Before COVID-19 hit, The Park in Okotoks had only been open for four months.
By mid-March 2020, owner Sara Rae was facing the reality of having to shut down.
“We knew we were in for a ride, not knowing exactly what that would look like,” said Rae. “But I knew in my gut that it was something that was going to have a major impact on our business.”
The pandemic strikes
The Park is an indoor play café–a space where people can sip lattes while their kids explore play structures. However, as an indoor children’s play centre, it was one of the first businesses forced to close under Alberta Health restrictions.
“The mandates and protocols put out by Alberta Health and our government did not allow us, as an indoor children’s play centre, to be open. So that was probably the biggest challenge during COVID,” said Rae, “How to continue to generate business was a challenge during those moments with all of the fear and uncertainty that was out in the world.”
New success
Rae pivoted quickly, shifting her business model from drop-in play to preschool programming called “Creative Kids”, and kids camps. The new program was originally something she had planned to launch years down the road.
“We were forced to move into it,” she said. “That was probably the most positive change, as the program is still a great success.”
To keep the lights on, Rae said, The Park also relied on “an obscene amount of funding from the government, putting us in even more debt as a new business–something we are still affected by today.”
“We just wanted normal for families… for kids and for parents. We wanted them to have a place they would feel comfortable doing as they wished,” she said. “ We were actually given the nickname of the Freedom Playhouse by a few.”
Marie Dawn, former lead teacher at The Park, echoed Rae’s statements.
“We originally started with the masks and then we quickly saw that the kids weren’t responding well to us,” she said. “So we removed our masks and showed our smiley faces.”
Despite the hardships, both women say the community formed inside The Park was their silver lining.
“My staff became my family,” said Rae.
“The Park became my cohort,” added Dawn. “We all just kind of became a close-knit family.”
Today, Rae says her proudest achievement is simple: “That we’re still here and thriving.”