The Victoria Park Visitor Centre and Marina is seeing an all-time record of visitorship, and the Smiths Falls & District Chamber of Commerce is taking the chance to ask the town for more funding.
Exeucitve Director Leslie Richardson highlighted some figures.
The marina waves pump out fees for docked boats if the owners support a local business, and the popularity of that has made the town a must-stop, Richardson said.
Richardson says the docks are of significant importance to the chamber.
In 2025 the marina generated about $80,000 in total revenue before expenses after seeing 454 docked boats and more than 8,000 visitors, while conducting 63 pumpouts.
This year alone, there’s been 671 docked boats, 77 pumpouts and already a record-number of visitors. Richardson said they’ve seen upwards of 29 boats in the marina at a given time, when the previous record was 17.
The chamber requested and received support from council to renegotiate their contract from $45,000 per season to $50,000 with a 3% annual increase.
They’ve received $45,000 each year from 2022-2026, while minimum wage has increased
by 21% in that time. The chamber hires students for the summer to work at the marina.
Council hopes to get a new deal in place prior to the municipal election.
Story by Grant Deme
