Boardwalk in Rigolet complete, may now be North America's longest
The last nail was driven into the last plank of Rigolet's shoreline boardwalk Thursday, marking the end of a town project to build the longest boardwalk in North America.
"There's been a lot of work to it. Not only the people that built the boardwalk, but behind the scenes at the office — people doing proposals, trying to get money to fund it," Shiwak told Labrador Morning.
Atlantic City is said to have the longest boardwalk on the continent, running about 8.4 kilometres.
Shiwak said there will need to be a process to complete before Rigolet can officially claim that title.
"We are well over eight kilometres," said Shiwak."That's supposed to be enough."
Tourism potential
Shiwak said his community is looking ahead to becoming a gateway for the Mealy Mountains National Park Reserve, hoping to draw those tourists into Rigolet.
"We want to give them an experience in the community," said Shiwak. "The big draw is this boardwalk is all along the seashore."
Besides birds, seals and whale watching, Shiwak compares the boardwalk hike to a museum-like experience of local history.
"You walk past a lot of the old places where people used to salmon fish or live at one time. All those remnants you can see. and then at the end of the boardwalk, we're looking at three sod houses that were excavated over the last couple years," said Shiwak.