Main photo: Members of the Arrowhead Nordic Club are thrilled with the new visitor centre complex at Arrowhead Provincial Park (from left) Denise Jordan, Sue Sedgwick, Ted Williams, Dave Connell, Steve Jones, Harvey Chapman and Drew Hutcheson.
“It has been a long time coming,” said Peter Briand, park superintendent at Arrowhead Provincial Park. He was referring to the new visitor centre at the park which officially opened on December 11. “It has been the growth in the winter that really supported putting this facility in place as warm-up space, rental space, and a place for hosting the ski recreation and learn-to-ski programs… We are really pleased to get the support to put this facility in place.” Winter usage of the park has increased from about 10,000 visitors about 10 years ago to more than 60,000.
Summer visitors to the park got a sneak peek of the facility—the park store and summer rental area opened in July. There will also be interpretive programs and firewood sales at the visitor centre in the summer months.
“It was well-received in the summer,” said Briand. “The visitor centre will allow us to tell our story better, with more interpretive programming for the visitors that come here in the summer as well as in the winter.” When the campground is full, there are over 1,000 people in the park, he noted.
“It’s been in the management plan since at least 2000, so it’s been thought about for a long time and we’ve had time to fine-tune the design,” added Briand. “A lot of thought has gone into how people might use it and making it flexible for year-round use with different functions in the summer and winter. It’s really great to see it come to fruition.”
He said park staff are excited to open the doors to the visitor centre for winter users when the park re-opens for the season on December 14.
Members of the Arrowhead Nordic Ski Club, who run their programs at the park, are also excited to see the new facility in place. John Cowan, club president, said that the new facility, and in particular the state-of-the-art waxing room in the picnic pavilion, raises the bar for Nordic skiing facilities across the province.
The new Arrowhead Visitor Centre is a stunning facility that includes a warming room with catering kitchen, winter and summer equipment rentals, and a summer park store
The picnic pavilion will be well-used year round
The picnic pavilion includes a gathering space as well as a state-of-the-art waxing room
Summer rentals are housed in the lower level of the new visitor centre at Arrowhead Provincial Park
The park store in the new visitor centre opened July 1. In winter months, it becomes a rental shop.
Parry-Sound Muskoka MPP Norm Miller congratulated “everyone involved in this beautiful new visitor centre, and certainly Arrowhead has done a great job at especially developing winter use of the park.” He added that he’s pleased to see youth ski programs at the park. “There is so much value in that. Because those young kids that are getting out here on the weekends and really finding that they love cross-country skiing and having a lot of fun with their friends, they are going to ski their whole life. It’s going to enhance their quality of life and it’s also going to make them much healthier people as well. I think there’s tremendous benefit to some of the winter programs that are being run here at Arrowhead.”
Andrea Khanjin, MPP Barrie-Innisfil also offered congratulations on behalf Rod Phillips, Minister of Environment, Conservation and Parks.
(From left) John Leadston, Arrowhead assistant park superintendent; Jason Travers, acting director of Ontario Parks; Andrea Khanjin, MPP Barrie-Innisfil; Peter Briand, Arrowhead park superintendent; and Norm Miller, MPP Parry Sound-Muskoka
The event wrapped up year-long Ontario Parks 125th anniversary celebrations. Algonquin Provincial Park opened in 1893 and there are now 340 provincial parks, covering eight per cent of Ontario. A new parks reservation system will launch in 2019.
Jen Cureton and Alissa Moenting Edwards were the smiling faces welcoming everyone to the event
Musician David Archibald, who wrote five songs for Ontario Parks 125th anniversary and took them on the road this summer, entertained the crowd at the grand opening celebration
Steve Jones (left) and Harvey Chapman from Arrowhead Nordic Club check out some vintage ski photos
(From left) Arrowhead staff Kevin Farthing, Braden Bradford, Colin Sober-Williams, and Orion Austrup in the winter rental shop. In the summer, rentals move to the lower level and this space becomes a park store.
John Leadston explains some of the features of the new visitor centre during a tour of the facility
The door to the warming centre displays a photo of the Big Bend by local photographer Rob Stimpson
Ontario Parks staff member Brad Steinberg (left) and Niv Froehlich make s’mores
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So amazing! Can hardly wait to see and use.this great space! Congratulations!