Kejimkujik campground to get new facilities

Overall renovations to cost $4 million

Keji-goers who want a taste of the big outdoors while maintaining some of the comforts of civilization ock to Jeremy’s Bay campground in the warmer months.

A front-country camping area located in Nova Scotia’s vast Kejimkujik National Park and Historic Site, Jeremy’s Bay o ers campers electricity, hot showers, washrooms and even Wi-fi.

Soon the park will be even more convenient for users — Parks Canada posted a letter of interest last month in order to attract possible contractors for a new washroom and shower setup.

Visitor experience manager Sophie Borcoman said the current shower facilities are centralized, which means some visitors end up having to drive or walk a short distance

to get there. e new plan will have shower and washroom facilities decentralized throughout the park, making them more accessible.

“ ere already are a series of washroom buildings throughout the campground, so those decentralized shower buildings will take the place of those,” Borcoman said. “People won’t have a feeling of ‘Oh my God, there are buildings everywhere.’ ey already existed to begin with.”

e letter of interest outlines plans to demolish the current 10 washroom buildings and construct 10 new identical washroom and shower buildings throughout the campground. Each washroom building will have a oor space of about 800 square feet and include three showers, ve sinks and ve toilet xtures.

Borcoman said like many national parks across the country, Kejimkujik hasn’t had investment in infrastructure for decades.

“In this particular case our washrooms really haven’t been looked at since the 1960s,” she said “ ey served us very well for those 50-something years but it’s time for a refresh.”

In 2016, the federal government announced plans to invest almost $4 million to renovate and replace aging infrastructure and upgrade trails at Kejimkujik, as part of a larger $3-billion investment for national park infrastructure across the country.

e letter of interest stresses the importance of having the construction completed for the 2020 camping season and gives a window of September 2019 to June 2020 for the work.