Whales, kids with guns, and what’s going in the former Halifax Club and FRED spaces: New company & society registrations

Goodmore Kombucha
Dartmouth
Partners: Alexis Moore and George Moore
There is nothing at all on the internet about Goodmore Kombucha. There’s an Alexis Moore from Nova Scotia who somehow landed as a winemaker in New Zealand, and who was “stolen” by the British Columbia winery Cedar Creek in 2015. She’s no longer there, but I can’t connect that Alexis Moore to Goodmore’s Alexis Moore. It’s a common name, and they might be two entirely different people. (Yes, I could simply knock on the Moores’ door and ask…)

Regardless, kombucha is the in-thing, apparently. We’ve had a new kombucha brewer in each of the last three weeks of new company listings.

Pristine Paws
Stillwater
Nature of business: “mobile cat grooming.”
Partner: Hannah Lawrence
“I like cats,” says Lawrence.

Oscar Holdings Inc.
7071 Bayers Road, Suite 4007
President: Nabil Ramia
7071 Bayers Road, Suite 4007 is also the registered address of Rank, Inc, which is building the Nova Centre. Oscar Holdings is an amalgamation between a predecessor company also named Oscar Holdings, whose president was likewise Nabil Ramia, and a second company, Abram Furniture, whose president was Joe Ramia, also the president of Rank. The registered agent for the first Oscar Holdings was Peter Claman, who also used the address of 7017 Bayers Road, Suite 4007; the newly created Oscar Holdings, however, has Nabil Ramia as the registered agent. I believe Nabil and Joe are two of the five Ramia brothers.
3304951 Nova Scotia Limited
7071 Bayers Road, Suite 4004
President, director, and registered agent: Peter Claman
Claman is a lawyer with offices just down the hall from the Ramias’ office. But he evidently also sometime uses the address that the Ramias use for their businesses.

I have no idea what this corporate shuffle is all about. Probably nothing much. But there is a gigantic building (supposedly) about to open, so…

Cape Island Film
Riverport
Partner: Kyria R. Olshefsky
Olshefsky is a freelance writer and video editor, and made the short above.

#BayItForward Community Development Society
Sydney River
President: Michael Kelloway (Sydney River). Vice-President: David MacKeigan (Glace Bay). Directors: Angela Houston (Halifax), Jennifer Ludlow (Glace Bay), Mary Pat Mombourquette (Glace Bay), James Houston (Halifax), Pam Leader (Glace Bay), Kelloway, and MacKeigan.
According to its Facebook page:

#BayItForward is Glace Bay’s community development organization. The focus of this Society is to build partnerships to promote and advance economic, cultural, and social growth in the community of Glace Bay.

This Society is being formed on the initiative of a group of community members, ex-pats, and business owners who share a common interest in shaping a positive future for Glace Bay.

Through our leadership, we aim to:
• Leverage and connect local assets, resources, heritage and social capital
• to diversify Glace Bay’s economic development, promote its value proposition, and attract people to live, work, play and invest in the community.
• Strengthen the community’s voice and create opportunities to collaborate on big and small ideas that inspire positive, collective action.

Yulanda Luka Photography
Lawrencetown
Partner: Yulanda Luka
Luka has a fun Instagram page loaded with lots of  photos.

Dartmouth Nerfers
Dartmouth
Nature of business: “nerf gun parties, birthdays and events.”
Partner: Matt Densmore
Densmore started his business last year, and was the subject of a CBC article. I don’t know why he’s only now registering the business, but lots of new business owners (and people who start societies) aren’t aware of the requirement for registering their businesses (or societies), and then they play catch-up.

It’s odd watching stuff like this. I grew up on and around military bases, and there were guns in my childhood home. But both my parents — especially my mother — absolutely forbade us kids to play with toy guns. A gun was understood to be serious business, a tool to respect, not something to make light of or to play around with, even as a toy. I suppose I’m old and out of it, but I still wince a little when I see people playing with paintball or nerf guns.

