The Park
Lovesick Lake on the Ridge
To view more information click on the PDF for Kevin M Duguay Planning Memo Lovesick Lake on the Ridge Information Package Click Here for D M Wills Engineering Plan Lovesick Lake on the Ridge D M Wills Engineering Plan
Lovesick Lake1 Park, Lovesick Lake Beach Resort and Lovesick Lake RV Sales
Lovesick Lake Park has been a Purves family enterprise since 1979, In 2016 Strickers Resort was purchased and amalgimated with Lovesick Lake Park, Known as Strickers Resort from the 60'ies Strickers was known for its extensive waterfront location and large sandy beach on Lovesick Lake. Lovesick Lake RV Sales is only six years old as a formal RV Dealership, and member of Ontario RVDA. However, Scott says he’s has been selling used units ”his whole life.” He has been selling new units for local dealers at his location for at least 10 years. With over 30 years experience in the RV business and as owners of Lovesick Lake Park, a renowned campground in the heart of the Kawartha's 2, the Purves family understand the needs of RV owners. It made sound business sense to expand the family enterprise to include RV Sales.
THE PARK
Nestled in the heart of the Kawartha's, the quiet and friendly Lovesick Lake Park is great for all ages. Just 32 kilometers north of Peterborough, in Burleigh Falls, this family-owned and -operated campground is surrounded by forests offering spacious seasonal trailer sites, getaway cottages, and terrific camping sites. Visitors enjoy beautiful scenery, nature trails, sandy beaches, good fishing and a full recreational program for all ages. As well, this park also includes a wonderful restaurant and gift-shop.
Founded in 1958 by the Holmes family, Lovesick Lake Park began with only 20 tent and trailer sites along the perimeter of its beach area, as well as the Holmes family cottage and the island cottage. In 1979, Murray and Winona Purves purchased the park. At this time the park had grown to 50 sites in total, and consisted of two rental cottages (the Holmes’ family cottage and the private island cottage), 50 wooden boat docks, and a gas pump for boats.
With a vision in mind, the Purves’ began by creating 20 overnight camping sites and expanded the tent and trailer park to 145 sites. The new camping areas were made using the available fill and rock left over from the reconstruction of highway 28 in 1979. The new tent and trailers sites extended further into the hill, where guests could now enjoy the park’s beautiful forest setting even more. During this phase the Purves family stayed true to their values, preserving as many trees as possible – a philosophy and practice to which they have continued until today.
The year 1983 saw great growth. The Purves’ purchased land from the Department of Highways, where they began building the giftshop and office. In 1985, the family built an addition onto the building adding the restaurant which extended the building 50’ in width. This was an exciting time, and by 1990 the Purves’ were recreating the office and installing the security gate area visitors now know today. Soon after this, the old docks were replaced with a complete metal docking system. One hundred and twenty boats could now be docked. The dock was created in a U-shape out from the beach, creating a safe swimming area adjacent to their sandy, non-weedy beach.
The last major project to date began 5 years ago, being an overhaul of the park’s hydro and water systems. The overhaul involved replacing the hydro poles with a complete underground power system, and upgrading the water lines and filtration systems for the parks drinking water.
Today the park has 160 seasonal campsites, 20 overnight sites, and 143 boat docks. Half of the 20 overnight campsites have electricity (30 amp) and water supplies.
The list of activities at the park is almost endless. The 2012 program included; a regatta weekend complete with family games, a BBQ on the beach, sand castle building, a summer photo contest, dances – kids’ and adults’ –with music ranging from Western (Country Dance and Corn Roast) through Rock, Pop, Classic Hits and originals, Canada Day festivities, a horseshoe tournament, Sumo wrestling, 3 Super Bingos, and ‘Christmas in July,’ complete with Christmas tree decorating, a hockey tournament, wagon ride to the North Pole, and gifts from Santa. Many events include a wagon ride for transportation.
In addition to dances, “under the barn” activities include a wagon ride to an ice cream frenzy, darts, movie night with popcorn, karaoke, tye dyeing T-shirts, and Texas Holdem. Other special events include a hypnotist, a scavenger hunt,“Lovestock” (a mystery tour that included a cruise on Stoney Lake, a visit to a winery, a Casino visit with $10 cash to play with) and a field party, and ‘Lions and Tigers On the Beach’ – a spectacular show of tigers, wolves, lynx & many other exotic animals and insects—perfect for that Kodak moment!
For the avid fisherman, there is a wide variety of species to hook, including; muskie, pickerel (walleye),large & small mouth bass, crappie, and other panfish.
