After closing down March 18 during coronavirus restrictions across B.C., Manning Park Resort re-opened its doors June 4.
As of June 1, Emory Creek, Nahatlatch, Silver Lake, Skagit Valley and Manning provincial parks re-opened to camping. The availability of select cabins and rooms at the resort for reservation follows on the re-opening of camping in the park.
Existing reservations will be honoured, if possible, and resort staff say they are taking extra precautions to prevent transmission of COVID-19.
This includes spacing dine-in guests throughout the Pinewoods dining room, which opened June 5. The resort has also installed plexiglass as well as provided staff with personal protective equipment in any place they would have contact with guests.
“Stringent sanitation processes” in housekeeping are also part of the plans, as is encouranging credit and debit transactions to limit the use of cash.
Some amenities at the resort are once again open, including the boathouse and the visitor centre. For the time being, the Bear’s Den Pub, the bistro, ganes room and the pool will stay closed.
As the majority of wedding guests deciding to push forward their plans to wed at Manning this summer, marketing coordinator Robyn Barker said this frees up space she hopes will be taken by families adventuring this summer.
‘Natural social distancing’ is what Manning offers, said marketing manager Robyn Barker. “It’s one of the greatest places to go because you’ve got tons of space on the trails, although it gets high visitation it doesn’t get the crowds that a lot of the other parks that are closer to Vancouver,” she said.
In their announcement about re-opening, an update about camping areas was shared. Coldspring and Mule Deer campgrounds are open, meanwhile Lightning Lakes is closed for the time being due to high snow levels. Hampton won’t re-open until ‘hazard trees’ are cleared from the area.
Lone Duck group campsites will likely not re-open this summer, Manning Park stated.
How the big fall event at Manning will look - the October Astronomy Weekend - still has a lot of question marks attached Barker said.
Read more: Sky gazers to flock to Manning for Manning Park Resort’s first foray into astrotourism
emelie.peacock@hopestandard.com
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