Merry Christmas and Happy New Year by Mayor Joe Preston As we enter 2025, we look forward to what will occur in the next year and look back at great events and successes in 2024. St. Thomas hosted many great events in 2024. To list but a few: our downtown’s Nostalgia Night with the streets of St. Thomas occupied by thousands of classic cars; Oktoberfest gathered thousands to the Moore St. area to be entertained by singers, dancers, and crafts of all types; the tapping of the kegs brought a true taste of Oktoberfest to downtown St. Thomas. Soon after came the Pumpkin Prowl. Hundreds of downtown merchants were involved and hundreds of costumed children and their parents safely roamed the downtown streets trick or treating. The downtown was again crowded and lit up with our Christmas tree lighting and Light Up Talbot, with horse-drawn wagon rides, warming stations and special goodies. Of course, not to be forgotten was our Optimist Santa Claus Parade. I would like to thank our Downtown Development Board and all of the volunteers who make these events in our downtown possible. Be sure to volunteer and help in all of these events next year. Pinafore Park was also home to many events in 2024. From Arts and Music Festivals to Puppy Parades, our beautiful park setting looked even better full of visitors and volunteers. Every Saturday morning and Wednesday night, visitors flocked to Horton Farmers Market. The Elgin County Railway Museum and all of its great volunteers offered many new events this year. Again this year, construction was also the name of the game, with a huge rebuild of Kains St. with a fun new roundabout,
a large construction project along 3rd Ave. and many others. Projects included a significant rebuild of Highbury Ave., Centennial and S Edgeware Rds. New connections from all of these streets will link the new widening of Hwy 3 to the new PowerCo site. Many other new road resurfacing and sidewalk installations also occurred this year. Watch for many new projects in 2025. St. Thomas continues to work to the future with the expansion of existing industries like Presstran, Formet, Element 5, Maxill and many others. Much new commercial growth, especially in our Downtown, shows the expansion of available shopping and services in our community. A generational change in employment within our city continues. Many new construction jobs, new and upcoming high-value industrial jobs and housing markets growing in St. Thomas and in all communities around us, set the pattern for today’s workforce and for jobs for generations to come. Modern new facilities like the modernization of the Diagnostic Imaging Department at St. Thomas Elgin General Hospital and the construction of our new Hospice continue to show the types of ‘Smart Growth’ our city continues to plan and participate in. Thank you to all of the great supporters, including financial and volunteer efforts to make great projects happen. 2025 will show more growth of this type of facility growth, including the construction of a new Animal Center. Housing continues to be a huge priority for St. Thomas and neighbours. With the growth in our population comes the requirement to continue building all types of housing. We have
Our Customers are on the NICE list! Happy Holidays!
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Page 20 Hometown St. Thomas • December 2024
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