The Eiling Kramer Campground has felt the effects of COVID-19 restrictions this summer, but remain confident in a positive turnout at the grounds this long weekend. (Josh Ryan/battlefordsNOW Staff)

By Martin Martinson

Summertime camping

Local parks and campsites see unique challenges this summer

Sep 3, 2020 | 3:00 PM

It has been a unique summer for parks and campgrounds across the province this year, as the COVID-19 pandemic brought with it a number of different challenges to hurdle, throughout the summer camping season.

From early restrictions on capacity limits and a later opening to the camping season in general; to increased sanitizing standards and other safety practices, the summer of 2020 has been quite unlike any before.

Eiling Kramer Campground

Among those feeling the effects of the recent pandemic has been the Eiling Kramer Campground, located on the south end of Battleford, next to Fort Battleford.

Campground Manager, Joe Mills, said restrictions to out-of-province campers through the first month, coupled with the closed Canada-U.S. border were two stipulations that were especially tough on business this year.

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He said generally their campground draws quite heavily on those passing through from neighbouring provinces and/or from the States.

“We get a lot of people who come here from out of province to visit family and we get a lot driving through the province stopping here on their way to B.C.,” he said. “Our numbers were way down because we weren’t allowed to have anybody from Alberta or out of province for the first while and then, July 1 when we did open to the rest of the provinces, by that time people had decided to go other places or just not take in camping this year.”

Mills said in addition to the usual summer camping crowd, there are also generally around 10 to 20 American hunters who stop in with their trailers each fall; and others too, who stop by on their way to Alaska. However, due to the ongoing border restrictions, that also will not happen this year.

If there is perhaps one bright spot of the season, it may be the upcoming Labour Day weekend. Mills said they do expect a good turnout for the final long weekend of summer, ahead of back-to-school season for the local kids.

“Especially if it’s nice on Friday, people are going to come in and spend at least a couple of nights here,” he said. “It will be just local [traffic], so it will be people bringing their kids for the last campfire of the year.”

Meota Regional Park has seen consistent numbers with another positive turnout this year, despite the new restrictions in place this summer. (Facebook/Meota Regional Park)

Meota Regional Park

For other camping grounds, such as the Meota Regional Park, the changes this year have had limited affects – if any at all – on business this summer.

Office manager with the park, Courtney Johnson, said they feature predominantly campers from the local area, making restrictions outside the province less of a factor.

“We do get a lot of people from North Battleford, Unity, and Wilkie, so a lot of them are from the area, but we do also get some Alberta campers,” she said. “Our park is [also] 50 per cent seasonal, so a lot of them were going to be here anyways; but our other sites, like our day-to-day sites, have been really full all summer too.”

While there has certainly been an adjustment this year to the operations side of things, Johnson said the overall number of campers did not seem to be really affected whatsoever by the COVID-19 situation.

“There’s just a lot more cleaning precautions, really,” Johnson said of the differences this summer. “We have been really cleaning the park and the bathrooms even more than we would have last year, but I would say we still had about the same number of campers throughout the summer.”

Moreover, Johnson said they too expect a big weekend ahead, for Labour Day.

“This is probably one of the busiest September long weekends that we’ve had in a while,” she said. “I think that’s mostly due to school starting later this year, but it’s nice to see, for sure.”

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Martin.Martinson@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: MartyMartyPxP1