The East Coast Galley
Cole Harbour
Nature of business: “mobile food truck.”
Partners: Denis Bissonnette, Nicolas Bissonnette, Sheila Bissonnette
Good luck with the business, but I think operating a food truck is an uphill battle in a place that has like six weeks of nice weather. Happy to be wrong about this.

Red Knot Bakery
Truro
Partner: Mariam Dannawi
Writes Dannawi in an Instagram post:

For those of you who don’t know much about my bakery, you’re kinda looking at it. I am a one-woman bakery operation and every week I hand-mix and shape your sourdough loaves, make your pastries, and bring it all to the @trurofarmersmarket on Saturday morning. The latest addition to my stand is croissants, which I’ve been (slowly) teaching myself how to make for the past few weeks. These came out of the oven half an hour before I started selling them. They’ll be at my stand every week… unless I mess up. #selfloathingbaker

Last month, on Facebook, Dannawi noted that:

My little bakery operation is growing and I am looking for a space of my own in Truro/Bible Hill. I am looking for a commercial kitchen or a space that could be easily converted into one. 

Body Crave Online Store
Kentville
Nature of business: “This business consists of selling adult toys on a website through an online store.”
Partners: Tanya Brothers-Balsor and Devin Balsor
Oddly (at least to me), the couple also operates a company called Mommy & Me 3D/4D/HD Ultrasounds, which offers a “unique 3D/4D/HD bonding experience between you and your baby.”

Pith Quest Films Ltd.
French Village
President: Mary Louise McCloskey
McCloskey is a director and script supervisor. She has an impressive body of work catalogued at IMDb, including working on Mr. D, the Trailer Park Boys, and Justified.

Fundy Whalefest Association
Westport
President: Torre Hansson. Vice President: Marie-Laure Hansson. Directors: both Hannsons, Gwen Wilson (Sandy Cove), Blair McMullin (Halifax), and Wouter Devries (Westport).
Asked for an explanation of Whalefest, the Hanssons replied with a joint email:

As you surmised, the Association is planning a three-day festival for September 7-9, 2018, focusing on the environment and sustainability of Fundy whales. In order to engage as many people as possible, our desire is to involve many of the communities on Digby Neck, Long Island, and Brier Island, wherever possible, including Digby, Sandy Cove, East Ferry, Tiverton, Freeport and Westport.

Because of the scope and direction of this three-day event, we see this as the only offering of its kind on the east coast of North America. It will be designed to entertain, educate, and inspire while raising awareness of the unique natural assets of this part of Nova Scotia, particularly the compelling story of its whale population. Our plan is to make the festival a bi-annual or annual event. In that regard, our target audience is universal but again, with a focus on whale enthusiasts, environmentalists, those involved in sustainability of natural resources, visitors interested in unique cultural exploration experiences and of course, families.

We hope that all participants will go away with:
· An increased awareness of the rich whale watching industry in the region
· A raised awareness of Nova Scotia as an experiential tourism market globally
· A raised awareness of marine mammals and a desire to inspire care for vital and unique whale habitats of Nova Scotia and other parts of the world

In addition, it is our hope for:
· Media coverage/social media
· A long term positive economic impact for this area of rural Nova Scotia
· Enhance partnerships in whale watching industry
· Building capacity in the region to host the festival and other events

As you can imagine, many activities of the event are still in the conceptualizing stage; areas that we are working on are:
· whale watching tours
· educational opportunities – workshops with leading whale experts from around the globe
· concerts, art installations, photography exhibits, community events and suppers; interpretive hikes, aboriginal cultural activities and art exhibits
· 50’ geodesic dome with a specially-created immersive whale show in 360º projection

Incidentally, when I googled “Fundy Whalefest,” I came across the video above. It has nothing to do with the new association, but I thought it was cool so I’m posting it here. The vid is produced by someone named Andrew Stevenson, who evidently used a drone to film it.

Women’s Wellness Within: An Organization Serving Criminalized Women
Halifax
President: Martha Jane Paynter. Directors: Paynter, Erin Fair, Clair Rillie, Hazel Ling, Emma Halpern
The women who have formed WWW have been working on an ad hoc basis since 2014 to provide prenatal and infant feeding services to criminalized women, and incorporating as a society is an effort to “bring it to a new level,” Paynter tells me over the phone. “When we started, we thought it would be just a matter of going into the prisons and providing support, but we soon found that there were just as many issues for criminalized women in the community, whether they are on parole or newly released.”

