Woodlawn Regional Park is among the attractions facing an uncertain future this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but they still hope to have seasonal camping at the very least this year.
In a post on its Facebook page Thursday evening, the park said it will continue to monitor the situation, but they have not officially delayed the opening date of their season.
They have suspended short-term bookings and are in communication with their seasonal campers regarding the 2020 camping season.
“We are taking a hopeful and positive ‘wait and see’ approach as we deal with our current situation,” said park business manager Maureen Daoust. “We can't wait until our parks can be safely opened and available for everyone's enjoyment.”
The park traditionally allows seasonal campers to bring their trailers down May 1, and the gate house is open from the Victoria Day long weekend in mid-May to the Labour Day long weekend in early September.
“We don’t want to make any rash decisions. Obviously we’re following the protocols the best we can from the chief medical officer.”
Short-term bookings had opened March 15. Some short-term campsites had been booked from March 15-April 2.
They also had seasonal sites booked for the summer. Some seasonal campers said they wouldn’t be back this year, but others were looking forward to their first summer of seasonal camping.
She recognizes the current economy might force some people to abandon their seasonal camping plans.
A regional park would have some risks with the spread of COVID-19, particularly with short-term bookings and people who travel to the park from out of town. For seasonal campers, the park is almost a second home, and therefore similar to a cottage or a cabin during the summer season.
Daoust has been in contact with the other regional parks in close proximity to Woodlawn, including Mainprize, Moose Creek, Nickle Lake and Oungre Memorial.
“We’re trying to just create a communication group between all of the managers, just trying to provide some consistency, however, keeping in mind that all regional parks offer different levels of amenities. Primarily we’re campgrounds, but even if we were to open just for our seasonal campers, we could accommodate them.”
With full service sites, people could camp and stay in their own site with access to potable water, sewer and 30-amp power. Other Saskatchewan regional parks don’t offer sewer services, so they need to have their public washroom open, which is not recommended at this time.
Other amenities such as washrooms, playground equipment and more that could be an issue as far as transferring the virus.
“We have a lot of user groups that use the park.”
The TS&M Woodlawn Golf Club, Fresh Air Fitness, a dog park, a free park, sports facilities and two halls that are rented out are all found within the park.
“The safety of all of those people is our No. 1 concern, and as soon as we can safely open, and allow everyone to come in and enjoy our park, we’re anticipating that,” said Daoust.
