Photo from left, Halley Clover, Executive Director of the Huntsville\/Lake of Bays Chamber of Commerce, The HUB Co-founder and Manager Erin Horvath, Huntsville Mayor Nancy Alcock, and The Hub Co-founder Graham Thompson.<\/p>\n
The HUB members and friends gathered at 1 Crescent Road on Oct. 29, 2025, to celebrate 10 years of social innovation, entrepreneurship, collaboration, and a unique co-working space.<\/p>\n
The Hub is a project of New Vision Unlimited, a not-for-profit community development organization founded in 2007. \u201cThis is one of our projects and we started it because in our riding, so Parry Sound\/Muskoka, there\u2019s about 10 per cent more entrepreneurs than in most other ridings [in Ontario],\u201d explained The Hub co-founder and manager Erin Horvath. \u201cBecause some of the businesses in the area left, people, by choice or circumstance, found themselves in the position of needing to make their own living.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said how The Hub was conceived is that co-founder and former manager Graham Thompson was looking for a place to run a specific business he was involved in at the time, \u201cand when we were looking around, everything we found just didn\u2019t quite match and was too expensive,\u201d recalled Horvath. \u201cSo the community developers in us, we looked at \u2018how could we create a solution for not just us but other people as well.’\u201d<\/p>\n
She said they started putting the pieces together with the goal of creating not just a place for people to work, but also a place to connect on a human level and build a collaborative network.<\/p>\n
Today, as The Hub celebrates its 10th anniversary, it interacts with an estimated 300 businesses annually. \u201cAnd so any time there is something that we want to tackle and look at, we just have to ask people, you know, come together and tell us what you know about this particular challenge, and can we address it, if so, how?\u201d explained Horvath, adding that The Hub is a thriving community of entrepreneurs and leaders who are doing amazing things in the area and are working together to help each other grow and thrive.<\/p>\n
The Hub also offers meeting and work space, high-speed Internet, and talks on specific subjects.<\/p>\n
Huntsville Mayor Nancy Alcock and Halley Clover, executive director of the Huntsville\/Lake of Bays Chamber of Commerce, presented the co-founders of The Hub with a certificate of appreciation for their work over the last ten years in the community.<\/p>\n
Alcock remembered the co-founders presenting their idea at council ten years ago, and said that the idea of creating a social enterprise that would have an incredible economic impact on the community was exciting and outside of the norm. Alcock also said that the initiative became a catalyst for other things in the area. \u201cI\u2019m just incredibly proud and very thankful,\u201d said the Mayor.<\/p>\n
Clover described the initiative as a wonderful think tank in the community. \u201cI\u2019m proud as the chamber, I\u2019m proud that you\u2019re a part of our chamber and it\u2019s just a wonderful asset that we have here to create such an economic development.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thompson also thanked Mike Harrower for holding space for The Hub, which started with just one office and grew.<\/p>\n
Horvath thanked all of The Hub members and supporters, and the Muskoka North Good Food Co-op for co-locating with The Hub. \u201cIt wouldn\u2019t be the same kind of place if you know we were in a food desert.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lean more about The Hub HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t miss out on Doppler!<\/p>\n