As an example of WWW’s prison work, Paynter mentions prenatal education — in Nova Scotia, the only provincial prenatal education program is Capital Health’s Welcome to Parenting, an online resource. But women in prison have no access to the internet, so can make no use of it.

WWW is having a launch celebration on Thursday, March 9, from 7 to 9pm at Art Bar + Projects on the Granville Mall (the former Brussels restaurant space). El Jones will read a poem, and there will be several other speakers. The public is invited.

Your Family Laundromat
348 Portland Street
Dartmouth
Partner: Kyoung Kim
With various owners, Your Family Laundromat has been operating since 1991 next to the Robbins Donuts across from Maynard Lake. Kim is the latest owner.

Stillwell Brewing Co. Ltd.
Halifax
President: Chris Reynolds
Stillwell Brewing is “basically a continuation of the beers we’ve been brewing via contract already; dry, farmhouse stuff,” Reynolds tells me over Twitter. “Difference is we have our own space and will focus on oak fermentation. Should be brewing within the next month, but the nature of this style of beer means we won’t likely have anything ready for release til late summer or early fall. Lotta bottles, very small releases.”

Goodfella’s Cafe
1673 Granville Street, Halifax
Agent: Tarek El-Bitar
Looks like the Halifax Club is going to get a gangster-themed… er, cafe? Don’t goodfellas hang out at the Copacabana?

Mabou School of Cape Breton Step Dance
Port Hood
Partner: Melody Cameron
Cameron is quite accomplished.

Sorage’s Pizza
99 Cobequid Road, Lower Sackville
Partner: Sorage Badour
Badour is taking over, and evidently rebranding, the Jessy’s Pizza next to the Cobequid Convenience Plus store.

Unchained Kitchen
2606 Agricola Street, Halifax
Partners: Lawrence Deneau and Ryan Wolfe
Deneau is the executive chef at The Bicycle Thief. Wolfe says he’s the co-owner of Crossfit Basinview, but there’s no business registered under that name. The Unchained Kitchen address is the former FRED building at the corner of Agricola and North, which Pete Luckett bought last year for $1.2 million. Luckett was supposedly going to turn the space into a “cidery and tasting bar,” but I guess that’s not happening.

Bad Neighbour Fisheries Limited
Grand River
President: Graham Roderick MacCuspic
Every week there is a handful of fishing enterprises that register as new businesses; I usually don’t make note of them because there’s nothing unusual about a guy buying a new boat or whatever. But the name of this business caught my eye. So I googled around and discovered that MacCuspic’s father died last week; there’s a nice obituary about him:

MacCuspic, Graham Murdock-Surrounded by love and in the company of his wife and three children, Graham passed away peacefully on Saturday, February 13, 2016, at the age of 61. Graham was a loving husband, father, brother and Grampie. He was the son of Murdo and Kay (Paterson) MacCuspic.

His ambition for work took him to Western and Northern Canada but he returned home to his beloved Grand River to raise a family and follow his true passion as a lobster/crab fisherman. Graham was a kind, mild mannered man who was quick to lend a hand to those who needed it and he never shunned hard work. He was known for his big smile and hearty laugh. He had a great sense of humour and enjoyed hearing and telling a good joke.

Graham was very proud of all his children and passed on to them many great qualities by the way he lived his life. He loved spending time with his granddaughters who were his pride and joy.

In his earlier years Graham was a member of the Grand River Fire Department and the cemetery committee. He served on the Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary and on the Richmond County School Board. Graham was also the president of the L’Archeveque Wharf Preservation Society for fifteen years.

Graham is survived by his wife, Margaret Ann (Gillan), sons Roddie (Chantelle) and Colin (Chelsea MacAulay) and daughter, Kate (Ashton Carter); granddaughters Brielle and Emmie; brothers Eldon (Dianne) and Maynard (Janine), many nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by his parents.

Looks like Roddie is taking over his dad’s business.