BONNYVILLE – The grand reopening celebration for Vezeau Beach Campground is going to have to wait a little longer.
Council passed a motion during their May 19 committee meeting to delay the grand opening, which was scheduled for Friday, June 25, for a couple of reasons.
“COVID-19 restrictions on gatherings will likely still be in place for the June 25 date, work on the boat launch and mooring system won’t be completed by that time, and it’s recommended to have a big grand opening it would be ideal if everything was complete,” detailed Bowen Clausen, director of parks, recreation, and culture for the municipality. “Administration will advise council at a later date of a suitable grand opening following the completion of all the work at that time.”
Clausen estimated construction on the boat launch and mooring won’t start until later this summer and it should be completed before November 2021.
When asked by council an estimated date for the grand reopening, Clausen said either this upcoming fall or next year before camping season kicks off were when administration was thinking.
“Based on the boat launch and mooring system, if you wanted that fully completed, that would be the timeline.”
Coun. Darcy Skarsen suggested having it sometime this year due to the upcoming municipal election in October.
“If some of us aren’t here next year, it would be a shame to have a grand opening next year. It’s got to be this year,” he stressed.
After the MD took ownership of Vezeau Beach in March 2019, they took on a number of projects, big and small, to improve the campground.
There were a number of other projects the MD took on in regards to Vezeau Beach and the hope was to host the grand opening in June this year.
Included in the work as adding accessible stalls to the campgrounds. The MD received the Municipal Parks Enhanced Accessibility Project grant and intended to use the funds for another location. Once they required ownership of Vezeau Beach, the requested to add put the funds towards it instead and received approval from the province in April of last year.
