Camgrounds at Eiling Kramer and Battlefords Provincial Park have enjoyed a much busier spring in 2021. (Josh Ryan/battlefordsNOW Staff)

By battlefordsNOW Staff

Booked up

Campgrounds continue to fill in Saskatchewan

May 24, 2021 | 4:09 PM

Despite damp outdoor conditions, Saskatchewan residents have continued to flock to campgrounds since they opened earlier this spring.

The reservation launch from the province in April saw a 110 per cent increase in bookings compared to 2020 and a 65 per cent increase from 2019. Seasonal sites in particular were filled within two days. Battlefords Provincial Park Manager Angie Carver said it was a busy start to their season, especially since they weren’t able to open until June last year.

“There are sometimes years where there’s one or two [seasonal sites] left over, but they all went the first day,” she said.

Since being opened up to full capacity, Carver said the park has even been busy during weekdays, with increased numbers of groups utilizing the hiking trails and other parts of the park. She said week-to-week, there’s still plenty of spots to fill, but expects things to get increasingly busy when school ends, with lots of visitors showing excitement at getting away from many of the pandemic restrictions they live with in their communities.

“Numbers change a lot, but there were a lot of bookings and a lot of hopeful people looking to enjoy the park,” she said.

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The Battlefords Provincial Park utilized some of the time off last summer to get started on projects they couldn’t have otherwise during a normal season. Some of the additions include a dog park, bike track and a water park, the latter coming later in June.

“It’s a company that provides service in other provincial parks,” Carver said. “Once temperatures warm up, they set up and people can get their wrist bands, sign their waivers and enjoy the park.”

In order to compensate for an increased number of people out in the latter half of summer, when Saskatchewan is likely going to be at the requirements for Step 3 of its Reopening Road Map. Carver said there’s already several weddings booked and other gatherings that weren’t allowed in the park last year, so the staff has electrified more group sites to increase capacity for group bookings.

“There’s going to be a lot more availability for groups to get together at electrical sites and still kind of stay together in family units,” she said.

Local campsites also being filled

Joe Mills, Manager of Eiling Kramer Campground in Battleford, said they’re also much busier than last year and especially busy for May. Thanks to long term campers working construction north of North Battleford, as well as a more than doubling of local campers, the site rarely had free space.

“Right now our full service sites are almost full, we only have one left,” Mills said. “We get all our spring bookings from the middle of June through July, where kids have gotten out of school.”

One of the biggest surprises for Mills has been the number of locals who book weekends or individual days, just to be able to relax and have a campari (though campfires have been banned over the past month) and the number of campers from their neighbouring provinces. The campground has lost many campers who would either travel from the United States or Eastern Canada while making their way to Alaska, resulting in two stops between the summer and the fall. However, due to the demand from Saskatchewan residents, and slowly Alberta residents, spots are still being filled.

“This year, we’re just open for Canadians so far and it’s been busy,” Mills said.

By the end of July, slots will begin to open up when construction crews leave and events like an annual dog show take place in August. However, Mills said they should be able to accommodate plenty of people.

“We have lots of power sites with water still,” he said. “There’s plenty of room.

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cjnbnews@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @battlefordsNOW