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For the past 37 years, Les Kadar has held several roles and impacted the community all while making the most intricate and timeless pieces out of concrete. gi chain link fencing
From an environmental activist, musician and craftsman, there is not much Kadar hasn't checked off his list.
Now, after 37 years in the business and endless stories and deep personal relationships that were made over garden ornaments, Garden Gate LTD. is officially closing.
"I think it's time. Not having a steady workforce and getting older just makes it clear," said Kadar.
Having immigrated to Canada from Hungary to escape the Soviet Union as a child, Kadar has only known hard work.
"When we came to Canada it took my father two days to find a job. He was never unemployed," he said.
Kadar took this idea of pulling yourself up by the bootstraps and making an honest living having worked his way up to international sales for 3-L Filters Ltd. in Cambridge in 1980.
When Kadar and his wife, Cambridge Mayor Jan Liggett, bought their first home in the 1980s, they went to a local shop called Garden Gate to buy decorations and ornaments for their property.
A few years later, when they bought a second home down the road, they returned to the little shop, but noticed something was off.
"So the Garden Gate owner was really letting the place go downhill," said Kadar. "We would go in there and there really wasn't anything worth buying anymore. It seemed like he wasn't taking it seriously."
After suggesting to the owner that he sell the place, the next thing they knew, they were new business owners.
Taking over the garden ornament business was no easy task. Neither Kadar nor Liggett had prior experience making concrete moulds or building statues.
But the pair quickly gained a reputation for being honest and producing great work.
In 1991, Garden Gate moved into the former Nicholson's Tavern in Blair where they would stay for the next decade.
This is where Kadar and Liggett would be pushed to the brink of exhaustion, almost losing their business.
"We were dealing with a lot at that time and we really saved that land from becoming nothing more than a gravel pit," said Kadar.
The land around the tavern was owned by the University of Guelph and Kadar along with other concerned residents banded together to create the Cruickston Charitable Research Reserve, saving over 900 plus acres from being developed.
The organization would later be renamed the rare Charitable Research Reserve, headquartered at the old Lamb's Inn property while Garden Gate moved to a new location on Pinebush Road.
The garden ornament business was booming and Kadar welcomed customers from all over the province to buy birdbaths, statues and fountains.
"I could spend 40 minutes with a customer and they wouldn't even buy anything. We would talk about what would fit on their property and a few times I talked them out of buying something," he said. "They would always come back with a clearer picture of what they wanted and I would help make that happen."
Over the past decade, Kadar noticed a shift in some of the workers in the field as it started to become harder to hire long-term and dedicated employees.
"We would hire students from Conestoga and some would even have night classes. It worked and it was amazing. This went on for close to 18 years," he said.
"We always had people working here for multiple years, but then the wheels just started to fall off."
Now after nearly 40 years in the business, Kadar is ready to take off his work boots, clean off the concrete dust and get back to other hobbies that make him happy.
"I am a musician and I have four grandkids, so they're always calling me to come and pick them up. There will be plenty for me to do."
Garden Gate Ltd. has now made some of the last ornaments they will ever produce. All items are for sale including the moulds that they used to make the bird baths, statues and other pieces.
Looking back, Kadar is grateful for all of the customers who supported the business over the years and thanks anyone who has ever bought one of his pieces.
"It really means a lot and I truly loved my work," he added. "You are involved with every process and it's like you're selling your kids and you never get them back."
Garden Gate will officially be closed by April 30.
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