of it, or yet willing to admit it, it is creativity and innovation that paves the road ahead for the County, indeed for North America. As home to an increasing number of creative minds, the County is emerging as an intersection in the global economy

The County has a voice and identity that is its own. This growing confidence resonates far beyond the County’s shores. Our prosperity is no longer buffeted by market forces beyond our control. Our economy is increasingly relevant in a transitory global marketplace. We are shaping our own future—our own path.

The truly exciting bit is that the County’s potential has barely yet been tapped.

rick@wellingtontimes.ca