By Chad Ingram 

Published June 7, 2018 

 

Minden
Hills council has approved a proposal from Minden River Run, which will
provide tube rentals and a shuttle service, allowing people to float
from Rotary Park into Minden’s downtown, this summer. 

 

Rob Rutkowski first made a presentation to councillors during a May 10 committee-of-the-whole meeting. 

“The
business I’m proposing is a tube rental business,” Rutkowski said.
“Locals and tourists can come and rent tubes for a fixed price and float
down the Gull River, starting at Rotary Park, and ending at Bobcaygeon
Road.”

 

Rutkowski was seeking a number of
permissions from council, including setting up a tent in Rotary Park
and establishing a downtown pick-up location for a shuttle. 

He
told council he would try to encourage his customers to park downtown,
as to not fill up the relatively small parking area at Rotary Park. He
added that having customers park downtown may also result in some
economic spinoff. 

“Once the people get
out of the Gull River . . . they’d have to walk from there over to the
municipal parking lot, hence passing the farmers’ market, and the
businesses downtown as well, so hopefully that can generate some
business,” he said. 

 

Rutkowski said he
also plans to talk to downtown merchants about a potential partnership,
where they would offer some kind of special discount to customers
wearing the wristbands that Minden River Run will use, the wristbands
essentially acting as coupons. 

“This wristband will represent any kind of discount that the businesses would like to offer,” he said. 

 

Mayor
Brent Devolin called the proposal “exciting stuff,” noting there hadn’t
been many summers in the past 40 years he’d missed floating down the
Gull. 

 

“This has been discussed for
decades, that we should do something like this, but nobody has ever put a
concrete plan behind the notion, so I really appreciate that you’ve
come forward with so much detail,” said Councillor Jeanne Anthon. “Do
you foresee that you would be operating every day of the week . . . how
do people book you, so that you know there’s some interest for a
particular day?” 

 

Rutkowski said he was
preparing a website, through which customers would be able to contact
him. Depending on interest and weather, the idea is for the business to
operate from mid-June through mid-September. 

 

Rutkowski
said he planned to have staff members Smart Serve-certified, and that
anyone who appeared to be under the influence of alcohol would not be
permitted to rent tubes. He also noted the tubes will have mesh bottoms,
so floaters can’t fall through the centre. 

 

During their May 31 meeting, councillors approved the proposal. 

Minden
River Run will pay a rental fee of $500, and a rental agreement
established, to set up a tent in Rotary Park for the season. The tent is
to be taken down and stored at the end of each day. 

The
pick-up location for the shuttle service will be along Prince Street.
The township will install an extra ladder at the town dock near
Bobcageon Road to accommodate an increased number of people using the
dock. 

Minden River Run must provide $5 million worth of liability insurance.