Newmarket is losing a pair of its most notable entrepreneurs now that Lisbeth and Ole Madsen have sold their greenhouse and banquet hall on Bayview Parkway after 50 years.
The married couple has decided to retire after the COVID-19 pandemic made it painfully clear that now was time to move on and enjoy their golden years.
"We have gone through three major depressions, recessions and whatever, and still survived. But this pandemic has been the worst, not only for us, but for the whole self-employed community," said Ole.
"Truthfully, since the middle of March last year, we have been losing $30,000 every week. Every week. So we have been major losers in this, so we have sold the place because, by now, we have pretty much depleted our life savings."
The Madsens have sold the venue to a Toronto businessperson who owns multiple event halls and other businesses and plans to continue operating the greenhouse banquet hall much as it is now. The proceeds of the sale will go to funding the couple's retirement.
The Madens feel as though the government punished them for responsibly saving money for years, leading them to not qualify for any assistance during the pandemic.
"We didn't get one cent from the government," said Ole. "But we survived. We had enough to buy a condo in downtown Toronto where we are moving from here, and we will end up in Victoria, where our son and grandson are. We are both 75, so it's time."
Madsen's Greenhouse has had many lives over those five decades.
Founded by Lisbeth's Danish immigrant father, who had worked as a greenhouse manager before the family's move to Canada. After her father's early death, she and Ole bought the greenhouses from her mother for market value in 1971.
When asked about how she feels about selling her family's home and business, Lisbeth said she is ready.
"It's a new chapter for our lives, so it's time. My parents came over from Denmark with four kids in 1956, so it's been a long, long time," she said.
After purchasing the business, the young couple started out as a production greenhouse and ended up being pioneers of the Ontario industry in their day.
"We were the first greenhouse in Ontario, maybe in Canada, to mass-produce house plants, which was unheard of in the early 1970s. House plants were not produced in Ontario then," said Ole.
"We were also the first greenhouse to mass produce those papier-mâché round hanging baskets. We used to sell almost 2,000 of those baskets every year in the springtime."
"We were also selected by the Ontario Growers Association to make a flower exhibition for the New York Flower Show one spring. So it's been an interesting life. Every 10 years, it seems like we reinvent ourselves."
One of the most important reinventions occurred after the couple decided to renovate the interior of their greenhouse retail store and garden centre that they had opened years earlier to sell their plants directly to customers.
With a new stone floor installed, the couple realized they had a uniquely beautiful space and even began eating dinner in the greenhouse occasionally. They hadn't thought of using it as a wedding venue, as the trend of having weddings in unique locations hadn't started yet.
"When we started the wedding business, you couldn't get married in a barn or anywhere like that. It was all traditional churches and banquet halls," said Ole.
It wasn't until a longtime customer came in and asked to be allowed to have their wedding inside the greenhouse that the businesses' life as an event venue took off.
"We only had that one person that first year, the next we had three, and it just grew from there," he said.
"People laughed at us at first, and you have to remember that back then, we had a five-foot ditch with a bridge over it to get to the door, which was just a normal door. We also had pallets of bricks and fertilizer everywhere and garden centre items out front where the bride had to come in. But it still took off.
"Other people took notice of us, and that's when the tree farms started and then the barns. Now there are weddings everywhere."
Eventually, the wedding business became so big that the greenhouses became a full-time event venue, and now the place is regularly booked two years in advance by brides and grooms from across the entire Greater Toronto Area.
Aside from weddings, Madsen's Greenhouse has also been used as a filming location for movies and commercials for companies such as Canadian Tire, which spent a week shooting a series of barbecue commercials.
The Madsens also regularly gave back to the community by allowing the venue to be used for public and charitable events for free.
The couple said they will have many fond memories of running the greenhouse, including the time that former U.S. president Barack Obama's personal secretary came to a wedding, so the Secret Service had to scout out the venue in advance for security purposes.
That was not the only bigwig to come to the greenhouse over the years.
"We have hosted premiers, prime ministers, Adrienne Clarkson before she became governor general," said Ole.
"We had Master Chef shoot here in 2009; that was pretty neat," added Lisbeth.
Newmarket has changed a lot in the years since they first started their business. When they were young, the town had fewer than 10,000 people living there. The couple thanks the community for the past several decades.
"We have gotten as much out of this community as we have given. This has been a great community, if anything, we will miss our friends and surroundings the most. We will miss being able to walk downtown and say hi to our friends and acquaintances. So there is some sadness that we are leaving the community," said Ole.
Those who would like to say goodbye to the Madsens are invited to take part in a drive-by parade being organized by former Newmarket-Aurora MP Lois Brown.
You are asked to gather at the park on Bayview Parkway (first parking lot north of Madsen's on the east side of the park) before 2 p.m. on Sunday, March 21. The procession will go by the greenhouse where the Madsens will be watching and waving to people as they go by.
"I just could not see them leave town without someone recognizing the enormous contribution they have made to this community," said Brown.
"Our community has been the recipient of their kindness and generosity. This is our opportunity to demonstrate our gratitude for their decades of support and to wish them well."
