A local business owner is turning tragedy into a chance to give back.

After a devastating fire in 2016 gutted local bike shop Country Cycle in Winkler, the community responded to help get owner Peter Loewen back on his feet raising over $22,000 to help cover lost merchandise and transition the shop to a new location.

Now that staff are settled in their new location, Loewen says they wanted to turn a bad memory into a positive one by selling the remaining merchandise salvaged from the fire and giving the proceeds to a good cause. All proceeds from the Fire Sale last weekend went towards the Manitoba Firefighters Burn Fund.

Loewen says two years later he's finally able to move on from the traumatic arson. "It was probably the biggest headache of my life, but 2018 feels like the first time I haven't had to deal with the remnants of the fire, there's always more paperwork to be done... there are always things that follow you for a while after a big event like that. Now we seem to be in a groove here at the new store."