Le Pays de la Sagouine will reopen next June

Less than a month after the restaurant and theatre of the Le Pays de la Sagouine was destroyed by fire, the general manager of the Acadian theme park is vowing it will be rebuilt.

Paul LeBlanc, general manager of Le Pays de la Sagouine in Bouctouche, said on Thursday that the plan is to have the tourist icon reopen next June.

"We are very fortunate that back in 2003, we did some major renovations to that restaurant, to that building, and we still have the plans so basically we will be using the same plans and we've had a first meeting with the architects and some potential contractors," LeBlanc said.

LeBlanc said 19 Christmas concerts were cancelled because of the fire. In the meantime, Le Pays de la Sagouine will hold a Christmas concert at the Capitol Theatre in Moncton on Dec. 12 to thank people in the community for all their support.

Early estimates indicate that the fire caused $2 million worth in damages. But LeBlanc said the insurance won't cover all the loss.

Premier Shawn Graham has already committed to helping the tourist venue rebuild. LeBlanc confirmed that both the province and the federal government have said they'll try to help cover any deficit.

Le Pays de la Sagouine was the biggest target during a series of arsons and acts of vandalism that hit Bouctouche, a small Acadian community in southeastern New Brunswick, in the last month.

The Bouctouche RCMP have made several arrests in relation to the string of fires in the area. There have been roughly a dozen fires in the last several weeks in the Bouctouche area, with the RCMP estimating the total damage has topped $3 million, including the $2 million at the tourist venue.