Camping is growing in popularity in Saskatchewan.
Wildfires, fire bans, blocked-off highways and cooler-than-average temperatures await campers looking to spend time outside this May long weekend, but many people are willing to soldier through.
A weekend of bizarre weather has been forecast for the province. A wildfire near Prince Albert has also hurt the air quality in the area and forced the closure of Highway 55 north of the city before it reopened Thursday.
Throw in COVID-19 restrictions, and you have an informal start to summer like no other.
Despite those factors, very few people are cancelling their reservations.
Robin Campese, the executive director of visitor experiences with the Ministry of Parks, Culture and Sport, said only 27 people had cancelled sites throughout the entire province as of Thursday evening.
The Government of Saskatchewan has launched a new reservation site that will launch April 12, the same day that reservations for seasonal campsites for all parks that offer seasonal camping. Nightly, camp accessible, group, equestrian and rec hall reservations will be open for provincial parks in the following days. Robin Campese, the executive director of visitor experiences, said that they have a couple of new features that they are excited about, including gift cards and a new program called Camping This Weekend. There is some great pieces of functionality on there; Camping This Weekend is a really great little piece of functionality campers can click on there, see what is available across the entire park system for the upcoming weekend, which is really a big one for us because I think people think we are just full all the time, she said.
Posted: Apr 11, 2021 6:00 AM CT | Last Updated: April 11
Reservations are staggered for provincial parks starting on April 12. (Shutterstock) comments
People can start booking their campsites throughout Saskatchewan next week, but it will look different than the 2020 season.
All sites will be open to book, instead of the half capacity from last year, and all facilities will be open with enhanced COVID-19 cleaning protocols. We saw an influx of people last year, which was wonderful. I think the pandemic has resulted in people taking a keener interest in the outdoors and we personally love that, Robin Campese, executive director of visitor experiences with Sask. Parks, told CBC Saskatchewan s
REGINA Saskatchewan Provincial Parks are gearing up for camping season with the launch of reservation bookings next month. Reservations launch on April 12 and run through April 23. Reservations at individual parks have been staggered in that time frame, with each park assigned a specific day. Robin Campese, the executive director of the Visitor Experiences Branch of the Ministry of Parks, Culture and Sport, said she expects camping to be a popular outdoor option this summer. I think people are looking to get outdoors after the harsh winter and dealing with the pandemic, Campese said. Although vaccines are rolling out across Saskatchewan, parks will continue to have COVID-19 measures in place.