Amanda LeDrew was baffled when her husband Chris LeDrew first shared his plans to transform a former dollar store into a sports training facility.

“When my wife saw this place at first, she said, ‘You’re planning on doing what in here?’” recalled LeDrew. “The back was full of shelving and pallets and the front was full of merchandise and shelving.”

LeDrew spent three months – and plenty of cash – renovating the building, and The Bullpen Sports Complex officially opened in July 2024.

The Kelligrews facility boats a 4,000 square foot artificial turf, gym area, a number of pitching machines, and a multipurpose room that folks can rent out for birthday parties or corporate meetings. You can also bring in your skates to get sharpened.

LeDrew said he has had to be adaptable and sensitive to the community’s needs in order to make the business work.

“The object originally was a sports training facility,” said LeDrew. “It’s evolved into a lot more than that. It’s a community-based recreation centre… I had an idea of what I wanted to do, and then the community dictated what we ended up doing.”

Case in point? Pickleball.

“Pickleball was not on my radar,” said LeDrew. “Before we opened the doors in 2024, I truly didn’t know what pickleball was. We had to google it, google the size of the lines and the court, and we painted lines two days before we opened up. And our first rental was for pickleball.”

The Bullpen is not LeDrew’s first foray into the world of small business. He also runs a sheet metal and ventilation business in CBS.

The two business models are quite different from one another.

“I could go to a customer and highlight what they needed,” said LeDrew of the sheet metal company. “It’s a big difference from waiting for customers to come into the door. So, that was a big, big change for me. You can’t drag people through a door. You have to wait for them to realize what you have to offer and hope that they’re going to come in.”

LeDrew cites increasing costs of running a business – including everything from wages to electricity to fuel — as a major challenge but said he likes not being tied to a 9-5 job, and that there’s a certain satisfaction from creating your own income.

He encouraged others to pursue their dreams of owning a business — but to not leap without looking first.

“My biggest piece of advice is to do your research before you jump in completely,” said LeDrew. “But, in order to be in business and take a risk like this, you have to jump in, you have to not be afraid of failure and look forward to putting in lots of time and effort – especially in the early days. My first five months I was here 12 hours a day seven days a week. So, be prepared to spend long hours for little rewards with hopes of big rewards at the end… We’re going in the right direction, and I can’t wait to see what the future holds.”

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By Ivan Morgan

Recently several people have asked me: “What’s wrong with us?”

Their question is really frustration with the apparent indifference of voters with the state of politics in this province. Nothing seems to rile anyone to action, even though things appear to be going from bad to worse.

Voter apathy is not as much of a problem in Quebec. I know many here are not happy with Quebec: they are taking advantage of us with our power on the Churchill River and don’t recognize that Labrador is actually part of our province. Many don’t like them.

Truth be told, we would be a lot better off if we acted more like them. 

You wouldn’t think I’d be a fan of Quebec, but you’d be wrong. I really admire the Quebecois political culture and would love to see our political culture be more like theirs.

Of course we are different. We have a different history, a different make up, a different background. We’ve only been part of Canada for 77 years. Quebec has been part of Canada from the get-go.

I like how they do politics. Just look at Quebec’s recent provincial election. Going in, the governing party, the Coalition Avenir Quebec (CAQ), a sort of Quebec-first but not separatist party, held 79 of the 127 seats in their legislature (National Assembly) – a clear majority.

On election night they lost every seat. Every single one. They were wiped off the map. From government to non-existence. From total power to total nobodies. How cool is that! They were replaced by a true separatist party, the Parti Quebecois, which won 59 seats, up from three seats before the election. They will form a minority government. Talk about a political rollercoaster. That’s some voter response.

We need more of that here.

In Quebec, the voter gets all manner of parties to choose from. There are 20. Here we have three, sort of (the NDP try but do not do well fielding good candidates anywhere but downtown St. John’s.) Quebec voters have lots of choices. Newfoundland voters have little or no choice as the two parties are for the most part indistinguishable from each other. (Don’t agree? Write a letter to the editor.) Regular readers will remember what my mother always called them the innies and the outies.

