Victoria Row

The stretch of Richmond Street in downtown Charlottetown between Queen Street and Great George Street.

Named after Queen Victoria, Victoria Row is arguably the best collection of Victorian-era commercial buildings in Charlottetown. The street is closed to vehicles every summer to become a "pedestrian mall."

In the early 1990s, I was working at the PEI Crafts Council and my boss, Irene Arsenault, came into my office one day and said "how would you like to be President of the Victoria Row Business Owners Association?" I didn't know how to respond, and before I knew what was happening, I was installed. I was the unlikeliest of people to head up the organization: I wasn't a business owner, I wasn't an Islander, and my connection to the street was tenuous, as my contract was up shortly thereafter. In retrospect all of those things allowed me to be somewhat effective, as because I had no stock in the project, I didn't fall into one of the "camps" that inevitably evolve out of such projects ("the restaurant owners," "the craft shop owners," "the street musicians," and so on). My greatest role was to keep the bona fide business owners from killing each other.

A few years after I left the organization, the group secured funding to "cobblestone" the street, and the result is actually quite pleasant. Ironically, our house at 100 Prince St is only a block away, so we're among the great beneficiaries of the project as it's an important part of our neighbourhood. So now, 10 years later, I do have a stock.