Wasaga Beach Wraps Up First Phase of Community Engagement for Destination Wasaga

In November, more than 500 residents—and stakeholders from across the province—participated in Visioning Week to help shape the future of Wasaga Beach

“Visioning Week showed us that residents want a future that reflects our heritage while welcoming thoughtful change and new ideas,” said Mayor Brian Smith. “Together, we have a rare opportunity to shape the next chapter of Wasaga Beach. Our community is ready to build something extraordinary—and we’re determined to get it right for the generations that follow.”

Wasaga Beach - The Town of Wasaga Beach has successfully concluded Visioning Week, the first major milestone in developing the community-led Destination Wasaga Master Plan. Held from November 17 to 20, the week-long series of public meetings, workshops, open houses, focus groups, interactive mapping activities, and one-on-one conversations drew participation from more than 500 residents as well as business owners, local organizations, provincial partners, and stakeholders from across Ontario.

Alongside workshops and discussions, attendees contributed ideas through large-scale visioning boards, hands-on mapping tables, and comment stations designed to spark conversations about the town’s future. These tools helped residents articulate priorities, identify opportunities, and explore how different areas of the waterfront and downtown could evolve.

This extensive community input is helping establish a shared vision for the future of Wasaga Beach—one that celebrates the town’s natural beauty and heritage while embracing new opportunities to enhance the waterfront, strengthen the local economy, and create a vibrant, four-season destination.

View the Destination Wasaga Visioning Week Recap Reel now:

Visioning Week focused on gathering ideas across six key themes:

Places to Protect – How can Wasaga Beach’s natural assets be protected, enhanced, and celebrated?
Places to Live – What types of housing and community amenities are appropriate for the waterfront?
Places to Play – What recreation opportunities would reinforce Wasaga as a fun and inclusive place for people of all ages and abilities?
Places for Culture and Entertainment – How can events, arts, and culture make Wasaga Beach more vibrant year-round?
Places to Stay – What accommodations could expand tourism and support a diverse range of visitors?
Connecting Places – How can the waterfront and downtown be better connected, and how can movement around the town be improved?

Input gathered throughout the week will directly inform the development of planning frameworks, concept options, and future policy directions that will guide how Wasaga Beach grows as a destination and as a community.

What’s Next

Phase 2 of the Destination Wasaga Master Plan is now underway. Urban Strategies will begin developing concept plans and technical studies based on the community’s feedback. These materials will be shared with residents in early 2026 for a second round of public consultation and engagement.

Residents are encouraged to continue sharing their ideas by completing the Destination Wasaga online survey.

QUICK FACTS

Each year, Wasaga Beach welcomes over 2 million visitors to enjoy the beach, destination events, and local businesses. Between January and August 2025, domestic visitor counts to Wasaga Beach were 2,060, 833 people, which represents a 15% increase from 2024 – bringing visitation once again to one of its strongest levels in years, despite construction and infrastructure improvements happening along Beach Drive.
The Town of Wasaga Beach is unique in the world: it is home to one of Ontario’s most visited provincial parks and the only provincial park located completely within the main tourist areas and downtown of an Ontario municipality. Wasaga Beach Provincial Park is a “recreation class” provincial park that is intended to be designed and managed to provide a high level of outdoor recreation experiences for visitors.
Urban Strategies has most recently won two 2025 Canadian Awards for Planning Excellence. They are also working for the Algonquins of Ontario to help realize a vision for a new community founded on Algonquin values in southeast Ottawa, known as Tewin, meaning “home” in the Algonquin language. The project aims to create a sustainable community that weaves the Algonquin people into the socio-economic fabric of the nation’s capital.
The Destination Wasaga Master Plan will be developed through a process that puts residents, local businesses, and community partners first. It builds on the Province of Ontario’s $38-million investment in Destination Wasaga earlier this year, which supports the redevelopment of the beachfront, downtown, and key heritage areas, including Nancy Island.

About the Destination Wasaga Master Plan

The Town of Wasaga Beach’s Destination Wasaga Master Plan will build upon the Town’s current Downtown Development Master Plan. The Destination Wasaga Master Plan will focus on:

Enhancing the waterfront and public spaces to create a welcoming, accessible, and inclusive environment.
Revitalizing the downtown core to support year-round business and community life.
Honouring local heritage and culture, including exploring partnerships with Indigenous communities.
Coordinating infrastructure improvements, such as the ongoing Beach Drive reconstruction, to align with community-driven design goals.
Prioritizing sustainability with a robust ecological approach that integrates best practices, supported by a completed Environmental Impact Study, to identify ecological sensitivities, inform land use decisions, and guide strategies for shoreline protection, flood mitigation, and habitat preservation.

Learn more about Destination Wasaga.

About Wasaga Beach

For over one hundred years, the Town of Wasaga Beach has been Ontario’s iconic summer playground — a place where people come to have fun and create memories that will last a lifetime. Today, we’re on a mission to become a globally recognized recreation and nature-based destination. Building Destination Wasaga and re-imagining our main commercial area at Beach Area 1 supports this vision and Council’s priorities: to create opportunities to diversify the economy, grow tourism, create jobs, and build a complete community. It’s part of the Town’s plan to become a leader in sustainability, creativity, innovation and fun – a place with thriving businesses and safe, inclusive, complete neighbourhoods where we celebrate our rich history, diversity of cultures, and natural beauty, including the Nottawasaga River, Georgian Bay and the longest freshwater beach in the world.

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Media contact:
Sandra Watts, Director of Strategic Communications, Destination Marketing and Intergovernmental Affairs
sandra.watts@wasagabeach.com

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