What can we do here? Throw out the current government in favour of a government we just threw out? Unlike Quebec we have no real choices. Nothing new to support.

In France the populace is always protesting. Recently, students protested in the streets in their tens of thousands over the state of their schools, the lack of housing and funding. Why? A cornerstone of French education is the language of rights, citizenship and collective power. Kids are taught about the roots of their revolution, and what the state owes their citizens.

It’s woven into French education. It’s a core subject in Quebec. It’s not in ours. It shows.

We don’t have the same political culture. Fishermen can raise a ruckus from time to time, as can public servants, but for the most part we all stay quiet.

We do have history. Just under one hundred years ago we had the Colonial Building riots. An angry mob rioted outside the legislature and chased the Prime Minister through the streets. To be fair, our ancestors were sorely tried. Few alive today can really appreciate the hardships they faced at the start of the Great Depression, although we might share an understanding about inept government.

What would happen if we took to the streets to protest like they did in 1932? What would it achieve? In the 1930s we decided to give up democracy in favour of some managers. That’s our legacy. Is that where we are? Would appointed managers be better than what we have now? 

If we were more like the Quebecois we would understand we do have rights, we do have control over our destiny, and we can have the province we want. We just need to know how to fight for it.

The irony is, if we were more like the Quebecois we would be better able to stand up to them.

Ivan Morgan can be reached at ivan.morgan@gmail.com

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The Town of Holyrood is moving forward with plans to upgrade its sewage plant.

During last month’s public meeting, council approved a motion to accept the structural report provided by Peak Design regarding the present condition of the plant and that council request Kelco Construction to request quotations for the scope of work presented in the report.

“We’ve worked very hard over the last, my goodness, over a year getting the necessary approvals in place from the Department of Environment to get a bypass implemented and then to have Pardy’s (Waste) remove all the waste in a safe manner and disposed of properly and then complete the inspections, so that’s what this motion is about,” said public works committee chairman Steve Winsor. “Inspections were completed, and the report identified a number of recommendations so that we can repair the infrastructure that we have, and that’ll be that phase. Subsequent phases will be upgrading the treatment equipment at that location.”

Winsor said the work will involve “structural correction” in the oxidation ditch.

The councillor noted the report proposed an optional fix that was “extremely expensive and of limited value.”

“We wanted to spend the taxpayers’ money in a more sensible way and follow their base recommendation for repair, and that’s not in anyway to make anyone think that we cheaped out, that’s not the case at all,” said Winsor.

Council had initially estimated the project’s cost at about $1.4 million, but further review and an expansion of the scope of work pushed that cost to about $2.2 million.

The Town has secured over $2 million in government funding for the project.

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By Mark Squibb

Justin and Erin Crant of Paradise are 2026 Targa Newfoundland champions.

“We’ve been competing for a couple of years now and have had a second and third (place showing) so winning first place this year is pretty amazing,” said Erin.

“We’ve been close a couple of years before, and we always knew we could do it,” added Justin. “But this year was really hard because we were tied with the eventual second place car right up until the last stage of the last day.”

Justin began autocross racing with Vinland Motorsport in 2005, and in 2009 won a championship race. The prize was free entry into the 2010 Targa race.

Justin entered the 2010 race with a friend and began to compete regularly thereafter.

Justin and Erin first competed together in the Targa Bambina event in Marystown in 2017.

“My friend couldn’t make it and so I jokingly asked Erin if she wanted to do it with me, thinking she would say no,” said Justin. “She’s always been supportive of me competing and racing, but I didn’t think she actually wanted to be in the car. So, I asked her thinking she was going to say no and she said ‘Yes.’”

The husband-and-wife racing team have since competed in Targa on a regular basis.

