With 500 acres of park land and 20 kilometres of trails, Moose Jaw’s Wakamow Valley offers plenty of space for locals and visitors alike to enjoy the outdoors.
Donna MacQuarrie-Bye, general manager of Wakamow Valley Authority, spoke about highlights for the valley in 2024, including the completion of their 3-year strategic plan back in April.
“Through this process, it gave the organization the ability to develop and strengthen relationships with other nonprofits, which will assist with program development for 2025.”
This year, the low-level crossing was renamed Wills Bridge after Moose Jaw’s Robert Wills, who passed away in March 2024. “He was one of the longest-standing GMs with the organization – it was only appropriate to rename the bridge after him,” explained MacQuarrie-Bye.
Activities held in the valley in 2024 included:
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Winter Fest 2024, which saw some issues with skating due to mild weather, but highlighted snowshoeing and cross-country skiing in the valley
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Spring Cleanup, which saw 50 volunteers in Wakamow Valley
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Children’s Festival in partnership with the Shrine Club with approximately 3000 attendees
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Kid’s Disc Golf Camp in August
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Yellow Fish Road Program in partnership with the Moose Jaw River Watershed Stewards and the South Hill Community Association
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Mosaic Community Food Farm, which harvested 9000 lbs of food for organizations including the Moose Jaw & District Food Bank, Hunger in Moose Jaw, Riverside Mission, and Square One Community
Some capital projects undertaken this year included:
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Installation of a boom lift, lighting, and ceiling fans at the Sportsman’s Centre
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Installation of a safety railing at the Wills Bridge
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Installation of a new roof at the canoe and kayak building
Wakamow Valley Authority also purchased a storage container and snow removal equipment.
Work that the Authority suggested for the future includes:
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Upgrading the lighting at the Skating Oval
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Replacing windows at the Sportsman’s Centre
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Replacing shingles, decking, and elevator at the Kiwanis River Park Pavilion & Lodge
Wakamow Valley has a 54-site campground, with MacQuarrie-Bye saying roads leading into the area need some maintenance. “We’ve noticed an increase in ‘movie star RVs’ if you will, coming down that hill especially,” she explained.
The campground saw a $50,000 dip in revenue in 2024.
“The challenges we meet with our campground now is that the sites are too small, and the RVs are getting bigger with double slides out,” explained MacQuarrie-Bye.
She added that the campground was downsized from over 60 sites down to 54 to allow space for the bigger RVs several years ago. “To accommodate these big RVs again, we’d be downsizing even more.”
She explained that they’re looking to increase the marketing and branding efforts for Wakamow, and to ‘create unique experiences in Wakamow Valley that can generate revenue’.