Port of Honey Harbour Community Collaboration
This is a project that residents in the Honey Harbour Community supported and worked alongside the Township to convert unused space and shore road allowance to what is today known as the Port of Honey Harbour, a walkable, swimmable, boat access and enjoyable new waterfront space that has become a vibrant tourism spot, featuring concerts, festivals, boat cruises and new opportunities for residents to access water.
Originally a private public brainstorming session of what a new developer who had purchased the Delawana in 2013 could do to support the community. His original idea was soccer pitches, and was quickly steered to the needs of the community of a water based community with limited access to water, and that is where the project began.
We are so delighted to share a progression of videos to showcase how we got to where we are today!
The Honey Harbour Waterfront Plan that was a collaborative of work between the Federal Government, (FedNor), the Provincial Government (Eastern Ontario Development Fund), the Private Sector (Delawana Resort) Public Sector, (Parks Canada) and the municipality. It saw three separate Council committees over the past 10 years of community residents driving forward the concept of water access for all.
The project has been completed in the last year, with the video being finalized in the last couple of weeks
Take a look at all three videos ( a younger version of myself in the first one in 2014) to present day video with new staff in the Sustainability Department getting excited about what is happening now. It is a wonderful progression of community collaboration that is now complete.
We are also including in our abstract a link to the Honey Harbour Waterfront Plan. A 5 million dollar project that was turned down by FedNor, but the community still persevered, bringing back a second application of 2 million dollars to create what is now today. That application was approved, along side funding from EODF, FEDNOR, the Municipality and the Private Sector in the adjacent property Delawana Resort.
For years, the community has been active, meeting with consultant, had community forums, town halls, and visited Tobermory twice, met with Parks Canada to have them as an anchor tenant for their Day Tripper, (the boat that moves people to the Georgian Bay Island National Park) Artist Colour Drawings of the Port are included in this.
Now here we are in 2024, we have community concerts every Friday night in the summer, community markets, wayfinding on the walkway that takes you to informational videos.
It is a vibrant Hub, and Parks Canada has signed a LOI with the Township to move their Daytripper operation over to the Port of Honey Harbour.
The community named and voted collectively on the key elements of the Port, the Promenade, the Parkette and the Gazebo are all named by the community. (see Name Game promotion).
This is an amazing catalyst for further private public ventures, including community funded pickleball courts, new businesses that are interested in coming to Honey Harbour, new restaurants, and pop up locations for seasonal businesses for retail opportunities. We have worked with local artists to include local community painted murals, signage and community gardens.
The goal for the next coming years is to continue to build out for 2025, with the arrival Parks Canada, and the Private Sector is poised to include new retail, better, more permanent washrooms, employment and a new vibrant community asset that will benefit the community, the economy, the residents and the travelling public.
Where we once thought the project was complete with the Port of Honey Harbour we now see that is just the starting point for the future. We have literally turned the end of the road into a destination that people want to come and visit. Honey Harbour is officially open for business.
