Flags were raised at the Port of Orillia Thursday afternoon to mark the official start of another boating season in the Sunshine City.
Orillia District Chamber of Commerce officials were joined by dozens of community members and local officials to raise the Canadian, Ontario, and Orillia flags for what could be the first "normal" season at the Port of Orillia since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
With lockdown restrictions and Centennial Drive construction disrupting three of the past four boating seasons, chamber officials are looking forward to a return to normalcy in 2024.
“I've already noticed an uptake in people walking through the waterfront,” said Allan Lafontaine, the chamber's executive director who also serves as harbourmaster. “Last year, people stayed away because it was hard to get through.”
“We expect that people are going to be excited about the changes. They're amazing — the road looks great,” Lafontaine said.
Although construction on the new boat launch parking lot will hinder waterfront operations until the beginning of July, Lafontaine expects a busy, business-as-usual season throughout much of the summer.
“Once that boat ramps open, it's going to be a busy summer here,” he said. “We went through 2020 and 2021 with the pandemic — everybody went through that — then we had a really good season in 2022, and then we went through a bad year in ‘23 because people thought, ‘Well, we’ll come back next year.’”
Although waterfront construction caused short-term pain for the Port of Orillia, Lafontaine said the work done on Centennial Drive, including stormwater control structures installed beneath the waterfront, will bring lasting benefits to the waterfront in the long run.
“We're really excited. It means a lot to us. We’ve got a lot to recover after three bad years,” he said. “It was pain last year, but we're very happy about the future.”
