By Laural Samson [1]
QUINTE WEST – The Trent Port Marina has been awarded the Blue Flag award [2] for the third year in a row.
And Kathy Lammers, the manager at the marina, says the prestigious award was well deserved.
“We feel within the city that it’s a tremendous recognition of our efforts here within the community to be sustainable, accessible, and environmentally friendly. We work very hard at it.”
The Blue Flag award is recognized internationally, and is a symbol of excellence in cleanliness and sustainability at marinas across the world.
Trent Port Marina is only one of the nine marinas in Canada to have received it.
And the City of Quinte West could not be more proud.
“The effort that went into the Marina this past season during the COVID-19 pandemic just shows our commitment to providing exceptional service no matter what challenges we are facing. I can’t commend the staff at the Trent Port Marina enough for their ongoing work year-round,” said Mayor Jim Harrison in a statement provided to QNet News.
And while the running of the facility is in peak condition, Lammers says that the newness of the marina also gives it a leg-up.
“We are a brand-new facility, only five years old, so everything in here is pretty much state of the art. In fairness, it makes it a little bit easier for us.”
But even with a new facility, the process for applying for one of the Blue Flags is long and detailed.
“It’s not an automatic renewal; every year we have to go through quite a long application process that takes a couple of weeks to compete and is forty to fifty pages long. So there’s quite a lot required to renew that every year.”
But for the Trent Port Marina, this work is worth it.
In the Blue Flag report, it states that the Trent Port Marina sets the bar for Blue Flag marinas in Canada- calling it a premium-class marina unlike any of its kind.
And it seems to be impressing visitors as well.
One review [3] stated that they had a “wonderful two night stay at Trent Port Marina in August 2020. Very professional and extremely helpful staff and well managed facility. Great Covid-19 protocols. Amazing washroom/shower and by appointment laundry facilities.”