Blaze probed at shuttered Fun Mountain

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This article was published 10/07/2023 (874 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Steve Stein couldn’t help but think of long-ago summers as he watched flames destroy a building at the former Fun Mountain water slide park east of Winnipeg.

Stein said, like many Winnipeggers, he spent a lot of time zipping down the slides when the days of summer seemed like they would never end.

“I spent most of my childhood there,” said Stein, “especially as a teenager. That was the place to go.”

Stein was driving home on the east Perimeter Highway when he saw an orange glow in the sky ahead of him and he started heading for it.

“When I saw the glow, I thought it was going to be Fun Mountain,” he said. “When I got closer, I realized it was Fun Mountain and I called it in to 911.”

The fire, which gutted the former restaurant and gift shop, is under investigation.

Brian Seaton, fire chief in the RM of Springfield, said Monday the fire broke out around 3 a.m. Sunday.

Seaton said the fire was fully involved when crews from two of the department’s fire halls arrived.

The blaze marks the final slide for the one-time popular water park that was forced to close when the then-owners defaulted on a loan worth more than $850,000. COVID-19 related measures forced it to stay shut for the better part of two summers.

The Business Development Bank of Canada, the holder of the loan, tried to sell the property, but the former owner refused to let solicitors onto the site, located just east of Winnipeg on the Trans-Canada Highway.

BDC brought in a receiver to take over the assets and undertakings of the property. A short time later, the 45-acre property was listed for $1.2 million.

The current owners spent the last few months removing the slides.

The Free Press could not locate the current owners and the park’s former owner, Tanya Hall, could not be reached for comment.

Stein said the new owner has taken out most of the water slides and has told the community there are no plans to reopen the site as a water park.

Stein’s last time at the water park was idling in his vehicle at the entrance with his headlights on to assist the coming fire crews where they could access the site while he watched the flames tear through the building.

“It’s a sad loss. There’s a lot of memories there. When it went up there was nothing else. Then Skinner’s (in Lockport) opened and then closed. Now it is burned.

“You know now for sure it is gone forever.”

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca