October is Small Business Month and the Windsor-Essex Small Business Centre decided to celebrate by bringing small business owners and operators together under one roof.
The fourth annual Windsor-Essex Shop Local event Thursday at the Fogolar Furlan Club was only expected to attract around 40 venders and close to 500 people. Instead, it ended up drawing over 50 businesses and 1,000 people.
Small Business Center Manager Shannon Dyck tells AM800 News that Statistics Canada's numbers are right on when it comes to Windsor.
"People don't know that small business is the backbone and the driving support of our local economy, 82% of businesses in Windsor-Essex are small businesses," she says."It's important to celebrate and to showcase them, and to give them greater exposure to help them boost our economy."
Dyck notes that networking is another big part of the event.
"I'm hearing from vendors that they're running out of product, they're running out of cards, so that's great news that they're raising their awareness and people are learning about them and wanting to learn more about them," says Dyck."Which is the whole point."
The Windsor-Essex Economic Development Corporation's Lana Drouillard says it's the best turn out since the creation of the event four years ago.