STEPHEN RICCIO
MANSFIELD ET PONTEFRACT August 1, 2020
A community collaboration that was whipped together in a month came to fruition over the weekend, as the Plage du Pont Blanc (White Bridge Beach) officially opened to the public on Aug. 3.
The beach project, funded by Municipalities of Mansfield et Pontefract and Fort Coulonge, got underway in . . .
the beginning of July under the direction of the Aventure Hélianthe Collective. The beach is located next to J & A Bowers Restaurant in Mansfield, on the Coulonge River.
There was no official event being held due to COVID-19, but a small group of residents gathered just after 2 p.m. for a sign unveiling that was performed by Mansfield Councillor Sandra Armstrong and Fred Sicard, owners of a portion of the property that the beach is on.
The collective had a lifeguard on duty for the remainder of the afternoon as residents from the two municipalities and beyond came to swim, play volleyball and relax.
The collective’s current plan is to have a lifeguard on duty for the remainder of the summer on Friday, Saturday and Sunday afternoons. Next summer there will be a lifeguard and sport rentals available throughout the entire week.
Olivier Lavoie-Harvey helps to run the collective—and now the beach—with his brother Guillaume, and he was excited to see so many people there right out of the gate.
“We want people to enjoy it, it’s for everyone, so we’ll never be too crazy about trying to keep people in line. We’re just hoping by showing the example by doing good work and keeping it clean for a bit that people will just follow those footsteps.”
The initial plan for the beach was to limit free access to residents of Mansfield and Fort Coulonge, but they knew that regulating that would become a logistical headache.
“We don’t want people from Gatineau, or Montreal or Pembroke to not come here because they don’t wanna pay so we scratched that whole idea and what we actually did was we invested in sports,” Olivier explained. “So we have volley balls and soccer balls and a bunch of frisbees. So all the activities and the sports rentals are free for Mansfield and Fort Coulonge.”
While the two municipalities both invested $7,500 into the project, there were other local sponsors and individuals who helped along the way.
Olivier said that Maison des jeunes du Pontiac was key in assisting with laying and raking sand. The picnic tables on site were also contributed by local suppliers, and Olivier said they had children come and learn how to build picnic tables.
“It was a huge community project, we were the main drivers of the efforts but everyone kind of rallied up behind us so we were really stoked to have both municipalities and a bunch of local sponsors to help us out.”
