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Oriole Park was a unique, full entertainment Canadian
tourist resort ideally located one hour from the U.S. border, two hours
from Detroit, two hours from Toronto, Ontario and less than 1 mile from
a major Canadian freeway.
For 43 years, its famous attraction had been one of Canada's largest
outdoor, safety designed family swimming pools. The pool alone attracted
thousands of swimmers.
The picnic areas surrounding the pool are spacious with many lovely,
mature shade trees, flower gardens, playground equipment, horseshoe
pits, a soccer field, a baseball diamond, beach volleyball, water
volleyball and a basketball court. Over the years, organized outdoor
entertainment included country & western jamborees, Hawaiian luaus,
outdoor movies, theatre shows, game shows, live bands etc.
The camping area is divided into two sections. The seasonal camping
section has 142 fully serviced sites, 15 and 30 amp. The remaining 63
sites are for transient or short-term camping. All serviced sites,
short-term or seasonal, have 3-way hookups.
Seasonal campers leave their camping units on their prepaid sites from
renewal each October to the following October, with occupancy of the
three summer months.
Our main complex, comprised of two buildings, was constructed in 1990.
The first 40' x 48' two storey concrete building is the centre for the
maintenance and pool staff with three separate work areas as well as a
private office. An RV 'Sales and Service' department had been planned
for one of these areas as an additional revenue generator. The second
floor is the managers' large, two bedroom, 2 bath residence.
The second of the two new structures was the centre of activity and
revenue.
The entertainment hall, complete with stage and sound system, is
licensed for 268 people and can also be divided into two smaller rooms.
This is perfect for private hall rentals for weddings, company parties,
Christmas and New Years, bingos, dances, movies etc. The stage wall
opens onto the pool area for outdoor performances to an unlimited
audience size.
A catering division is an addition to the hall services. We offered
full, gourmet meals either buffet or table-service, which are prepared
in the kitchen of the coffee shop. Corporate dinners and wedding
receptions usually took advantage of our full package, and light
midnight lunches are popular with anniversary or private parties. The
hall can be rented for dances where no meals are provided. In all cases,
we provide the bartender and 'keep' the bar.
Wheelchair accessible washrooms are complete with two large showers per
set.
We offered a light menu in our 45 seat licensed coffee shop. Also a
self-serve counter accommodated the daily trade with burgers 'n fries,
ice cream and snacks. A small grocery section supplied campers with ice,
firewood, milk, bread and common daily items.
Our licensed patio overlooked the pool and was adjacent to the coffee
shop. Additional seating for 24 under beach umbrellas provided scenic
relaxation for Margarita sippers or after-game drinks for the sports
teams.
As a contingency in case of poor weather or for private birthdays or
just baby-sitting, we offered an indoor playroom complete with games,
toys and a TV with VCR inputs controlled through the bar.
Adjacent to the playroom is a video arcade room holding up to 8 games,
an excellent past-time for teens.
The bar or sports lounge is a year-round, almost stand-alone department.
The revenues from this room continued to escalate as locals as well as
campers enjoyed our regular pool tournaments, the 52" satellite TV, two
coin-operated pool tables, dart boards and the ever-entertaining
sit-down bar. There is additional seating for 35 throughout these two
rooms, with licensing for 96 between the two rooms. Snacks or finger
foods are available year round.
A huge, fully-equipped commercial kitchen supplied the patio, coffee
shop, bar and catering service for Komo Hall.
A private office as well as a central information office are both
located inside the main entrance doors.
An undeveloped five acres of land would be available on which to further
develop. The recreation areas, another 5 acres, could also still be
developed or retained as ‘common landscaped park areas’. A three acre
parking lot is also already established or could be developed. Any new
development could be under construction without interfering with the
revenue-generating operation.
UPDATE:
In 2003, our family business lost one of our own and our motivation. We
had to make some tough decisions and decided to take a drastic step to
change the nature of our business. We closed to the daily and overnight
public, instead planning on year-round, requiring less management. This
also meant the additional services would close and the staff was let go
while we made our changes. We closed the large pool, instead installing
a commercial, state-of-the-art, salt water pool, complete with
surrounding two-level deck. This is a Class B self-supervised pool,
requiring no lifeguards and very little maintenance and expense. The
infrastructure of the large pool is still intact however, but would
require a substantial investment to bring it up to today’s standards and
open it back up to the public or for private use. Although we are more
than happy with our smaller, newer pool and the investment to revitalize
the old one would be great, the desire to ‘bring back our pool’ by our
local (and not so local community) is even greater and the continuing
requests for this have astounded us.
Adjacent to the new pool, we have added an outdoor BBQ / social area
consisting of a 10 x 10 pad with outdoor brick BB with two portable BBQs
and ample room for seating 200 people for pig roasts, evening social
functions etc. A beautiful water pond and garden area sits beside,
custom built by one of our private members.
We were unable to get approval for 'year round' but were granted
extended stays of nine months at a time for an 'all season resort'.
We have already begun to decrease the numbers of existing campsites,
converting two sites into one, increasing their individual sizes. The
number of extended stay sites have yet to be determined based on our
acreage as we are awaiting engineering reports on waste water treatment
and fresh water treat facilities to determine how much room they will
consume. We anticipate having 100 - 150 sites with monthly revenues of
$400 rented for 9 consecutive months.
All infrastructure is still in place for someone wishing to revert to
seasonal and re-open buildings. A complete business plan is readily
available with projected income for an easier to manage 'All Season
Resort.
TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION OF OUR BUSINESS
25.5 acres, 20.5 acres fully developed with
205 campsites
1 acre swimming pool (closed)
1 operational commercial regulation pool
Two commercial buildings
One manager’s apartment
Parking lot
Picnic grounds
Sports areas
5 acres undeveloped natural area
Unlimited pure, natural water supply (servicing continuous-fed 1,000,000
gal pool 4 months / yr., 205 campsites & commercial & private use
year-round including washrooms & showers)
Zoning: Recreational
Contact Information:
Wendy Nesseth
Oriole Park Resort, Inc.
22790 Amiens Rd.
Komoka, Ontario N0l 1R0
Phone: 519-652-9960
Fax: 519-652-1541
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