Skuce Repairs is now firmly settled into their new facility at 4384 Ninth Line Road, north of Winchester. Tinkess Photo

OSGOODE – Many businesses, if they suffered a catastrophic fire as Skuce Repairs did on Boxing Day 2021, might have considered whether they wanted to rebuild or not, That, however, was never a consideration for the Skuce family. Not surprisingly for a family-owned ag related business, they weren’t prepared to let something like a fire stop them. They started almost immediately salvaging what they could and continued doing some work in their garage and paint shop while waiting for the insurance payment to be received.

A lot of time has passed since then. In the interim they worked out of other buildings; some they owned and others belonging to friends and customers to which they were given access.

At the time of the fire, Linda Skuce, who established the business in 1988 with her husband Albert, told the AgriNews how unbelievable the support from friends, family, and the community at large had been. “You cannot believe the support that we have,” said Skuce. “It has been absolutely incredible. We cannot believe just how good people are.”

Now, with their new building fully functional, the Skuce family felt it was time to say thank you to everyone who helped them get through it all, and they did so by holding an open house at their new shop. Located at 4384 Ninth Line Road, north of Winchester.

It was quite the event: There were cars parked on both sides of the road probably ¾ of a kilometre north and south of the property. Vintage Iron and Traditions of Eastern Ontario organized a tractor parade that pulled up in front of the shop. Many of the tractors had at some point passed through one of the Skuce facilities. There was music, there was food, (Pork on a bun by Oink Oink Acres and Fries by Fries by Charity in support of the Osgoode Care Centre), and there were tours of the shop.

Most importantly, however, there were people. Friends, family, customers past, present and future, and more goodwill than you could fit into the new shop, even if the doors were open.

Multiple generations of the Skuce family, Linda, Ron, Barry, Rebecca and Aaron moved to the front of the shop for the “formal” portion of the event and started out by offering thanks for all the help they had received. “We would like to thank you all for showing up today,” said Barry, “This day is all about thanks. We have been so blessed since our fire by the outpouring from the community, the community, the farming and rural community that we serve has got to be the best in the world. We want to thank each and every one of you. We want to thank God for the greatness of life. Today a beautiful day. We’ve not had a beautiful week. We’ve got a beautiful today!”

Next to speak was Linda, and her message was short , but heartfelt. “I just want to say thank you so much to all of you. Everybody, all of you, everybody, I’m so thankful that you’ve all come. Thank you.”

Ron Skuce, who reportedly doesn’t enjoy public speaking, echoed what had been said by his family. “Thanks,  thanks everybody for coming out. It’s great to have you all here,” said Ron. “Like everybody’s been saying, thank you so much for all you’ve done for us.

“Because there’s been a great support from all the people and everybody that’s worked here and donated and put in the time. I’d really like to thank you, because without you people, we wouldn’t be here. Thanks a lot.”

Vintage Iron and Traditions of Eastern Ontario (VITEO) organized the tractor parade, and director Henry Staal presented the Skuce family with their latest collector toy tractor, a Massey 98. VITEO’s President, Carson Hill, also presented a $1,000 cheque for the Osgoode Care Centre. (All fundraising from the grand reopening was to be donated to the Care Centre as well.)

With the speeches complete, and with there still a lot of food to be eaten and music to be enjoyed, some started to slowly filter away, but even as they did, they had to leave with a better understanding of what it means to be a true friend and neighbour, and that the greatest repayment you can receive is a simple thank you.