'Inspire a young generation': Newmarket YouTube sensation Peter McKinnon creating Main Street creators' hub

McKinnon one of more than 100 who attend Newmarket's first Arc Summit

Yorkregion.com
Dec. 6, 2022
Lisa Queen

To say hometown boy and YouTube sensation Peter McKinnon is an influencer is an understatement.

With almost six million subscribers and a channel that has amassed more than 500 million views, he has untold numbers of fans.

That includes a cult following he’s garnered with his Pete’s Pirate Life brand, which has built up a huge demand through McKinnon’s practice of making it virtually impossible to buy the items he sells.

It’s not unheard of for someone passing through Pearson International Airport to bump their flight to a later time in order to travel to Newmarket’s Main Street in hopes of a chance encounter with McKinnon or to get a look at a Newmarket location shown in one of his videos.

So, just imagine the crowds he will draw to Main Street when he opens his creators’ hub, retail store and tattoo shop in the Metropolis Mercantile + Cafe building at 183 Main St. S.

McKinnon shared some thoughts on the venture as well as his business endeavours at the Town of Newmarket’s first Arc Summit.

“I like being able to inspire a young generation everywhere. There’s a lot of people around the world who live in small towns like this and I think it’s cool for them to see this successful person who gets to travel the world and do all these cool things but still lives in a town that looks just like theirs. It embodies this. ‘I can do this too’ and I really find value in that” said McKinnon, who said he likes the “scrappiness” of Main Street.

“I want to foster that more. I want to figure out how I can make that even more of a destination for my audience and my fans where Main Street is the place where creators are coming up, like in 1856 where Newmarket was the place to drink during the Prohibition era.”

Held Nov. 29 at the Old Town Hall and other downtown spaces, the daylong Arc Summit invited “the dreamers and the doers, the technophiles, founders, digital natives, entrepreneurs, intrapreneurs, artrepreneurs and still-to-be-defined preneurs to spend the daydreaming big and celebrating the epic successes of Newmarket’s tech and business ecosystem. “

The dynamic day with more than 100 business owners, artists, students, employees and others came as Newmarket moves to position itself coming out of the pandemic as the Greater Toronto Area’s arts community, which will include a variety of ventures, from McKinnon’s creators’ hub to the Art Gallery of Ontario’s exhibits at the future Mulock Park and more.

“I truly believe that the period we’re in, as unique as it is and as disruptive as it is, is a time of opportunity. For those that don’t know me, I’m a bit competitive and I think communities are going to thrive and excel more than others and I think it’s going to depend on how you do things,” said mayor John Taylor, who laughingly took to the stage as We Built This City (On Rock and Roll) blared over the speakers.

“This council, this staff and this town, we’re not interested in managing Newmarket, that’s just not enough. We want to take Newmarket to a new level and place and every year to look to do more and to do better.”

In a high-energy presentation called Oops! Success Looks Like This, former rapper turned entrepreneur and the founder of award-winning tea company Daniel’s Chai Bar, Daniel Lewis smashed the idea that people have to follow conventional paths to success that dismiss so many gifted people.

He urged the audience to embrace success by design tailored to their business needs and desires, the need for a positive attitude and flexibility and the power of personality.

The summit also featured Beth Stevenson, executive producer of Brain Power Studios, TIEIT Inc. co-founder, Jessica Rawlley, Eco Guardian president Anil Abrol, Lotek Wireless CEO Dave Lotimer and high school students presenting ideas on how they would change the world.