Businessman pitches plan to provide fun for youth
By Chris Fell - Express Staff

John Sawyer a resident of London who is developing a business idea called The Georgian Fun Zone attended Meaford council's meeting Monday night to outline his proposal for council and the public.

Sawyer said he is interested in building a 10,000 square/foot indoor facility that will include: Laser Tag, an 18 hole miniature golf course, Legozone, sports video games, fooseball and other table games, a party room and a comfort zone.

Sawyer said the facility would operate year round, be geared towards this region's youth population and may be constructed from the ground up as a sports dome facility or using existing warehouse space in the area.

"I want to bring something to the community for young kids or for 80 year olds," said Sawyer. "I plan to market this and bring in people from outside the community," he added.

Sawyer said he has an extensive background in sales, marketing and advertising with a number of companies. He said he knows how to draw visitors to such an attraction and all he needs now is a place to put his Georgian Fun Zone.

He cited an Ontario government report that said the Georgian Triangle suffered from "a dearth of weatherproof indoor activities." He said it was his goal to put an end to that "dearth."

"I'm focusing on the youth community in the area and would like to offer a place for kids to come and have a good time," said Sawyer.

He said his facility would not be an arcade or pool hall. It would only feature sports video games and not games popular for violence and sexual content. Nor would the facility feature pool tables. Georgian Fun Zone would not be licensed to serve alcohol either.

He said Laser Tag is currently the fast growing indoor recreation activity and said it was a very safe and fun thing for youths to do with their spare time.

"I've been talking with people in the community up here and I just need a place to put this. Our original idea was to put up a sports dome, but it's hard to find 10,000 square feet for that project," said Sawyer.

He said he was investigating sites in Meaford, The Blue Mountains and Collingwood for potential places and noted that there was 14,000 square feet of warehouse space at Scott Clay Products/The Factory Outlet that was available.

"The Scott Clay site is there, but it's not necessarily the environment I want to create," said Sawyer, noting that his sports dome idea would be more esthetically pleasing than the conversion of warehouse space.

Councillor Harley Greenfield pointed out that the activities mentioned by Sawyer were not "terribly exercise oriented," and he wondered if something like indoor rock climbing could be incorporated into the idea to also provide a fitness aspect to the facility.

Sawyer said indoor rock climbing was possible, but he had no intention of competing with the plentiful outdoor activities this area has to offer. "I don't want to compete with Mother Nature. I couldn't compete with something like the Georgian Trail," said Sawyer.

Deputy Mayor Robert Reid suggested Sawyer contact the Meaford and District Chamber of Commerce for more information about this area. While councillor Sam Luckhardt asked about pricing and the cost of using the facility.

Sawyer said the facility would be relatively inexpensive and he would certainly be offering family and season passes and special senior's programs for mini-golf. He said all the towns and areas he was considering for the projects have strengths and weaknesses, but that he hadn't made a final decision yet.

"I know how to get people here, it's just a question of where this is going to be," said Sawyer.