Riding the chairlift towards the newlyopened tower at Sir Sam’s Ski/Ride, owner Doug Wilkinson shares the back story of how the viewing platform has come about.
His mother, Evelyn, passed away in early 2022 and, “this was something I wanted to build in her honour,” Wilkinson shares. He notes Evelyn, or Ev, are the same initials as Eagle View. The Wilkinson family rebranded the event centre at the bottom of the hill as the Eagle View Wedding and Event Venue when they bought it.
“It will be nice to finally put her to rest,” Wilkinson says of the opening of the tower, which was first announced in summer 2022.
It’s been 2.5 years in the making, with inevitable delays, especially coming out of COVID when contractors and materials were in high demand. However, the tower will be open Friday, Oct. 11 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m; then, all weekend (Saturday and Sunday) from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., as well as the chairlift. It’s $5 to climb.
Wilkinson said, “the main thing is just really to show off the view of the area. We like to say we think we’ve got the best view in Ontario and we’ve just made it a heck of a lot better by being up top.”
The owner estimates they have spent about $450,000 to date on the 60-foot tower and viewing platform and will spend more when they put composite decking on in future.
In addition to fall leaf viewing, he added, “we expect people will use it for different things – hopefully fall colours as part of hiking and biking, and then if we can get some weddings up top that would be a lot of fun. We have had a couple of requests from people to go up and do proposals. It’s a beautiful place to do it. And we can rent it out to corporates, who can put 50 people up top if they want to do a sunny, afternoon meeting.”
Wilkinson added it will benefit the Highlands, not just Sir Sam’s.
“The tower is an asset for the region and tourism, another reason for Haliburton County to be a destination, versus people driving up Hwy. 35 and heading to Algonquin Park.”
