{"id":787899,"date":"2026-07-08T09:15:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T09:15:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/787899\/"},"modified":"2026-07-08T09:15:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T09:15:15","slug":"wasaga-beach-construction-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/787899\/","title":{"rendered":"Wasaga Beach construction update"},"content":{"rendered":"

Surrounding busses say they are looking for work around to deal with construction barriers reducing foot traffic <\/p>\n

As the town of Wasaga Beach continues to renovate their downtown strip, businesses are remaining optimistic when it comes to their business. <\/p>\n

Les Kowalik, manager of Georgian Inn, said the construction is sometimes difficult to deal with but is looking at the long-term future of the town.<\/p>\n

\"\"Georgian Inn Georgian Inn in Wasaga Beach. (CTV News\/Luke Simard) <\/p>\n

\u201cBecause of the road closures and the main roundabout, it has affected us,\u201d said Kowalik. <\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, a bit of the publicity is that access to the beach is difficult, but it\u2019s part of, the growth that we\u2019re anticipating here, so just remember, you can access the beach,\u201d Kowalik said. <\/p>\n

Access points are marked along the main strip of the beach and traveling further along to Beach Area 2, beachgoers have full access to 14 kilometers of freshwater beach.<\/p>\n

\"\"Sign at Wasaga Beach A sign directing to beach access at Wasaga Beach (CTV News\/Luke Simard) <\/p>\n

Kowalik added the change is needed to attract visitors traveling from out of town. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s something that has to be done and it will build back, but it will be better,\u201d said Kowalik. \u201cWe\u2019re so close now to the city that we really have to provide a product in here for people to come up and see.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Sandbar is one of the last remaining businesses on the beach and as construction evolves around them, they pivot when it comes to attracting customers.<\/p>\n

Jay Preddie is the manager at The Sandbar.<\/p>\n

Preddie said they continue to try different things to attract business. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re removing walls, we\u2019re making edits to the patio, we\u2019re putting signage, lights every day, lasers on the ground, trying to do whatever we can to say \u2018hey, look, we\u2019re over here\u2019 because it\u2019s very quick to spread the information,\u201d said Preddie.<\/p>\n

With Mayor Brian Smith reaffirming phase one of construction is on time and will be done as planned<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to reopen that main street, that\u2019s an historic part of our community,\u201d said Smith. <\/p>\n

\u201cBeach Drive is on time and on budget at this point and we expect that\u2019s going to be done in time early to mid of next year,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\"\"Wasaga Beach Beach goers at Wasaga Beach (CTV News\/Luke Simard) <\/p>\n

Canada Day saw many people down at the beach before a major storm swept through the area. <\/p>\n

Wasaga Beach Life Festival will be making its way to the area from July 23 to 26, featuring live music at Beach Area 2 and the Midway coming to town. <\/p>\n

\u201cA four-day, event that is going to have lots of great music,\u201d said Smith. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe midway will be back in town, something that people remember from back in the 80s and before with the midway all the time and the kids love it, parents love it,\u201d said Smith. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut we\u2019ve got some really cool acts, four big acts that that will be here that includes local favourite The Carpet Frogs,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Despite the construction, the beach was full. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe misnomer is that, you know, the beach is closed, and it couldn\u2019t be anything further from the truth, Wasaga beach is open,\u201d Smith added. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe are open for business. Our businesses are excited to come and serve you,\u201d said Smith. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got 14km of freshwater beach, the longest freshwater beach in the world and it doesn\u2019t matter what day, what time, it\u2019s a beautiful place to be,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd we\u2019re seeing that this summer, the heat is good, the sun is up, and people are coming here,\u201d said Smith.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Surrounding busses say they are looking for work around to deal with construction barriers reducing foot traffic As…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":787900,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[49,48,44],"class_list":["post-787899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/787899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=787899"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/787899\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/787900"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=787899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=787899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=787899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}