“We have to have a lot of trust in each other,” said Erin. “We’ve been together for 26 years, so we’ve been through a lot together. Being in a car with him at 150, 155 kilometres (per hour) is absolutely nothing compared with some of the things that life has thrown at us. I love it. We get to make memories together inside the car and outside the car so it’s extra special.”

“It’s really cool being able to do this with your wife and your best friend and sharing these memories that we’ll share forever,” added Justin. “I always tell her I would still take her with me as my navigator even if she wasn’t very good but she’s great.”

The couple, who race a 2009 BMW 135 with six cylinders and a twin turbo engine, say their favourite leg of the race is Brigus. Their second favourite is a stretch through Gander.

“He really likes the fast town stages, but it means more work for me as a navigator, getting my calls out super quick, and making sure we don’t go off the road,” said Erin.

The pair enjoy the adrenaline rush of racing, but also the camaraderie of the sport.

“It’s really cool getting to see all our scenery and also getting to show it off to people who come here from other parts of Canada, the ‘States, and sometimes other parts of the world,” said Justin. “We have lifelong friends that we consider family that we have met at these events.”

And while the event has courted controversy over the years with people even calling for a ban on the rally, which sees race cars ripping along rural roads and through small communities, proponents like the Crants say that not only are the races safe, but the economic spinoff is undeniable.  

“I don’t think some people realize how much revenue this brings to the island,” said Erin.

“One of our really good friends that we meet through Targa, his father actually bought a house in Brigus, and comes here for half the year,” added Justin. “So, it’s even a week of spin off revenue. People want to come back.”

But Justin admitted that he can understand why some people might think of racing as unsafe.

“I know some people say the events are not safe, and from the outside I can see how they can see that,” said Justin. “We’re tearing down these roads that probably have a 30 km speed limit and doing 150, 160 sometimes, but between the safety measures on the cars, like roll cages, harnesses, head and neck restraints, and fire suits that we all have to wear, there’s also a big safety push to close the course down and make sure people aren’t on the course.”

The couple say that for the most part, people are supportive of Targa and are only too glad to host events in their towns.

“There are so many places that we go and there’s community centres filled with townspeople cooking us lunch, serving us food, and they’re so happy and gracious that we came to visit,” said Erin.

Targa Newfoundland boasts two competitive divisions.

The Crants placed first in Division One. That division features cars with a single hoop roll bar and top speeds of 155 kilometres per hour. Division 2 is a higher speed competition for cars with roll cages. Speeds can reach 180 kilometres per hour in that division.

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Transportation Minister Barry Petten has approved a $3 million upgrade to the storm sewer system on Greeleytown Road in CBS that is expected to open up the area to 450 new houses.

The Province has agreed to put $1.1 million into the project with Ottawa and the Town of CBS spending $816,151 each to complete the work. That’s on top of money for design and other costs. Any cost overruns will be the responsibility of the Town. The work is expected to be completed over the next four years.

In addition to making the area better equipped to handle development, the upgraded sewer system will also benefit the 70 homes already on the street, which has a population of about 200 residents, according to a briefing note prepared for council.

“We’re very excited for this funding announcement,” said Ward 3 councillor Gerard Tilley. “This has been a project that has been in the works for years.”

Tilley noted the project was so important to the Town it was prepared to go it alone, but applied for government funding anyway.

“We’d like to thank our provincial and federal counterparts for their contribution to this important stormwater project,” Tilley added.

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The Town of Paradise received three bids to provide engineering services for the design of permanent traffic calming measures at various spots around town where temporary measures have already been installed.

The contract is solely for the design of the traffic calming measures, be they speed bumps or speed humps or something else. Actual construction will only begin following budget deliberations.

Staff recommended that council award the contract to Englobe Corp, which achieved the overall highest score based on technical and financial merits, in the amount of $28,620, plus HST.

“These improvements have already been tested using temporary measures and have proven to function as intended,” said councillor Erin Furlong. “I think it’s great that we’re looking into more traffic calming measures and investing in that for the town. I think a lot of residents will be happy to hear that as well.”

