History- 20 Years in 2009

Penny's Fudge Factory has been owned and operated by the Gravel Family since 1989. The building itself has been part of the history of Fitzroy Harbour since Joe Ovington opened it in 1933 as a service station to repair vehicles used by the tradesmen who came to build the Chats Falls Dam. Joe passed away shortly thereafter and the service station came under the ownership of John and Christine (Ovington widow) Muldoon who converted it to a general store and it remained so for 45 years.

From 1978 to early 1989 the store fell into hard times with several owners coming and going, unable to make a go of it. In March of 1989 Judy and her husband Syd purchased the store and put the building now known as "Penny's Fudge Factory" back on the map. People from all over, as far away as Moscow, Russia, Yellowknife NWT and Pretoria, South Africa have tasted and still call upon Judy to ship them some of her famous fudge.

The building that houses Penny's Fudge Factory inspired one of Ben Babelowsky's original paintings and was featured in the Ottawa Citizen's "Sunday's Best Locales".

Penny's has been featured in "Career Section" and "Adventures Magazine" in the Ottawa Citizen Newspaper; CJOH Television's "Regional Contact" and CHRO Television's "A Sweet Success Story". "A" Channel viewers voted Penny's Fudge Factory Ottawa's best fudge for 2007. The story of Penny's Fudge Factory and it's success has attracted people from as far away as Australia who have come to visit Judy to get tips on how to create the right atmosphere for fudge lovers.

Judy is a founding member of the Ottawa Rural Tourism Committee and has been instrumental at creating a working group of small and local businesses throughout the rural environment of the City of Ottawa.