(Photo courtesy/Saskatchewan Regional Parks Association, Facebook)

By Ben Tompkins

Parks On The Move

Local park wins award courtesy of Saskatchewan Regional Parks Association

Aug 31, 2023 | 8:42 AM

A northeast regional park recently won an award, due to its resilience and determination.

McNab Regional Park in Watson was one of two recipients in the province for the 2023 Park On The Move award.

The honour recognizes parks that have gone through difficult times but bounced back to become successful and thriving.

“We had quite a few years where our expenses were very much higher than our income, so we changed the way we did business. We looked at things differently, I applied for every grant I could possibly apply for, we renovated stuff, and we spent money where we had to spend money and where we knew we could make money back. We added amenities and made it so our campground, swimming pool and golf course were busy again,” explained park manager Kim Mitchell.

“I’m grateful for all the people that have helped in the past, for all the volunteers that built this place and made it run for so many years, to the town and the surrounding RM’s for the opportunity to have this park and for them to help us grow and help us with expenses. Also grateful to the local business community that supports us regularly, we do support them, but they support us quite well,” she added.

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The award was presented courtesy of the Saskatchewan Regional Parks Association.

Mitchell told northeastNOW that they feel this recognition acknowledges what they’ve done, and that their hard work was worth it and clearly paid off.

“The feeling is that we have finally created something, all the hard work that has been put into this park over the past 23 years has finally become something awesome.”

According to Mitchell, the park will now just have to continue to make conscious decisions of where they want to be, what they want to do, and what they want to go towards.

That means that questions like ‘in five years if we want to be doing this, what is it going to take to get there’ will have to be posed.

As for now, they will celebrate their victory and enjoy what they call a ‘hidden gem’.

“It’s just an amazing little place for the size of the town and the surrounding communities we have around it,” Mitchell said. “We offer mini golf, we have a playground, a seasonal pool, a nine-hole golf course, which is in very good shape, and we have full-service campsites with water, power, and sewer.”

The other winner for the 2023 Parks On The Move award was Valley Regional Park in Rosthern.

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