CALEB NICKERSON
OTTER LAKE
Aug. 22, 2019
On Aug. 22, staff and campers from Parc Leslie in Otter Lake gathered at the camp’s canteen to celebrate the retirement of a . . .
long-serving voluteer and board President, André Loranger.
Currrent President Scott Lemay explained to the crowd that they had managed to keep the party a secret from Loranger.
“André was under the impression that tonight was a kind of end of the year soirée for the board, and to welcome back our previous director general [Jean-François Dion],” Lemay said. ‘Truth of the matter is, tonight is about you. We’re all here to honour you, thank you and congratulate you for all your years of outstanding service and leadership that’s been a huge contributor to the social and economic development of the park.”
Lemay added with a laugh that he didn’t think they were going to make it out of the car, as Loranger was all business, discussing various bylaws and lease agreements.
The park’s assistant director, Carol St. Aubin, also praised the man’s devotion to the region.
“I first met him when I worked here 18, 19 years ago,” she said. “He was a board member then, he wasn’t the president. I always found that he seemed to be very dedicated, you could tell that the park’s well-being was always at the forefront for him.”
Dion was impressed with Loranger’s tackling of massive issues that the park faced with their septic services, as well as his business sense and vision.
Loranger joined the board in 2003 shortly after moving to the region from Ottawa. He explained that during his tenure, he oversaw a lot of the infrastructure at the park, from the buildings to the addition of septic services as well as expanding the number of campsites by the dozen.
“It was really the very, very beginning,” he said. “All the infrastructure, the bathrooms, everything had to be done.”
Loranger said that looking back, while some expansion is necessary, he would like to preserve the tight-knit atmosphere of the campground.
“Now I have a different mind. I think that the quality of the park is the fact that it’s small,” he said. “We need to grow, revenue [needs] to cover expenses, but big parks have other types of problems and it loses the family setting.”
The park’s board of directors also presented the man of the hour with a gift: a chainsaw-carved bench by Nicolas Petkoglou of Lone Wolf Chainsaw Art, outfitted with a plaque memorializing Loranger’s contributions.
