Kinosoo Ridge Adventure Park looks to–finally–get off the ground

With a series of delays, it appears the summer attraction at Kinosoo Ridge could be complete by next year.

The M.D. of Bonnyville has chosen a contractor to build the Kinosoo Ridge Adventure Park.

M.D. council awarded the $1.5 million park contract to Rigging Specialists, the same company that built the aerial park at Snow Valley in Edmonton.

The goal is to make the ski hill an all-seasons attraction with a 16 metre high climbing apparatus, a viewing platform, and zipline for kids, adults, and the physically challenged.

“It’s a top-notch company, world-renowned, and so we are hoping to incorporate a lot of things from the M.D. and the area into it. We’ve been in early conversations with Cold Lake First Nations and we hope to include them in part of this process,” said Reeve Greg Sawchuk on The Morning After.

Snow Valley Aerial Park, constructed by the same company the M.D. is using. Image credit: Snow Valley.

When the project was pitched, the original plan was to finish construction for May Long 2020, but a rare plant study and federal dollars halted construction.

Back in February, the M.D. was planning to forego that ICIP grant application to the federal government, valued at $800,000 because the process was taking to long.

However, the municipality decided to wait, and with more letters of support, are in the running to have almost of the cost of the project covered.

“We made that comment to administration yesterday that, man, this has taken a long time to get this one off the ground,” said Sawchuk.

“But part of that was that we did put in for federal grant funding on this project and it is looking very good that we may be in line for a significant portion of this cost being taken up by the federal grant, which is good news.”

Regardless of whether the M.D. gets grant funding or not, they are pushing ahead with the project.

Sawchuk said the groundwork will begin this fall in hopes of completing the project by May 2021.