New business with deep family roots, McFee’s Car Wash celebrates grand opening

Tim Brody - Editor

Opening a new business in Sioux Lookout has been a labour of love for Savannah McFee.
McFee’s Car Wash celebrated its grand opening on July 31with a BBQ, cake and cupcakes, prize draw, and ribbon cutting with dignitaries.   
As McFee explained, the new business pays homage to her family, “This (property) was originally purchased by my grandpa (Wilf Perron) in 1967. He raised his family here. He had just moved to Sioux Lookout. This was his family home. He started Perron Contracting, which was born out of the back of this building, and he had the car wash.”
McFee continued, “When he retired, he sold it outside of the family and then I saw it was for sale. I wanted it to come back into the family and I knew that I would be able to refurbish it, so I bought it.”
Even the signage for the new business is a nod to her family’s history she said, “I feel like the property itself is almost a tribute to my mom’s side of the family because she was raised in this house. My mom being Paula Perron. Then the name is kind of a tribute to my dad (Les McFee), bringing back that iconic McFee logo, when you hear McFee’s Tavern (no longer in operation), everyone, it just puts a smile on their face. Everyone has good memories there.”
“It was kind of like a tribute really to both of my parents. My mom and my dad (both deceased), kind of pulling in my mom’s family history and my dad’s name,” McFee shared.
The new car wash sports a brighter, cleaner interior, wand wash with different soup settings, mat holders, vacuum, an automatic door opener, and the ability to drive straight through.
“When you pull up to the door, a sensor will open the door for you. It will detect when you’ve entered and it will close behind you, so there’s no having to get out and press buttons. When you leave, you just pull up a little further and it will detect you on the other end and open and close for you there. 
“This is such a busy corner and it had really been run down, so I was really looking forward to revamping this corner of the community. Everyone drives by here. I thought it would be nice to just clean this whole section up and bring this car wash back to life and make it a more enjoyable experience,” 
she commented.
The property is more than just the car wash she shared, with rental units in the car wash building and the house beside it.
Getting the new business opening was a process that took approximately two years McFee said.
“A lot of different contractors were involved in this. Perron Contracting was involved from the start. The day I took over, Darren Corbiere was here and he was such a big help. CU Pipe Plumbing – Patrick Flanagan did all the plumbing for all the buildings. He was amazing. Minnitaki Electric, which is Grant Anderson, he did the electrical for the house and Bower Electric did the car wash and then Grant also helped with the car wash... JJ Custom Homes, Jordan Jeffery, he helped with a lot of this as well. The whole exterior was done by Third Piglet Construction, they’re from Thunder Bay, but they came in and did an amazing job. LRPH Environmental & Mechanical - Toby Diston, he did all my propane. He was a really great help as well, him and Spencer. Of course a huge shout out to my cousin Gina McFee-Bernier because she was project managing this with me from the start, and also my grandmother Audrey McFee really helped out a lot. I just had a lot of family support,” she shared.
Turnout for the grand opening was steady, with smokies, having been donated by Fresh Market Foods, being gone in an hour.
Red Brick Café, Sioux Lookout Home Hardware, Kaden Anderson at Kolors Hair Design, Lesley (Starratt) at Cheers, Morgan Fuels, Jordan Jeffery from JJ Custom Homes, Cupcakes by Sweets by Savannah, and Charli’s Diner donated prizes for a draw at the grand opening. 
McFee said she plans for the car wash to be open 24 hours, possibly closed on really cold winter days.
“I’m so glad everyone was so patient. All I’ve heard for the last two years is just that we want to get this place open… it was such a project, so I’m grateful that everyone was patient with me through the learning experience of this and I’m just really excited the doors are open now and we can start washing cars,” McFee concluded.