The Purves family feels fortunate to have a great staff, and together their team is full of people dedicated to the park’s mission, values and customers. They “have built our business on delivering nothing but the finest products and service.”
This philosophy has been extended to the newest arm of the business: Lovesick Lake Beach Resort...
Lovesick Lake Beach Resort - Formerly Strickers Resort
We would be happy to talk to anyone that could provide us with some back ground history and interesting facts about Strickers Resort.
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RV SALES
While Dad, Murray, has sadly passed, Mom, Winona, still owns the park; and her sons, Scott and Steve, own Lovesick Lake RV Sales, with Scott as Owner / Manager of Operations , and Steve as Owner / Manager of Sales.
Lovesick Lake RV Sales proudly offers Kropf Industries’ multi-award-winning line of trailers, in addition to a full line of Dutchmen and Keystone RVs at competitive prices – we strive to find customers an RV that suits their lifestyle and budget.
They are most proud of their Kropf 12- Wide trailers. There are 4 in stock at their Burleigh Falls location and another 3 Kropf 12-wides on display in Toronto. The latter 3 units were featured at the October 2012 Toronto Fall RV Show and will be included in an additional 2 Toronto RV shows – the Toronto RV Show and the Toronto International RV Show – this winter. Says Scott: “ORVDA Executive Vice President, Larry R. Boyd, and Executive Assistant, Shannon O’Callaghan, were both very instrumental in helping us learn all about the Trade show aspect of selling RVs.”
Staff at Lovesick Lake RV know that finding the right financing package is as important as choosing the right RV, and we have a professional that can help customers make the right choice financially. The dealership is proud to work with Lakefield Financial Services, specialists in RV financing, who make it their goal to find the most practical and economical financing solution possible – offering the most competitive rates, terms and amortization options available.
Total staff for the Park, Restaurant, Gift Shop and RV Sales number 25. There are 5 RV Salespersons, and the dealership can draw from park staff. The dealership also has a full Parts and Service Department, with one full-time RV Technician, Rob Crowhurst, on staff, and two employees who recently took onsite RV 2 Propane training. Faye Thompson heads up the Warranty Division.
Scott extends heartfelt thanks to the dealers in their area that help them out so much, including Mike DelMastro of DelMastro Motors & RV, Roland Goreski at Campkin’s Camping Centre, John at Under the Sun Trailers, and Rick and Al at Great Canadian RV (Peterborough).
If the service and support offered RV Sales customers is anything like that of the park and its long history, the dealership can’t help but be very prosperous! In the face of the trend in some areas to “re-develop,” the Purves family intends to keep their enterprises a family affair for generations to come.
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Footnotes:
1/How Lovesick Lake got its name:
It was believed that Lovesick Lake adopted its unusual name from some locals who found a dying man on one of its islands. Apparently he was deeply in love with a lady who didn’t return his feelings. The only peace he could find was within the decision to die for her. Although his friends were able to comfort him away from his course of starvation and grief, they decided to commemorate the lake with a name in honour of how strong his feelings were. (Source: http://www.snappeterborough.com)
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2/The Kawartha Lakes are a band of lakes in south-central Ontario that form the upper watershed of the Trent River. The lakes all lie upon the boundary between the Paleozoic limestone regions of the Golden Horseshoe, and the Precambrian granite Canadian Shield of northern and central Ontario. "Kawartha" is an anglicization of the word "Ka-wa-tha" ("land of reflections" in the Anishinaabe language), which was further modified to Kawartha, with the meaning "bright waters and happy lands." Though the city of Kawartha Lakes is named for them, more than half of the Kawartha Lakes are in fact located in Peterborough County. (Source: www.Wikipedia.com)
The Legend of Lovesick Lake
The most interesting lake in the Kawarthas in terms of its name, is Lovesick Lake. Many people find the Burleigh Falls - Lovesick Lake area to be a most picturesque and romantic spot.
The story depicts a young Indian lass named Polly Cow, daughter of "Handsome Jack" Cow, who was the good-looking charismatic Indian Chief of the early 1800's. "Handsome Jack" Cow was one of the most powerful chiefs in the Kawarthas.
Polly inherited her father's physical beauty and was reputed to have been the most beautiful Indian maiden of all. She fell in love with an Indian brave, who rejected her love. Heartbroken, she fled to a deserted island on the lake and nearly died of lovesickness.
No one knows what became of this beautiful Indian maiden hence the lake was named, "Lovesick".