Expert advice, market reports, and tips from the Niagara Region real estate professionals.
There are a lot of special events and socials on the RE/MAX Garden City Realty calendar over the course of the year: Christmas Gala, Awards Celebration, Hackers Golf Tournament, Administrators Day just to name a few. And each has its unique flavor and I suppose claim to fame. But one of the all-time favorites is the end-of-summer Broker B.B.Q. held most recently at Henley Island in St. Catharines.
Once a year, society sets aside one special day to honour the support personnel that keep our companies running. It’s called Administrators’ Day and it generally falls in the last week of April. It’s a special day for us here at RE/MAX Garden City Realty because our administrative staff are very special indeed. In fact, they are amazing! We’ve taken a bit of liberty with the event by moving it from April to June. And the motivation for that transition is weather.
In a dynamic training session on May 9th, we focused on digital marketing integration. Complementing last month's Contact Management System session, our training on kvCORE website development promised to transform agent marketing for beginners and intermediates. Led by Michelle Bruce, our Director of Social Media Marketing & Development, and assisted by Christine Firth, this engaging workshop-style session centred around harnessing the power of kvCORE websites.
We used to have lots of meetings, back before Covid. In fact, in one of our many renovations in the past, we acquired space and designed a training centre, equipped with seating of course and work tables along with an overhead projector and wall-mounted screen. Adjacent to the training centre was our 50’s diner, designed to seat exactly the same number as the training centre and great for snack breaks and lunches when training went all day.
Every year, right at the end of February, RE/MAX International holds its annual convention. For many years, the location varied, always in the U.S., and always far enough south that it was below the snow line. But as the size of RE/MAX International grew, so did the size of the conventions. And with each growth spurt, the number of potential site locations dropped as there were fewer and fewer cities with the convention capacity to accommodate.
One of the highlights of the RE/MAX Garden City Realty social calendar is always our annual Christmas Gala, generally held a week to 10 days before Christmas. Of course there are a lot of social activities interspersed throughout the year: Hackers Golf, Broker Fall BBQ, Administrators’ Day, Awards Celebrations and Gala and numerous parties and celebrations. But our Christmas Gala is not to be missed. First held in 1984, our inaugural year, and every Christmas season since, it’s undergone a lot of changes of venue over that time. For a number of years it was held in Niagara Falls at the Commissioners Quarters. At the Old Stone Inn. Then at the Parkway Inn in St. Catharines, after which we moved to the St. Catharines Golf and Country Club, and most recently to Club Roma here in St. Catharines.
I am so proud of the men and women of RE/MAX Garden City Realty Inc., salespeople, brokers and support staff alike. And of course, our affiliate companies that are always so supportive: Dominion Lending Centres Easy Street Mortgages and Liddiard Law Group. They are always so willing to give. Regardless of the circumstances, when a need arises, they are there.
Over the years Halloween has taken on a lot of different shapes and sizes here at RE/MAX Garden City. Usually a party. Generally, a lot of agents decked out in creative costumes. Sometimes special prizes for the best outfit. Originally most of the activity happened at our front lobby. Walk in and you couldn’t help but notice it was Halloween. The decorations, including life size mannequins greeted you with a macabre ‘hello’.
