MANITOULIN—Both the federal and provincial governments have expressed strong interest, in the form of funding, to have the Split Rail Brewing Company opened in Kagawong.
“We had an interesting meeting, including representatives from FedNor, Kathy (McDonald, Billings township clerk), Split Rail and Mary Nelder (general manager of LAMBAC). FedNor had contacted Split Rail with great interest in the brewery and also in helping the township bring it here,” stated Sandi Hurcomb, Billings councillor, at a meeting last week.
Ms. Hurcomb explained, “FedNor thinks this is a great project and would be willing to provide 45 percent of the funding, with the province providing another 45 percent, with the township providing another 10 percent to bring the building here. FedNor is truly excited about the township moving forward on this. After we develop our community improvement plan they want council to say we will put up 10 percent of the plant costs.”
“Mary (Nelder) said it is imperative for us to do this plan and that she would be willing to help us on the (community improvement) plan,” said Ms. Hurcomb. She said that the Split Rail Brewing Company would provide for the potential of 10-15 jobs in the community.
“It sounds very good,” stated Councillor Brian Parker.
“We would be talking about funds that we can actually handle, 10 percent, to have this building constructed,” said Mayor Austin Hunt.
“FedNor came to them (Split Rail) on this project, that’s how interested they are in the business opening up. I’ve never heard that happen before,” said Ms. Hurcomb.
It was pointed out Split Rail can’t get funding until they have a location to operate the business.
Split Rail had been using the Internet crowdsourcing Kickstarter campaign as one avenue of raising funds for the project, and while they did not succeed in making their goal, they did create $20,000 in potential donations.
“This amount is phenomenal. It showed people in and those not in the community have a vested interest in this project. If nothing else the amount they (figuratively) raised though crowdsourcing speaks to that,” said Ms. Hurcomb.
Council agreed they would investigate what it will cost to initiate the community improvement plan and will seek assistance from Ms. Nelder. Councillor Gerry Mack questioned whether the provincial-federal funding of 90 percent would just go toward the building and the start-up funds for the business.
“What about the start-up funds for the business?” questioned Mr. Mack.
“They (Split Rail) do this, we don’t buy the equipment,” said Ms. Hurcomb.
“There are still a million steps to get this in place, but it is certainly a start,” said Ms. Hurcomb.
“The start-up costs would need to be confirmed (in place) before we could commit any funds,” said Mr. Mack.
“We need a guarantee,” added Mr. Hunt.
“We haven’t received a promise to marry, but a promise to dance at this point,” said Ms. Hurcomb.
Meanwhile, the proponents of Split Rail Brewing Company, Andy Smith and Eleanor Charlton, have launched a second campaign through Kickstarter. “We didn’t meet the goal (on the first campaign which ran out on Friday, March 21), but relaunched a second campaign,” wrote Ms. Smith in an email to the Recorder on Tuesday.
As for the “Kagawong building, (we are) still working on this and hope to have some news to share in the next few months but nothing definite yet,” wrote Ms. Smith. “What we can say is that the Kickstarter campaign generated a lot of local, regional and some international attention and it further garnered interest in the project from potential investors and potential funders.”
So far on its Kickstarter campaign, 31 backers have pledged $4,691 with a goal of $20,000 to be reached. The project will only be funded if at least $20,000 is pledged by Thursday, April 24, 2014 at 9:33 pm EDT. This Kickstarter campaign will still go to equipment, inventory and licencing costs.
“Funding the significant start-up costs of a commercial brewery is complicated and although we expect provincial job creation and rural economic development programs to help support the project (and we also continue to explore private equity opportunities), we still need your help to put a few of these fundamental pieces in place and so we are trying again with this Kickstarter campaign-round two!” the proponents indicate on their website.
