2021 KIN BEACH PICNIC SHELTER PROJECT

 

Kin Beach Picnic Shelter

 

Gimme Shelter

Chemainus Valley Courier article by Don Bodger

 

The Rolling Stones demanded it and the Chemainus Rotary Club provided it for the residents of Chemainus and visitors to Kin Beach.

The long-awaited Rotary picnic shelter project at Kin Beach finally got completed, with a ribbon-cutting to mark its official unveiling on Aug. 25.

“We put a final blitz to get it done before summer’s over,” said the Rotary Club’s service committee director Tom Andrews.

The Rotary Club christened the site with a picnic dinner and meeting.

Andrews gave a speech about how the project came about.

“It goes back a couple of years,” he pointed out. “COVID got in the way and we couldn’t do too much.”

Ken Stanton, the project leader, worked on the design and specs for the joint project between Rotary and North Cowichan that was approved by the municipality back in 2019, but the timeline got derailed due to COVID-19 restrictions before finally being completed and officially opened.

It’s essentially a municipal structure built by the Rotary Club. Stanton utilized numerous volunteers along the way and the project received full support from Don Stewart, North Cowichan’s director of parks and recreation.

“We provided all the labour and the municipality provided all the materials,” Andrews added.

Rotarians handled all the material preparation and construction. That included: site preparation; installing the footings; staining the posts, beams and roof panels; painting the metal tie plates; landscaping the site; and helping with the installation of the timbers and concrete pad.

“A lot of people worked on the actual construction and site prep and, of course, the whole club’s involved to fund the project,” Andrews added.

“It was a great project and Rotary thanks Don Stewart for his support and guidance throughout the project. Many friends of Rotary also helped with the project and fundraising for all the other projects we have done around Chemainus.”

Some of those other projects Rotary and North Cowichan have worked on jointly over the years are: the Chemainus skate park; Fuller Lake fishing dock; Rotary band shell in Waterwheel Park; picnic shelter at Fuller Lake; information kiosk in Waterwheel Park; and the Rotary boat launch.

The new shelter at Kin Beach is located between the washrooms and the beach. The municipality is also currently redoing the washrooms.

In addition, Rotary has supplied a picnic bench for the new shelter that’s already being well utilized and will fund an outdoor shower at Kin Beach for swimmers and the public to use in the future.

The cement pad of the shelter is quite interesting with a marine theme. It has a motif of seashells and starfish stamped right into the concrete.

 

More images available in our Photo Gallery - Kin Beach Picnic Shelter Project