July 17, 2021
Will the border open in August? WE DO NOT KNOW FOR CERTAIN.
We are aware and have read the news regarding Trudeau’s statement on possibly opening the border by mid-August. Does this mean Aug 15th? Aug 21st? We have been doing this song and dance for 16 months now. This announcement tells us NOTHING. He said it COULD open. No exact date was given. Opening is contingent on 80% of the population getting the vaccine AND no rise in cases. We have seen the goal post moved time and again. To be clear, the government has provided no specific, official opening date or rules to cross the border.
We want nothing more than to open our lodge again to our guests and enjoy seeing you catch all the giant trophy fish in Perrault Lake. It is and has always been our top priority to open as soon as possible so we can make your vacations happen. Please understand a lot has to go into that decision and we also have to take into consideration the future of Manotak Lodge. We don’t like to focus on the behind the scenes details and finances but the facts are that the government has not provided any meaningful support to us in the form of grants.
Factors that we are weighing in our decision:
1. We are living and working in Bloomington, IN and have to get out of our obligations here and move back to camp. We had already planned to head up August 18th to do projects because we have been working on the assumption the border will not open.
2. The costs to open the lodge for guests are significant and it takes several weeks to recoup those costs. Do we open everything based on a possibility, just to be told, sorry, we are moving the goal post again and the border will remain closed? We cannot afford to spend money on a maybe.
3. We do not have a good handle on whether we can get needed supplies such as boat parts (boats have not been used in 2 years so things may need repaired). We do not know if we can get timely deliveries of food, and we do not know if we can find employees. We have 16 cabins that need a deep clean!
4. Many of our guests have already given up on us opening this year and moved reservations to 2022, leaving us with many open cabins which means less income while having the same start up expenses. We really need a full camp to make this all work.
We are hoping an exact date and plan with rules for crossing the border will be announced next week. In the meantime, we will continue to work towards a reopening plan for Manotak. At this time, we know that we cannot be open for dates through August 21st. We will be contacting guests with those reservations and moving them to 2022. Any dates beyond that will depend on the amount of notice we get from the Canadian government.
We are sorry this is all still up in the air for all of us. Please watch our web page – home page and blog page, social media, and your email for updates.
Thank you all for your love of Manotak and your patience, support, and prayers during this very difficult time.
Steve, Christine, and Jeremiah
www.manotak.com
800-541-3431
manotaklodge@gmail.com
