South Bruce Peninsula Mayor Janice Jackson is taking a look back on 2021 and looking forward to 2022.
Jackson says they struggled with Covid as much as everyone, but the area saw an influx in tourism.
“We had more than our million and a half tourists at Sauble Beach and the rest of South Bruce Peninsula and we worked hard to keep the Covid numbers down and we were pretty successful at that,” says Jackson.
Jackson adds the reconstruction on Berford Street in Wiarton was the other major incident this year, which previously had pipes over 100-years-old and any snap freeze would cause them to burst.
“It’s a project that we had been applying for grants probably for four years I would think, and we finally were able to get some funding to get that project going,” says Jackson.
Jackson adds really the only challenge they had to face like other municipalities was navigating the ongoing pandemic.
“It has just been so crippling for our community and knowing we had our seasonal residents coming up here early, and the snowbirds coming home from Florida and a million and a half tourists coming from urban areas descending upon our beaches was alarming but we managed to get through it and we are sitting in a very good position and we expect the same moving forward into 2022,” says Jackson.
Jackson says going into the new year they have some development projects coming along, including the Sauble Beach amusement park, a small boutique hotel going in on Lakeshore Boulevard in Sauble, major construction to replace infrastructure in Wiarton, and work on Bluewater Park.
“It was a project that was done two council terms ago and never completed, so we want to make sure Bluewater Park is completed,” says Jackson.
Jackson also adds they are continuing to look for doctors to bring to the area.
“We have done a lot of exciting things that will be happening in 2022, and Covid or no Covid we are just going to plow ahead and have a good time,” says Jackson.