‘Numbers don’t add up’ for business: Co-owner
BUCKHORN -- Derek Robertson says he started Kawartha Tubing to pry his son away from an iPad and build a greater respect for nature.
“This was never about money,” the co-owner/operator of the tube rental operation on the Mississaugua River in Kawartha Highlands Provincial Park said Wednesday, two days after shutting the business down over what he called unrealistic demands by Ontario Parks.
Robertson said new rules, such as limiting the number of tubes to six every half hour and requiring offsite parking with busing, doesn’t make any business sense.
“The numbers don’t add up,” he said.
Safety concerns – such as the number of tubes on the river and parking lot overcrowding – are the main reason for the increased restrictions, park superintendent Paul Smith said.
Having larger volumes of people on the river over a longer period of time also creates environmental concerns, he added.
Robertson said environmental impact was a number-one priority. At the end of each day, staff would even walk the entire area and pick up any debris left behind.
“Honestly, I can’t think of what is more environmentally-friendly that floating down a lazy river in a tube,” he said.
Kawartha Tubing, which is now refunding pre-purchased tickets, was an instant hit.
It sold more than $20,000 in tickets in its first few weeks and saw 55 to 325 guests daily when it opened for weekends in June, Robertson said.
It first sold tickets at the Buckhorn Tourist Welcome Centre before moving to an online ticket seller to keep up with the demand.
Robertson credits social media for the popularity. In April, he and business partner Kim Lanigan created a Facebook page where they began posting videos of people floating down the river. Views grew from 17,000 for the first to 1.1 million for the fifth posted on June 7.
“It was all social media that helped it take off,” he said, pointing out in terms of economic development, the business drew 165 to 200 visitors into Buckhorn each weekend.
But the surge in visitors led to more and more complaints, prompting Kawartha Highlands park officials to impose increasingly stricter limitations.
Officialscitedpublicsafetyconcerns associated with parking, traffic and congestion on County Road 36 just north of Buckhorn and overcrowding with the large numbers of people on Mississaugua River. The business reduced the number of tickets it sold from 25 every half hour to 12.
But it was the conditions laid out in a letter dated July 14 that forced the closure, Robertson said, explaining how he feels like Kawartha Tubing let out a secret and became the scapegoat for those who began bringing their own tubes to enjoy the river.
He estimates that by the end, half of the 40 to 50 vehicles that would line the roadway on weekends were visitors who inflated their own tubes.
Robertson doesn’t see how the business could have been saved. Late last month, he contacted neighbours around the entrance to the park to see if he could lease or rent property for parking or tube storage, but no one was willing to negotiate.
Ontario Parks fully supports small businesses and when an agreement is worked out with one, such as a snack bar or a restaurant, it is usually done through a tendering process, Smith said. A deal wasn’t needed in this case because business transactions take place outside the park.
NOTE: View the full letter the park sent to Kawartha Tubing on Friday demanding changes to the operation online at www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com.