Support the businesses that bring summer fun to the Morinville area

School is out, Canada Day just passed, and we are full on into summer. Get out and go hard, time's a-wasting!

After a long hard day at the Water Park, walk on down to the Ice Hut and choose from a bajillion flavours.

Morinville may not be a tourism hotspot, but there are businesses and non-profits in and around town that work to bring that summer vacation feeling locally. So let's go appreciate them with our $$s so they can keep coming back!

• SPG Paintball - impressive outdoor paintball facility with four playing areas.

• Deb's Greenhouse Mini Golf - mini-golf set beside a delightful secret garden; fun for all ages.

• Fusion World Rentals - kayak and paddleboard rentals at Cardiff Lake

• The Ice Hut - so many flavours of delicious ice creams and sorbets with outdoor picnic tables set on grass. Summer heaven.

• St. Albert Canoe & Kayak Club at Cardiff - paddling classes, canoe and kayak rentals at Cardiff Lake

• Cardiff Golf Club - stunning 18-hole golf course and driving range 5 minutes from town
  

AND our close neighbours:

• Jurassic Forest - animatronic dinosaurs out in the woods; what else can one say?

• The Gibbons Museum - normally museums are great winter (indoor) activities, but this one is like a mini Fort Edmonton so it's best enjoyed in summer.

• Prairie Gardens and Adventure Farm - petting zoo, trackless train rides, Lost Lemon Gem Mine, bale mazes, playgrounds and more.

The OG summer business: farm fresh food!

Both Bokey Blooms and Rosey Farms are opening up their haskap berry u-picks this weekend. Not familiar with haskap? They are deep blue-purple berries that look like a stretched blueberry but taste more like a seedless raspberry (or like a Concord grape, depending on the variety). Some people find them a bit tart for fresh eating (again, depending on the variety), but they make the most beautiful hot pink smoothies you've ever seen, and pies and jams that blueberries only wish they could produce. Go get some and see for yourself!

Not to be outdone, Boissonneault Family Farms has some AMAZING looking buckets of sun-ripened strawberries on their Facebook page from last weekend—strawberries that could be yours this weekend! Soft, sweet and juicy, locally grown strawberries bear little resemblance to the dry, pale berries you see in stores over the winter. In my humble opinion, we should all pick and eat as many as we can while they last.

Over in Namao, B2K Vegetable Farms is open with fresh young peas, beets, radishes, spinach, and probably more, so pop on open to their farm store and kick-start your summer healthy eating plan right now. It's sooo much easier to eat well when healthy is this fresh and delicious.

And of course, every Sunday is a chance to hit the Morinville Farmer's Market for fresh local fruits and veggies alongside all sorts of other delicious locally made delights. I know, I just said healthy eating plan, but summer Sundays are like double-vacation days, so stroll, sample, and snack away!

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Map time! A little while ago, we built a custom Google map of all Morinville restaurants and bars. Next up: a map of farms around Morinville.