“Our Indoor Water
Park will be the first of its kind in Atlantic Canada making Kingswood and all
its amenities a major tourism destination resort for Atlantic Canada.”
Kingswood also has a complimenting
9-hole golf course, a golf academy, a full practice golf facility, a food court
featuring Pizza Hut, a fitness center, a 30-lane candlepin bowling center and a
gymnastics facility rated as a Centre of Excellence by Gymnastics Canada. Kingswood
has hosted the Canadian Men’s National Gymnastics Team for over two years in
preparation for the World and Olympic Games, the first time the Men’s team ever
centralized in Canada.
“We partnered with the Wostawea Cross Country Ski Club
and offer 25 kilometers of cross country ski trails that goes around the golf
course and are connected to the UNB woodlot, which are as good as any trail
system in Canada,” he noted. “We are
going to connect the hotel to the New Brunswick Snowmobile Trail System and
they will be able to get to Kingswood through a tunnel that runs under the Trans-Canada
Highway so snowmobilers from Quebec, New England and New Brunswick can access
the hotel”.
In the winter, the
pond on the 1st fairway will be used for outdoor skating and pond
hockey. A major youth pond hockey event
for all of New Brunswick is also being planned for next season.
“The goal is to make Kingswood an all-year round facility,”
he said.
Kingswood is being transformed into a Resort
and is recognized by the Canadian Hospitality Industry as the most unique site
in Canada by its diversity and number of amenities. The Kingswood Village Resort is scheduled to
begin construction later this spring and will feature a gated community with
town houses and an apartment complex.
Johnson’s
great-grandfather, who went by his middle name, Bert, lived in Fredericton for
most of his life and was the owner-operator of the City Hotel for 37 years until
his death in 1942. The City Hotel was located downtown on Queen Street where
the TD Tower parking garage now stands today.
Lint was an enthusiastic
supporter of the City and was well known for his hospitality and as a
complement to his hotel business brought many sporting and entertainment events
to the City - boxing matches and harness racing among his favorites. He was a well-regarded musician and an avid supporter
of the local music scene of which he was a vital part of.
“He was always a big
promoter of Fredericton. He loved the
City of Fredericton,” said Johnson.
With this ambitious
new undertaking, Johnson is taking Lint’s dream for the City and making it
bigger.
“I think of him a lot
because he was a builder of Fredericton and a promoter of Fredericton. From everything I know about him, he was a
good-hearted guy and helped a lot of people in town.
“He has inspired me
to do a lot in the City. I love
Fredericton and we are all so lucky to live here and I do everything possible
to promote the City and New Brunswick wherever I go. I think he would be proud to see how the City
has grown and how we (Kingswood) have grown along with it and I like to think I
have molded myself in the way he would have wanted me to enhance Fredericton.”
Bert Lint’s greatest
passion, however, may have been horses and harness racing as he was well-known
throughout the Maritimes and New England States as one of the sport’s most
accomplished amateur trainer-drivers during the first quarter of the 20th
century. Lint hosted many of harness
racing’s well-known horsemen of the day in his City Hotel, where he would
entertain them after competing against them at Fredericton Raceway.
 |
| BERT LINT at Fredericton Raceway |
“Above all else, the
biggest thing for him was the horses,” said Johnson. “That was passed down through our family and
I was around them (at Fredericton Raceway) growing up. I remember Bert’s wife (Maud), my grandmother
(Ena Lambert) and mom’s sister (Helen Lambert) all lived together on Charlotte
Street and their home was decorated with figurines of horses. My aunt Helen loved harness racing and had me
around the stables every weekend.
“Bert loved horses
and harness racing and kept several at the stables at the hotel. It (harness racing) was the biggest
entertainment in town in the first part of the (20th) century. It was a great honor for our family to accept
his Hall of Fame Award from the Fredericton Raceway a few years ago.”
With his
great-grandfather’s passion for harness racing and the exposure he had to the
racetrack during his younger years, Johnson says he has been thinking about the
current state of Fredericton Raceway and the Exhibition grounds over the past few
years.
“On my own, I hired a
consultant that I deal with in Halifax, to look at the Fredericton Raceway and
the Exhibition Grounds and model it after the new Summerside Raceway. I have had some discussions with (FREX
Executive Director) Mike Vokey and some of the board members on a new vision
for Fredericton Raceway,” he said.
It would involve
relocating the entire Fredericton Exhibition grounds and racetrack to a 70-acre
site across the four-lane highway from Kingswood, connected by an existing
tunnel under the highway. The current 30-acre location downtown is small and
this potential new site would allow for expansion such as franchise restaurants
being located just off the new highway, a racino and possible new hotel.
With Kingswood on one
side of the four-lane highway and the Exhibition grounds and Racetrack on the
other side, Johnson said it could be the
Magic Mountain of Fredericton (comparing to Moncton), a major draw and attraction for Fredericton
and central New Brunswick.
“With the racetrack
and the surrounding property there is an opportunity to have it used as a 35,000
person concert venue, similar to what Charlottetown has created in the center
of their raceway,” he said. “There are
possibilities on this land for long-term leases for retail or food outlets to
help with the cost of construction. I
also talked to government to see if there would be any financial assistance. There could be monies available from many
different sources.”
There is also a
substantial amount of money to be realized by Fredericton Exhibition if they
terminated the lease of the Exhibition grounds with the City of Fredericton and
sold the current lands that could be used to invest in this project as well. It is no secret that City Hall is anxious to
redevelop the property as it has been part of their original Municipal plan
that dates back to the early 1990’s.
“It will take courage
and vision. I would do anything to help
get this vision for harness racing and the Exhibition started,” Johnson said
enthusiastically. “This will become a
key destination for Fredericton. The location on the highway for the Raceway
and Exhibition highly visible, easy to find, a major attraction “
“It would be great
for Kingswood and be great for Fredericton Exhibition and Raceway.”
* * *
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This Sunday we'll have the harness racing story of Bert Lint.
Bert Lint
held his own against the finest horses and drivers to grace Fredericton and,
indeed across the New Brunswick and into Maine. Though still an amateur trainer-driver,
Lint held various track and Maritimes records and at one time held a world record with Chesley H Searcey.
* * *
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more historical data, pictures and stories please LIKE Fredericton
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I really enjoy and look forward to this blog.
ReplyDeleteThank you to all involved
Brian