Tourism numbers still strong at Moose Mountain despite rainfall

Saskatchewan Parks says the wet weather in the southeastern part of the province hasn’t deterred people from getting out camping and exploring Moose Mountain Provincial Park and Kenosee Lake.

Park manager Kim Brown says people are still showing up despite the cooler weather.

“It’s been a cooler spring, that’s for sure. The amount of precipitation has definitely set back some of our usual spring campers,” she explained.

“(But) our sites are fully booked and we’re anticipating another busy summer here at Moose Mountain. Things are starting to pick up as we speak.”

With high gas prices, Brown doesn’t think tourists will stay home, but she does think they’ll stay for longer rather than coming and going.

“The last few years we’ve been really busy and we’ve seen about the same numbers for this year. I think campers will have longer-term stays versus going from site to site,” she said.

While the rain has been annoying for some and has stalled people from visiting the provincial park, it has actually been good news for Saskatchewan Parks.

“The amount of precipitation we’ve received has been a much-needed benefit for our lake,” she said. “We’ve been lucky that we’ve received heavy rainfall and not the big plow winds and hailstorms.

“(The lake) has come up seven inches since last May, so that’s been a huge improvement.”

This will be the first summer since 2019 that Saskatchewan Parks can actually put on events in the area now that COVID-19 restrictions have been lifted.

Brown feels those events will help bring more people to the area.

“It’s nice that we finally get to do our programming again, events and things like that, so I can see it being a fairly busy summer,” she said.