Image: Town of Saint Andrews website
Despite being in a pandemic, the town of Saint Andrews still saw tourism.
During a year-end interview, Mayor Brad Henderson mentioned despite provincial and federal COVID-19 restrictions several businesses saw better than normal sales.
“New Brunswickers for the most part has circled Saint Andrews as a place on the map they want to visit.”
“When you look at the health of our community, plus the health of our businesses, and considering what we are going through it’s been great in 2021,” continued Henderson.
He mentioned the town also saw a lot of visitors from the northern part of the province.
“When you think of French-speaking visitors, you have to think of the border getting closed to Quebec, so wouldn’t expect as much, but the reality is northern New Brunswick discovered the southern portion of the province.”
“A lot of businesses told me they had more French-speaking visitors than they have had during any normal year,” continued Henderson.
The interview switched to growth, which Saint Andrews continues to see.
Henderson said in the past six months he has had more conversations about economic development, and housing.
“I am predicting for next year it will be a record-breaking year for growth in the town of Saint Andrews in modern history, especially with a lot of talk of developing garden homes and apartment buildings.”
With the province passing municipal reform, there will be structural changes as Bayside and Chamcook will be joining the municipality.
“However, there’s still a lot to be determined and a lot we need to know, but we’re still going to go through that process, and to try and figure out how we can keep our momentum with respecting the rural lifestyle of our neighbours.”
He added one of the biggest accomplishments for the town in 2021 was the opening of a new wellness centre.
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