St. Brendan's Motel

St. Brendan’s Motel

            What is now St. Brendan’s Motel in St. Lunaire-Griquet began as a hardware store that ran until the collapse of the cod fishery in 1992. The building sat vacant for several years, until the approaching millennium and subsequent Viking celebrations at Lanse aux Meadows presented a new opportunity. Roy Manuel, part-owner (along with brother Percy Manuel, June Coles, and Helen Manuel), drew up the initial plans for a motel that began to take form as other essentials, such as a sewer system, fell into place. The motel opened for business in 2000 with eleven rooms. The owners have recognized the importance of maintaining their rooms, with near yearly renovations including the addition of two extra rooms. Four of their rooms include a single Queen bed, with the rest including two Double beds. All rooms have outside entrances, full bathrooms, mini fridges, flat screen televisions, and more. Their current Canada Select Accomodations rating is 3.5 stars.

            Roy has noted some changes in the tourism industry in the local area. In particular, the Motel is noticing more guests coming earlier in the season, with their first guests for this year arriving in early May. He suggested more emphasis needs to be placed on advertising and marketing things for tourists to do in St. Lunaire-Griquet, including the several hiking trails in the area. One trail, though no longer in good condition, leads to the motel’s namesake, St. Brendan’s Boulder, which displays interesting inscriptions possibly dating back to the sixth century. As we chatted, Roy passionately noted several times the importance of offering guests to the area a slate of things to do, which not only reinforces a positive experience in the minds of visitors, it helps support and present the unique features of the community. 

SABRI Public Meeting: St. Lunaire-Griquet

            Twenty-eight local residents of St. Lunaire-Griquet gathered at the Fire Hall on Monday, February 25^th2019 for a public meeting hosted by St. Anthony Basin Resources Inc (SABRI). Sam Elliott, SABRI Executive Director, and Glenda Noble, Economic Development Officer with the Department of Tourism, Culture, Industry and Innovation, hosted the session. In discussion was the development of affordable senior’s housing in the region. At present, the location for this housing is the site of the former high school Harriot Curtis Collegiate in St. Anthony. 

            SABRI is in the early stages of gathering information, including insight from current residents in the region. To facilitate this, they are using a neat poll system that allows multiple survey respondents at once and immediate tallying and displaying of the results. On Monday, all meeting participants were given the opportunity to provide valuable insight on their current living situations as well as the kinds of features they would like to see in senior’s housing, such as proximity to amenities, services like snowclearing and lawn maintenance, etc. 

            After the poll was completed, participants were welcomed to hot beverages and sweets after a very important session. From here, SABRI plans to take the survey to the other communities in its region and continue to gather information and resources to see this project come to fruition. 

Glenda Noble and Sam Elliott

Ruth's Beauty Salon

Ruth Earle got creative as a young hairstylist looking for work. As she recalls, “I needed work and I had to create my own work because there was nothing available at the time.” In 1986 she completed her Journeyman credential in Corner Brook as a hairdresser, moving home to St. Lunaire-Griquet not long after and setting up shop in the Firehall in St. Lunaire. Her business operated there until 1991 when it moved to its current location. When she opened, Ruth remembers there being two or three clients visiting the Salon per day; now, they can see upwards of 15 to 24 clients a day, at times so busy they have difficulty keeping up with the phone!

Ruth Earle and Amy Patey at Ruth's Beauty Salon

Ruth’s Beauty Salon is open from Tuesday to Friday 10am-5pm, and on Saturdays from 10am-2pm. They offer a wide range of services, including colours, cuts, perms, waxes, men’s cuts, and tanning, which they have offered since 1993. Recently, Ruth’s fellow hairstylist Amy Patey, who has worked with Ruth ten years this past September, began to offer eyelash extensions. The Salon sells hair products as well, in a variety of lines including Redken, Paul Mitchell, Milkshake, and Rusk. Ruth and Amy are constantly upgrading their skills and knowledge, at least once a year attending hair conferences in nearby Corner Brook. Ruth noted that she has observed “what goes around comes around,” when it comes to hair; many of the same styles she sees in her work today are the same ones she was familiar with when she began her work in 1986, except “with a new fling and a different product put in it.” 

Ruth loves her work, and she is great at taking care of her clients. In fact, she often spends Mondays, when the Salon is closed, making housecalls to people who, for whatever reason, are unable to make it to the salon. Reflecting on this stage of her career, Ruth shares, “right now, I’m supposed to be retired; then I said, okay, I’ll semi-retire, but being here, since I love it so much, well most people when they retire take on another job anyway so I said, why do that when I can stay where I am, work the hours I want, take off time that I need.” 

Thanks for the great chat, Ruth!  

Kayla Carroll

Coordinator

Vinland Futures Research and Development Corporation

vinlandfutures.ca 

Hillier's Services Ltd

In 1975, John Hillier opened Hillier’s Services Ltd. In St. Lunaire-Griquet. John operated it as a gas station and automobile service station with the help of two mechanics. They would do inspections on vehicles, motor jobs, brake work, etc.  John ran the business until his passing in 2017 and his son Paul has operated it since. Paul grew up in the business, first remembering working as a gas attendant at around sixteen years old. He runs the business himself now in addition to working with the Department of Transportation and Works since 2006. Hillier’s Services Ltd no longer offers automobile service, but they do have four gas pumps through Western Petroleum. This long-running family business is important to our community and a wonderful place to gas up!

Hillier's Services Ltd in St. Lunaire-Griquet

Kayla Carroll

Coordinator

Vinland Futures Research and Development Corporation 

www.vinlandfutures.ca

@vinlandfutures