A resort town and so much more: Saint Andrews wants residents to enjoy all 4 seasons

Saint Andrews is working to create more year-round opportunities for recreation in the picturesque town that is almost completely surrounded by the ocean.

The small community in southern New Brunswick, with a population of 3,270 people, describes itself as "New Brunswick's signature resort community," but it also caters those who live full-time in the community..  

Paul Nopper, senior administrator and town clerk, said that the new community programs they have already implemented, such as music in the park, summer day camps and after-school hockey, have received an "amazing response from our community."

Residents would like to see safer connections to the Van Horne Trail for cyclists, which currently crosses two streets, and the expansion of programs over all four seasons, he said. In addition, they want to expand the use of existing spaces. 

"They want us to look at what we can do with our open spaces," Nopper said, to "enhance them and improve them not just for recreation but also for things like pollinator gardens and education and learning."

Part of this plan will be broadening access to public spaces to enable more people to make use of them. In this regard, Nopper said that "one of the newest programs we have is actually re-utilizing our youth centre for senior programs in the morning."

Nopper also said that people have been calling for an indoor fitness centre for years but when the town received a grant to build it, COVID-19 was in full swing so "it just wasn't garnering interest." As a result, the town "actually built an outdoor recreation space with it."

The new outdoor park is located beside one of the access points to the Van Horne Trail and "contains eight outdoor workout stations for all ages and abilities," Nopper said. 

In addition, the community is planning to expand certain services and facilities, such as the Arena Canteen, "that are underutilized at different times of the year and make them more active for the community," Nopper said.

"In past years, the town was host to the larger conferences and corporate events at the arena but that has not been the case in the past decade," he said.

"If we can attract more concerts, conferences, or event other programs like ball hockey, lacrosse, etc., it will make our facilities more viable and support the overall community."

Two years ago the town hired a recreation manager to spearhead its rec plan. Merven Hanselpacker said that developing more activities for local residents is the main focus of the plan but that the projects will also be beneficial to visitors. 

There have been several open-house events information is being gathered from residents to develop a 10-year road map, a draft of which should be ready by the end of May, he said.