Minnedosa makes splash

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This article was published 27/03/2019 (2363 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Town of Minnedosa is taking the plunge to host the first inflatable water park in Manitoba this summer.

The town has secured an agreement with a Calgary-based firm that will erect and operate the facility on Lake Minnedosa.

An inflatable water park is like a big bouncy castle for kids but spread out over water. It’s an obstacle course using what looks like inflated air mattresses connecting stairs, slides, trampolines, and climbing walls.

If you fall, you get wet instead of bruised. If your head hits the surface, you get water up your nose instead of concussed.

Kids are required to wear lifejackets and it will be supervised by lifeguards.

Lake Minnedosa, a small man-made lake about 1.5 kilometres across, was created more than a century ago as a reservoir off Little Saskatchewan River. The inflatable obstacle course is anchored by 2,500-pound blocks in the water.

“(The park) is a bit of a gamechanger in terms of the potential business and the attention and amount of traffic it could bring to our town,” said Chantelle Parrott, Minnedosa’s economic development officer.

Minnedosa has only about 2,500 people but more in summer when its campground and cottages on the lake fill up. But Parrott estimates about 100,000 people live within a 45-minute drive. It’s only half an hour away from Brandon to the south and Riding Mountain National Park to the north, and 20 minutes from Neepawa to the east.

It’s about two-and-half-hour drive northwest of Winnipeg on the Yellowhead Highway, which could also be part of its market along with Dauphin and Yorkton, Saskatchewan, Parrott said.

“I think it would be one thing if there were three or four of them in Manitoba but with there being only one, that creates a larger market,” she said.

Travel Manitoba played matchmaker in the deal. Gerry Champagne, owner of start-up business, Splish Splash Water Park in Calgary, contacted Travel Manitoba about putting up an inflatable water park.

Champagne had better-known beaches like Gimli or Grand Beach in mind. But Gimli is already in talks for an inflatable water park with another company, and the shallowness of Grand Beach could be a problem.

Parrott happened to contact Travel Manitoba the same day as Champagne, and Travel Manitoba put the two together.

That was on Jan. 28. Within two months, Parrott obtained approval from the town’s council and Manitoba Infrastructure and Transportation, as well as an environmental license from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.

“This is just one of those things where I had to say, Yep, this is a priority,” Parrott said.

Champagne, describing himself as an entrepreneur who has owned restaurants, bars and currently has a gymnasium, covers the cost and liability. He is purchasing the water park from the United Kingdom at a price of from $300,000 to $400,000 CDN, he said.

“I’m always looking at business ventures,” he said.

They are a newer concept but there are eight or nine across Canada already. British Columbia has a couple, Alberta a couple, and at least four are in Ontario. One is supposed to be going into Moose Jaw this summer.

Parrott described the local response as “overwhelmingly positive.”

“It’s unique and a different story coming out of rural Manitoba,” she said. She looks forward to attracting newcomers to the community.

“People are going to fill up their gas tanks and go to the restaurants and go shopping and stay at the campground and Bed & Breakfasts and hotels,” she said.

Admission prices are still to be determined. The water park, with a capacity for 100 people, will set up about mid-June and be open until Labour Day.

bill.redekop@freepress.mb.ca