The International Peace Garden (IPG), south of Boissevain, usually hosts tens of thousands of visitors each but the pandemic changed that until this past year when crowd numbers bounced back.

The IPG is known for its floral beauty and many other attracts such as the conservatory and 911 memorial.

“2022 was pretty good,” said CEO Tim Chapman.

“Everything looks good compared to 2020 and 2021. It really felt like things were starting to get back to normal. We would have loved to have ArriveCan discontinued before September. We did see that we were short our usual Canadian visitorship. We managed it the best we could, and we’re really excited to keep moving forward.”

Chapman adds with fewer restrictions they expect they’ll see even more Canadian visitors next year.

“We were around 50 per cent our normal visits from Canadians this year which doesn’t sound great, but it was still a significant jump over the previous two years. It’s part of the process of everyone getting comfortable with crossing the border once you leave the IPG.”

Tim Chapman says there are several reasons people will want to make the trip to the International Peace Garden in 2023. “We’re looking to get back to 2019 numbers in 2023 and with everything happening including the reopening of the newly expanded conservatory and the new play ara we’re excited to show people what we’ve been working on.”

While Canadian visits remained lower than normal the number of Americans coming to the International Peace Garden returned to near normal numbers.

“It was easier for Americans because they didn’t have to use an app or have more requirements and that was expected. We still expect even higher numbers in the new year.”

July 8th will be a big day at the International Peace Garden with the grand opening of the expanded Conservatory taking place that day.