Mayor Patrick Martin said that during his time on council the town has invested “a substantial amount of money” into traffic calming.

“Every year it eats up more and more of the budget, not to say that it’s not justified,” said Martin. “And good job to Director (Chris) Milley and staff because they took the approach of having the temporary stuff, and now we’re moving in the permanent.”

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Residents of Forest Road in Kelligrews have petitioned CBS council for a turnaround to be cleared at the end of their street.

The petition was formally presented to council by the area’s representative, Ward 4 councillor Melissa Hardy at the October 6 public council meeting.

“As most of council are aware, the turning bulb at the end of Forest Road is not the appropriate size for a bus to turnaround safely so that they are able to pick up all the kids on Forest Road,” Hardy said. “Forest Road is a very long road. Some kids right now have to walk 1.2 kms to almost two kilometres to get to a bus stop. So, I had the residents sign a petition in hopes that the Province is able to do something temporarily while the Town is looking for funding to help with the turning bulb, because  it is a very costly project with the work that needs to be done.”

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By Mark Squibb

If you’re looking for fresh, homemade breads and desserts in CBS, many folks will likely point you in the direction of Dough By’s Bakery in Kelligrews.

Henry and Bernadine Pilgrim opened the doors in 2011, and daughter Natasha Pilgrim took over in 2021.

“It’s a small family run business, however we do employ almost 30 staff across all the different departments we have,” said Pilgrim. “We do everything from breads, and cakes and pies and cookies, to sandwich trays, meals, pizza, a little bit of everything. There’s not much that we don’t do or don’t have.”

Pilgrim said one of the keys to success is knowing your audience and catering to their tastes.

“You’re going to stick with a lot of the Newfoundland style dishes, because that’s going to be popular here,” said Pilgrim. “We’ll change up a few things, like do a couple of different pastas, but I find the traditional Newfoundland stuff is definitely the way to go. And you can’t get homemade products like this very often anymore. People go for what ‘mom and nan used to make.’”

Pilgrim said availability of ingredients and staff remain a challenge, but were particularly challenging following the COVID pandemic.

“I don’t think things fully recovered from COVID,” said Pilgrim. “It’s been a different world ever since then, and adapting and trying to figure things out has been the biggest thing.”

In recent years, price increases for products and supplies have also posed a challenge to small business owners.

Pilgrim, meanwhile, received a business degree from Nova Scotia’s Saint Mary’s University, and worked as an event planner in that province for many years. She was offered a similar position in Newfoundland and returned home but later agreed to take over the family business once her parents retired.

She added that people often have a misconception about how many hours small businessowners clock on an average week.

“I take my two or three weeks every year and I travel, and I do have a bit of freedom in my schedule, but I do also put in a lot of time,” said Natasha. “I’m here six to seven days a week, 8-12 hours. But my daughter is a swimmer, so if she has a swim meet, I know I can work around it and take some time to go and see her swim… My parents have run businesses all my life pretty much, so I knew when I took this over what I was getting into. I knew I was going to be working a lot. I was going in with the mindset that, ‘This place isn’t going to run itself.’”

Pilgrim added it’s important that local businesses support one another.

“In CBS, a lot of us are really big on supporting each other,” said Pilgrim. “I love doing anything local that I can, and supporting local when I can, and vice versa. I know that there’s a lot of us around here that are like that… That’s one thing we all need to do as small businesses, is support one another.”

Pilgrim said that while taking over the family business wasn’t in her plans, she’s glad to carry on and see it succeed. She has advice for would-be business owners.

“Make sure you know what you’re getting into,” said Pilgrim. “Make sure you talk to people who are in the same line of what you’re looking to do, and do some research into what exactly to expect. I think the worst thing you can do opening a business is going in blind and not really knowing what you’re getting into. You need to be prepared for that. If you go into something you’re not prepared for, chances are you’re probably going to fail.”

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