“We’ve opened the pools early, and pushed the temperature up to 100 degrees — we are open!” says owner Shannon Hunter happily.

A small fire in the resort’s commercial laundry room started the evening of April 4. A staffer had rested a box of paper cups on top of a commercial dryer.

“The surface got hot and it started to smoulder. Our systems did what they were supposed to do, isolated that room. It was just the laundry room. 

“We thought the repair would take a week. No big deal.”

But what seemed a small fire became “a slow-moving disaster. Every day it got a little bit worse. It kept moving. They found smoke damage in the dining room, in the bar, and throughout our brand new spa.”

When insurance investigators started to take down portions of the ceiling, pressurized smoke had moved up and into the walls of the rooms above, including the dining room and bar, and those beside the laundry room. Including the spa.

“I remember the firemen saying,
‘you know, this is the nicest smelling fire we’ve ever fought’,” l
aughs the apparently unflappable Ms. Hunter.
“It smelled like eucalyptus everywhere.”

While it might seem minor, the percentage of smoke, soot, or ash permitted in commercial spaces is low. “Anything more than 3 percent cannot remain. And that rule is particularly important, wouldn’t you know, in any place with heat or moisture, because that pulls the smoke out.

“And of course a spa is always hot and always steamy.”

While the closure of the spa just a year after it opened is heartbreaking, “when we are looking on the bright side,” says Ms. Hunter, who is clearly adept at this, “we learned a lot of lessons with our first year, and there were changes we would have made to the design, to set things up differently. 

“Now we can make them. When we are trying to be positive, we take that as a win. We’ll rise from the ashes like a phoenix!”

April, meanwhile, has been a roller coaster — the highs in the ready support of the community. First there was McDougall Insurance. “Curtis [Craig] was on site with coffee and doughnuts when the firefighters were still here, he brought pizza for the staff a couple of days later, and messaged every day, checking in.”

“Then our fellow operators just circled the wagons. Sol [Korngold] at The Royal and Scott [Hart] at The Drake took in guests, while Creekside Cafe offered room in their kitchen and refrigerators.”

Meanwhile, the resort was due to host Canadian Tire’s launch of the Hudson’s Bay Collection April 21st and 22nd. “We didn’t have power or gas, and 40 people were flying in from all over Canada for a full dinner,” recounts Ms. Hunter.

“Zach Littlejohn came and helped us with everything. We did a full day of food prep at Creekside. It was literally touch and go until the last minute.”

And so, just three harrowing weeks later, Wander is open for business. The kitchen was undamaged, and Gather’s dining room is back in the glass-enclosed portion of the restaurant on the back deck, with seating for 50. The outdoor pools are open, and the spa is underway.

“The outdoor portion was unaffected, explains Ms. Hunter. “We are planning to re-open the outdoor spa offerings including the sauna as part of our beach club program. The thermal pools are open now and the interior spa will reopen in the summer — but by then the focus really shifts to our beach.”  

Gather also welcomes a new chef this month, Lucas Smith, formerly of Ste. Anne’s Spa. He takes over from Chef Justin Tse, who departed to oversee the food program at The Claramount Club.  

“We were just about to hire a professional recruiter. It is challenging to hire in a small community for any of the really big roles that define a program. You don’t want to steal somebody’s chef. But, suddenly, Lucas’s CV arrived — and he’s a shining star. We brought him in right away. We are just thrilled.

“Coming from Ste. Anne’s, he understands a challenging food program at a resort, with a lot of different guests with different expectations, and of course he’s a brilliant chef who understands local, healthy, fresh food.”