By Stephanie Froese

Long weekend launches the Lakelands

May 19, 2011 | 6:46 AM

Even with a fire ban and an alcohol ban, staff at the Murray Point Campground are expecting it to get pretty busy this long weekend.

The grounds officially open Thursday and with the nice weather there is sure to be a lot of traffic coming through the gate over the next few days.

“Chances are we will fill up all our first come first serve sites,” said Ashley Manson, a gate attendant at the Murray Point Campground.

Booking started Jan. 1 for all their reserved sites, but people can still book altough most of the begining of July to mid-August is full, she said.

The first come, first serve sites could be available, she said.

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To deal with the usual lineups in the summer months, the campgrounds have changed their system for first come first serve sites so that a lottery decides.

“People come Thursday between eight and ten pick a number and it’s a random draw. If you get drawn first you can go pick your site.”

Manson said that even though there is an alcohol ban on a typical long weekend they do see the parties.

“Don’t drink alcohol. You might get a ticket. (Conservation Officers) will be out. No fires with the fire bans and have fun.”

The entire Rural Municipality of Lakeland No. 521 grows significantly in population over the summer months.

Reeve Al Christensen said they really want to encourage this to be a family weekend, “where families come and open up their cabin with what appears to be a very fine forecast.”

In the past there have been incidents where many kids travel to the lakes by themselves, he said.

“That leads them to making some decisions that are not probably as good as they would be if the family wasn’t present.”

He added that they are expecting this first long weekend will bring 5,000 to 10,000 people out.

According to Keith Dahl, conservation officer with the Christopher Lake Field Office of Saskatchewan Environment, the main concerns for the weekend are inappropriate use of alcohol within the local parks and campgrounds.

To combat those worries there is an alcohol ban within all provincial parks in Saskatchewan and for the most part Dahl said people do comply with that ban.

“I’m expecting like past years there will be some people testing it and we’ll have to deal with that … I’m sort of pleased to see that we’ve got people coming out now that I know have told us would not have come in past years,” Dahl said.

Dale Goodman, Staff Sgt. in Charge of the Prince Albert RCMP said they have taken steps to ensure they have adequate manpower to deal with whatever the weekend throws at them.

“We’re running 24-hour shifts this weekend and we still have an entire detachment that we have to police but we hope to maintain a steady presence up here over the weekend,” Goodman said.

He said they are there to make sure those who are here to enjoy themselves get a chance to do that and “those that are up here for maybe less than desirable reasons think twice.”

“We’re close enough to intercept before things get out of hand,” he said.

sfroese@panow.com