The Quinte West Chamber of Commerce will be hosting its 2019 President’s Dinner and AGM on Thursday, March 28at Occasions by the Bay in Bayside. This is a special night in Quinte West where the business community comes together to recognise the accomplishments of its Chamber, the success of its business community and to pay their respects to this year’s Honourary Life Time Membership recipient Mark Phillips.
“It is our honour this year to recognize Mark Phillips with a Honourary Lifetime Membership,” said Quinte West Chamber president Amber Darling. “Mark is the embodiment of the Canadian Entrepreneur, starting his first business at 13 years old selling comic books at school in Jamaica, immigrating to Canada to start with very little before starting his own business selling a variety of products from town to town until 1985 when he opened his first retail shop and started in the fireworks business. Thirty-four years later Mystical Distributing is the number one distributer of fireworks in Canada and now partners with four other companies to sell fireworks around the world. His contributions to Quinte West have made a real impact on our community and I can’t think of a more deserving person for this award.”
Mark is well know in the Quinte area for his company Mystical Distributing and the retail shop onsite in Trenton that sells fireworks, glow sticks, flags and a variety of other products. For the past several years, Mystical Distributing has put on, at a significant cost to the company, the largest, most spectacular fireworks show in the Quinte Region during the Trenton DBIA Festival on the Bay. Mark is also invested in other businesses in Quinte West including PropertyGuys.com, Trenton Self-Storage, Wooler Homes Ltd., and RUSH and has purchased or built numerous commercial & industrial properties in Quinte West. Mark is a big supporter of 8 Wing Trenton and the personnel of the Canadian Armed Forces. Every year he puts out a Remembrance Day Memorial Display at his property on Sidney St., this past year it featured 2600 Canadian Flags displayed in the grass and a huge banner in front of the banner. This is just one example of his generosity, he also contributes to numerous events and causes including many area Children’s Foundations throughout the region and is a member of the Quinte West YMCA Strong Kids Campaign. Over the years, Mark has sat on numerous committees and boards and as a past Rotarian, he still supports the Rotary Auction by storing donations at his warehouse and delivered them to the event.
“The efforts that Mark has made to make his local community a better place to live for everyone has been very impactful,” said chamber manager Suzanne Andrews. “On top of being a very successful businessman he still finds the time to really give back to his community. Mark works hard but knows how to have fun and he is well known for his sense of humour that he uses on his road signs and to help raise money for his charitable work. Mark has helped out numerous other businesses in the area and is a true ambassador for the entire business community.”
The Honourary Life Time Membership is awarded to local business people that have given freely of their time and expertise over the years to contribute to the growth of our community. Past recipients of this award are: Lt. General Howard Graham; Dr. W.A.L. McDonald; Wilf Wilkinson; Ian Darling; Doug Whitley; Eban James Sr.; Phil Panelas; Paul Tripp; Peter Davis; Rob Brown; Hugh O’Neil; Tom Kotsovos, John Williams, John Smylie, Paul Whitley and Mike Cowan.
If you would like to attend, tickets are available to the dinner and awards, which features a full course dinner by Occasions By the Bay and live music. Tickets are $80 per person and can be purchased online at www.quintewestchamber.ca or at the Chamber office 613-392-7635.
