Hillside Beach, Manitoba
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Hillside Beach is summer resort located on the eastern shore of Lake Winnipeg in the Canadian province of Manitoba in the Rural Municipality of Alexander[1].
Manitoba summers are short but gorgeous. With temperatures ranging from the mid 20s to the mid 30s on the Celsius scale during July and August and the fine sand white beaches such as Hillside Beach, it can rival the Caribbean in recreational value.[citation needed]
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[edit] Hillside Beach today
Though not as well known as Victoria Beach or as commercial as Grand Beach, it is one of the nicer resorts in southern Manitoba. It is valued by cottagers as a quiet resort with a grand two kilometer sand beach and dunes in a protected bay of Lake Winnipeg, just across from Victoria Beach. The protected bay offers good conditions for sailing, surfing, water skiing and fishing.
Behind the dunes there is a large lagoon (three kilometers across) used for fishing, canoeing and birdwatching. When the larger bay becomes too choppy water skiers often prefer the quieter waters of the lagoon.
Hillside Beach has few available public facilities and services. They mainly consist of a general store and gas station, an antique shop and a utility rental shop. A new addition will be a lawn care and landscaping company, like all other facilities located at the corner of Hary Craig Road and Hillside Beach Road.
[edit] History
[edit] Pre-settlement
During the fur trading expeditions of the Voyageurs the lagoon was part of a portage for travelling between the Winnipeg River and Lake Winnipeg en route from French eastern Canada to the Red River Valley, avoiding the long often choppy route around Elk Island.
[edit] The Beginnings of the Resort
The resort of Hillside Beach started mainly as a trailer court and camp ground, run by Harry Craig - surrounded by a few smaller cottages in the late 1950s and 1960s. The amount of surrounding cottages kept growing as Mr. Craig sold off property to new cottagers. Soon other land owners, such as the Trainor Family and the Burgey Brothers started developing cottage property - first along the shore and then gradualy further inward. Upon the death of Mr. Craig in the early 1970s the William estate sold his trailer court to a co-op, jointly-owned by the people that used the trailer park. No new trailer sites are currently being added to the park and the waiting list to become a member of the co-op is quite long.
