Phyllis Bright moved with her family to the Meadowlark (Park) neighbourhood of Jasper Place from Winnipeg because, as she explained in a recent interview, “It was 1980 and interest prices were 18%. Our budget chose Meadowlark. Although, as it turned out, it was a great choice,” adding that, “[t]here are a lot of families who have had their kids move into houses in the area, even after their parents moved out.”
The Bright children attended the Edmonton Public Schools’ K-6 Meadowlark School at 91st Avenue and 160th Street, where Phyllis felt there was “strong parental support.” She, in fact, taught preschool there, and appreciated being able to “walk to and from school with [her] kids.”
She and her husband, Clive, were also very involved in the Meadowlark Community League as “board members [and] working the bingos and casinos.”
In the mid-‘90s, Phyllis and her husband, an engineer, wanted to become small business owners, and they came across The Flag Shop in 1994, a franchise that had opened in 1990 as part of a strip mall at 15507 Stony Plain Road. She explained, “I wanted to stay in the Stony Plain Road area because I think it’s a really wonderful area to work in.”
The Brights opened a second Flag Shop franchise in Calgary and, in 2020, the two shops merged to become The Flag Shop Alberta. At the beginning of January, 2022, the Jasper Place shop moved to 15802 100th Avenue. Acquiring the franchise seems to have suited Phyllis very well, as she describes herself as “a flag nerd.”[1]
Asked what running a business in the Stony Plain Road / Jasper Place is like, Phyllis explains:
I’m sure it’s not any different than any other area. There are people who will tell us that we have challenges in that area. Every area has challenges, both good and bad. We are a destination business rather than walking up and down looking for businesses. It works well for us, because we’re pretty accessible. Yes, there are challenges, but I like that there are a lot of different people who come in there. People who do come in live in the area and are happy to talk to us about living in the area, and there are people who come from all parts of the city. I think sometimes Stony Plain Road gets a bad rap.
Phyllis has become involved in a few business associations in the area, beginning with the Jasper Place Gateway Foundation in the late ‘90s, a group that planned various events in the area. She had a lot of fun with the Foundation work, and describes some of its events:
…the dirty buster derby, which was an event that swept the streets in the spring. We had teams and we worked against each other to see who was the most efficient. We had an event that utilized the parking lot at what was then Grant MacEwan and is now the Orange Hub. It was a chalk drawing event, and we had tons of people who came and drew pictures on the concrete parking lot.“
She is also a member of the West Edmonton Business Association as well as serving on the board of the Stony Plain Road Business Association.
As a Jewish person, she’s been involved with the community, but explains, “I never really was part of the Jewish community, [though] I did belong to Temple Beth Ora for a time.” She also says, “I’m proud to be Jewish; I’m happy to be a Jewish business owner [and] I will help my community in any way I can,” and then adds, “I will help any community in any way I can.”
In closing remarks, Phyllis shows her enthusiasm about the area she’s chosen to live in and to do business in:
In the 25 or so years that I’ve been in the area, first on Stony Plain Road and now a couple of blocks away, I’ve seen a lot of changes for the better. We still don’t have the reputation that we deserve. But I think that because of committed people, the revitalization group of people, the business association group of people, people who really want to plan events in the area to draw people to our area, I think it’s become a really strong, vibrant community. There are a lot of shops that perhaps 25 years ago wouldn’t have considered moving into our area but are now here. While there are a number of vacant buildings, that’s probably due more to the LRT construction than to anything else. I know a couple of other businesses who have had to move for whatever reason, and have stayed in the area. I think that says a lot about our area. I like being in that area. There’s so much to do; there are so many businesses. You really don’t have to leave the Stony Plain area to shop, because there’s everything that we need. I’m really pleased by the improvements that have happened and I’m really glad that we were able to find a space in the Stony Plain Road area.“
[1] Gary Lamphier, “Banner day as Maple Leaf flag turns 50,” The Edmonton Journal, February 14, 2015, p. C3.
