A Vancouver company has been granted a one-year trial for its mobile sauna, which is expected to begin operations in October and will cost $29 for a 75-minute session.
A for-profit sauna is coming to Esquimalt Gorge Park after the township approved a one-year trial for a Vancouver company to operate the mobile sauna near the Gorge Waterway Nature House.
Esquimalt council unanimously approved the trial with sauna operator Gatherwell, which is set to open for business this October and includes a revenue-sharing deal with the township.
It’s expected to be open from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. on weekdays and 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. on weekends, with prices currently set at $29 for a 75-minute drop-in session.
The company, which will be responsible for costs of installing and operating the sauna, has committed to sharing 15 per cent of gross revenue from the operation in the park, which township staff estimate will net Esquimalt around $40,000 for the year.
Mayor Barb Desjardins said the sauna will help Esquimalt Gorge Park stay lively year-round, and not just during the farmers market season. The Gorge Farmers Market runs on Monday evenings from June 15 to Sept. 7 in the park.
District staff noted that the mobile sauna will be near the Gorge Park Pavilion, which has 94 vehicle parking stalls and is already a community hub.
Gatherwell currently has a 10-person mobile sauna at Ambleside Beach in West Vancouver, in partnership with the District of West Vancouver. The company has received approval to install a second beachside sauna at the site.
Company founder Jonathan Chawla said Gorge Park will start with one 10-person sauna and expand to two if there’s enough demand.
Chawla said partnering with municipalities was a way to work around regulations that were frustrating his plan to bring an outdoor sauna and cold-plunge business to the City of Vancouver.
“There were no permits for outdoor sauna and cold plunges because it was a new industry,” he said.
As a result, even small cold-plunge baths were subject to pool regulations, requiring operators to provide emergency shut-off switches and rescue gear.
Chawla said Gatherwell’s sauna location in Mount Pleasant has been temporarily shut down by inspectors, despite Vancouver city council agreeing to keep existing sauna/cold-plunges open while bylaws were being updated.
“I had to work my way all the way up the chain, and all the way down the chain from the city councillors,” he said.
So Chawla decided to take inspiration from Scandinavia and work with naturally existing bodies of water instead, doing away with the need for a cold-plunge pool.
Since the company received the go-ahead for a pilot program from the District of West Vancouver, many other municipalities have indicated interest in having Gatherwell set up shop in their parks, including some on Vancouver Island, Chawla said.
“As soon as we got Ambleside, all the other municipalities started being interested. We could have a lot of locations over the next 12 months,” he said.
Gatherwell has grown from a single proprietorship to a company with a team of six, and is expecting more growth.
Chawla said Gatherwell’s mission broadly aligns with that of many municipalities, which are looking to build stronger social connections in their communities. Saunas are one of the last phone-free shared spaces, and Gatherwell intentionally puts its sauna benches facing each other to encourage socializing, he said.
“I want to make it the easiest place to make a friend in B.C.”
Esquimalt’s environmental parks and recreation advisory committee largely favoured the proposal, although members raised concerns about the proposed fees, as well as what degree of commercialization should be accepted in public parks.
As part of the conditions of approval, council has directed staff to work with Gatherwell on possible subsidies for low-income residents looking to book the sauna, potentially through the township’s existing Leisure Involvement for Everyone, or LIFE, program.