A month after finishing their final season of full operations at Beaver Point Resort, Brenda Hiebert and her husband Jake were fittingly honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Burns Lake Business Excellence Awards which took place on Oct. 16.
Lakes District News spoke to Brenda Hiebert at her home, who reflected on the successful business she and her husband have built.
“Receiving this award is a pretty great way to end the chapter for us,” said Brenda, who bought the campsite with Jake back in 1983. “We were honoured, blown away really. To be recognized by the community for building what we believe has been a viable business and a great lifestyle for our family is very gratifying.”
The Hieberts have spent nearly four decades running Beaver Point Resor, with Brenda running day-to-day administration operations, and Jake handling maintenance and construction. Over the years, together they’ve turned what was once a series of swampy campsites into what’s now one of the area’s premium vacation destinations.
Since the Hieberts bought it, Beaver Point Resort now has six full-service cottages, three single-room cabins with water and electricity, a two-bedroom cabin with a loft, and nine of the 37 motor home campsites are now full-service, complete with electricity and sewage. Not to mention, they created a whole new road to access the campsites, something that Hiebert says took over 550 truck loads of fill, brought in by her husband Jake.
The Hieberts now live on the site as well, in a house that doubles as a resort office. “This resort is a part of our family. Both our kids, who live in Vernon now, and my stepdaughter, who lives in Alberta, still call it home because they really did grow up here,” said Brenda.
According to Brenda, the decision to close the resort was simply due to the fact that it was time for a change.
“I’ve been doing this for 38 years, and I don’t want to do it for 40,” she told Lakes District News. “Up until 12 years ago, we really had no staff working with us so I was an unofficial chambermaid made for the resort. Now, we do have a one person staff to help out during the on-season, but still, the work of running the whole operation was just starting to tire me out.”
The resort will still be open in a limited capacity moving forward. The nine full-service motor home sites will still be available seasonally for long term stays [meaning the entire season]. Monthly, Weekly and overnight camping at the resort however, will no longer be available.
“As I said, I’m just too tired to do it anymore. This award is a great way to cap our career running Beaver Point,” said Brenda.
Though the resort will no longer be fully operational, Brenda says that any rumours that they’re looking to sell the property can be put to bed. “Move? Where would we be able to find 11 acres with 2,300 feet of beachfront property?” she asked with a playful smile.”
Over the last 38 years, Beaver Point Resort has become a staple in the Burns Lake community, generating countless tourism dollars and providing locals with a perfect spot for a summer getaway. For the Hieberts, it’s more then that though, it’s home.
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Eddie Huband
Multimedia Reporter
eddie.huband@ldnews.net
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