According to Lou Luvison, the day started out innocently enough.

“We bought (Huntsville Hometown Drugstore) in July 1987 and the first week of August I went to a Huntsville BIA meeting to find out what was going on. At that time they met at what was known then as Peter’s Steakhouse. When I came back from that lunch meeting, I was the new promotions chair. I had only been in business about a week-and-a-half,” he said with a laugh.

After sitting on the board for 21 years and holding nearly every seat available, Luvison officially stepped down as a director during the BIA’s annual general meeting, held last Tuesday night at the Partners Hall.

Luvison was not the only one to bid adieu to the BIA board. Kathy Groh turned over the reins as beautification chair after holding the job for 12 years and Will Gibson stepped down as murals chair.

Groh told the members that she has enjoyed her decade-plus of service to the organization.

“The last 12 years have been rewarding. We have had a lot of fun and have done a lot of work, but when you see how the downtown looks, you know your efforts have been all worth it,” she said.

Co-chair Terry Glover joked with Gibson about moving to a ‘very bad place,’ referring to the bank manager leaving the downtown branch to take over the management of the TD Canada Trust location near Muskoka Commerce Park.

Gibson also poked fun at his change of employment, saying that he has moved “to the dark side.”

He stated that while he enjoys his new responsibilities, he misses the camaraderie of the downtown merchants.

“There is a great bunch of people here. It is true that you don’t know what you have until it is gone.”

While Groh and Gibson say they will assist their successors in their new roles, Luvison will be strictly a BIA member.

“It is just time,” he said in an interview after the meeting. “There is some new blood and excited business owners (in the BIA) and it is just time to step back.”

When asked if there was a special moment or project during his era on the board that he remembered as a highlight, Luvison couldn’t come up with a specific time. He did say he overall experience was what he will commit to memory.  

“I really enjoyed my time. You were always involved with community happenings and events that would always reflect back on the downtown. The biggest thing I would advise business owners is to be involved. You have to know what things are happening and ask yourself how you can be part of it.”

If there is one accomplishment he will hold onto, it will be how the downtown survived external pressures over the years. “If you go right back to when the mall came to be, there was the old guard who thought it would be terrible for their businesses. Quite frankly, the community was growing so much that the downtown shopping core could not handle the growth so the mall was welcomed. We got over that hurdle. The next one was the development around Fairy Lake with that complex. Then there was Muskoka Commerce Park and yet we are still here.”

Luvison said that while the BIA membership is thriving now, it doesn’t mean that the merchants can rest on their laurels, a message he expressed during the annual meeting.

“Getting down to basics is what it boils down to. What we need is people to be committed to their businesses and the downtown to make the BIA successful.”