By Bryan Eneas

Horn family’s contributions to P.A. honoured with Legacy Award

Mar 14, 2017 | 5:00 PM

A downtown Prince Albert business owner has been announced as this year’s Legacy Award winner.

The Legacy Award recognizes a long-time business owner or family who have made positive contributions to the wider community.

The 2016 winner is the Horn family, who own the Fresh Air Experience on Central Ave.

“It’s quite a pleasant surprise, it’s an honour, it’s humbling to be chosen to have your name put on a plaque with all those other families and individuals who have passed before us and had a significant impact on the city of Prince Albert,” Horn said during an interview with paNOW.com.

He chalked winning the award up to a reflection of how the city and residents of Prince Albert view his shop and its community-driven efforts.

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“We try and give back to the community, because it’s the community which allows us to keep our doors open,” Horn said. “We feel that if we support the community in every aspect – and it’s not just financial, it’s [being] involved in clubs, executives and the board of directors of varying organizations… we’ve given countless hours in volunteer time back to the community.”

The shop first opened its doors in May of 1979, which Horn attributed to “a variety of factors.”

“We looked at Prince Albert – the cross country skiing potential around here was awesome,” Horn said. “There was awesome trails here at Little Red, even at that time.”

He said a number of customers made the trip to the Saskatoon location from the North, which lead him to believe there was potential for good business to come from the Prince Albert area. 

“When we looked at other options, we looked at Lloydminister, we looked at Yorkton. We just felt that they were a little bit too small for a specialty store like ours,” he said. “After moving here… it was a bit of an eye opener, it was a totally different market place than the Saskatoon market place was.”

He said it’s been “pure determination to make it work,” which has kept Fresh Air Experience in Prince Albert. He thanked his wife, Shelley, for sticking with it through the first few years, which he called “very, very tough.”

Horn said he’s content doing what he’s doing with Fresh Air Experience for now; aside from wishing for more time away to focus on family, he said he’s got no plans to change things up in the future.

Ron, along with his wife Shelly and their sons Mike and Jon will be honoured with a brunch on April 6 at the Travelodge.

Bryan.Eneas@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @BryanEneas