The Town of Fort Frances has extended the window for parties to submit expressions of interest (EOI) in purchasing the Sunny Cove campground.
The new deadline for expressions of interest, announced on Wednesday, is this coming Monday, June 22, 2026.
In a Dec. 8, 2025, meeting, Town Council voted 4-3 to sell the dilapidated property after a long process of analyzing the pros and cons of keeping the property, which has been closed since the COVID-19 Pandemic.
A January 2025 report to council indicated at least half a million dollars would be required to repair rundown structures on the property and upwards of $2 million would be required to demolish them and start over. Council had previously voted to rehabilitate the camp, but the only bid submitted for the work was for over $1 million.
An ad-hoc Sunny Cove Sale Committee was formed this spring to ensure the property was sold to the right potential buyer, with the intent of finding a new owner who will maintain the property’s original purpose of providing community programming for the youth of the Rainy River District.
According to the committee’s terms of reference:
“The committee will endeavour to sell the property to a desirable third party that will preserve and continue to use the property primarily as a camp for the youth of the district. In the event that no desirable third party has submitted proposals to the satisfaction of the committee; the committee may—where all other terms of reference and terms of agreements have been satisfied—recommend selling the property to a third party without the above restriction.”
The committee is comprised of three members of the Kiwanis Club, two council members and a member of staff from the Town of Fort Frances.
As listed on the town’s website, the members of the committee are Councillors Mike Behan and Steve Maki, Chief Building Officer and Municipal Planner Jonathan Burrows, and Kiwanis Club members Dana-Lynn Begin, Lori Maki and Robin Wright.
After any costs, proceeds from the sale will go back to the Kiwanis Club of Fort Frances, which transferred ownership of the property to the town in 2009 for $1.
