Sherkston Blog: RV Resort, Vacation Homes, Vacation Home Rentals in Ontario, Canada on Lake Erie

As sous chef at the Waterside Inn in Mississauga, Ontario, Naomi Amaral has helped prepare a lot of wedding banquets. So when it came time for her own wedding to love-of-her-life Robert, she wanted something special on the menu and in the way of a venue. She chose Sherkston.

But the big day was a long time coming. Twelve years long. The couple met through Robert’s brother Michael, who was dating Naomi’s friend Lindsay at the time. Naomi was a bit reluctant at first to meet Robert, having recently ended a relationship, but by the second date with him she knew he was the one. And she told him so.

“You just don’t tell a guy on the second date, but I did. I thought I might never see him again,” she says with a smile. “But he called.”

Naomi laughingly explains the twelve years between her declaration and the wedding, “I very was patient.”

Robert was in a band, playing bass guitar, traveling some, and dreaming of being a rock n’ roll star. Naomi was in school, studying culinary arts at George Brown College in Toronto. Both were living at home with their parents.

When she finished school, the couple moved to Mississauga together. Naomi went to work at the Inn and Robert, in addition to his music, worked for his Dad at the AB Printing, the family business. They traveled a bit to British Columbia, Vancouver, and Las Vegas, where the couple resisted the urge to have an “Elvis” wedding.”

“We thought about it, but we were there for the wedding of friends and didn’t want to take away from their big moment. I’m glad we waited.”

Waited until Naomi’s 30^th birthday, when Robert popped the question in the park where the romance had really begun.

“We were going to get married the next year, but I had two friends ahead of me for whom I was going to be a bridesmaid so we postponed for another year.”

Thanks to the long wait they were eventually able to find the perfect spot, the beach along Lake Erie at Sherkston.

“I’ve learned a lot about other cultures and their traditions and customs. They’re all wonderful and so I wanted something unique and different for my own wedding,” the charming new bride explained.

“We found it at Sherkston. Robert and I had been there before, visiting his family on day trips and we loved it. But we didn’t know they did weddings. When we discovered it was possible to have ours there we got really excited.”

And so on September 17^th, 2011, with a 120 family and friends in attendance to witness their commitment, the couple married on the beachfront at the Resort. The beautiful bride wore a white dress with sandals; the groom dressed handsomely in a navy blue suit.

After the ceremony the celebration took place at the Quarry. A buffet that included Canadian favorite Poutine French Fries – for the uninitiated, that’s french fries served with gravy and melted cheese – Cedar Planked Salmon, Cowboy Steak, roasted vegetables and potatoes. And how did Sherkston Chef Ken Guttin’s fare rate with the sous chef?

“It was sensational!”

For the bride and groom, as wonderful as the wedding was, the time family and friends spent hanging out together, roasting hot dogs and having a sing-a-long around a campfire the day before and the day after the wedding was something special.

“My Dad said it was like a great family reunion. We’re hoping to come back next year and do it all again – not the wedding – the reunion,” Naomi laughs.

We wish this lovely couple many dozens of years together and hope they do indeed spend some of those years with us.

According the Team Leader Cherie Moskalyk, everyone at Sherkston has resolved to make the upcoming season the best in our history.

“We’ve been pouring over our annual Homeowners’ Survey and a large part of our plan is to expand those activities owners enjoy most. And we’re going to surprise them with some new and exciting things – though I’m not going to saying too much yet.” She tells us, saying she preferring to keep things under wraps until the start of season gets a little closer.

“Among the popular “returning” favorites vacation Homeowners can look forward to are our Ladies’ Night Out,” Cherie says. “Once a month we’ll be going over to Port Colborne to see a show, and afterwards we’ll explore some local stores, do some shopping and have dessert or cocktails. It’s always a good time.

“Men and women are both welcome to Chef George’s cooking classes, which were a huge hit with Homeowners. The Chef does a three-course meal around a theme – it could be anything from Greek to tailgating foods – and people just – forgive the pun – gobble it up. What’s also great is that the classes are intimate, held to about twenty people.

“Our popular fitness programs will all continue including fusion fitness which is a mixture of Pilates, Yoga, and high impact aerobics; morning Tai Chi classes at the beach which is a great way to start the day; and Aquafit classes at the pool.

“We’re also a new exercise facility for Homeowners in the Rafters event center, complete with free weights, elliptical trainers, treadmills, stationary bikes, and free weights. Everything they need to stay in shape to enjoy all the activities available here.

“Of course, we haven’t forgotten the kids. Bradley Bear and the Kidz Klub will be back doing crafts. And parents had better beware when Naughty Ned’s Wacky Water Hayride takes the kids on trips through the resort. They’re going to be armed with super soakers and water balloons,” Cherie says with a laugh. “And it wouldn’t be Sherkston if we didn’t have Chocolate Bar Bingo, Fun Star Fun Time, and Name That Tune.”

Just in case time at the pool and the beach aren’t enough to keep the kids busy, Cherie tells us there will also be cooking classes for the kids with a brave homeowner volunteer. That’s not all the cooking kids will have a chance to do. They’ll be making their own Belgian waffle breakfast at Rory’s Waffle Party Sunday mornings. Parents, here’s your chance to sleep in.

“Of course, this being Sherkston, there will be an abundance of stuff for the whole family to enjoy together,” Cherie tell us. “Due to popular demand, we’re bringing back Sandy Vine and The Midnights. We’ll have Shania Twin doing her fantastic Shania Twain tribute. And we’ll have one of our most popular music acts, the Jon Bon Jovi tribute group. The Orangemen will be here performing all those great Top 40 hits so many of us grew up with. And on Magic Mondays the truly magical IncrediBrent will perform and have everyone in the audience asking ‘How’d he do that?’”

“Fun lifestyle programming is only part of what makes time spent at Sherkston so memorable. So this winter we’re doing some upgrades to the physical plant to make everyone’s experience here a better one,” Cherie says.

“We’re building a new changing facility and washroom in the central part of the pool complex to facilitate everyone using the pool. We’re also putting in a new splash pad for the kids.

“We’re also upgrading lighting, improving signage and doing some road repair work. And we’re doing some small things we think will have a huge impact, like updating our recycling compound to get everyone more involved in our recycling effort and help maintain the pristine natural environment of Sherkston.

“We’ve also upgraded our rental program to include a basic grade rental vacation cottages to make renting more accessible. And we’ve separated the Welcome Center into two sides: one for Homeowners and the other for Vacation Guests so getting to your vacation cottage will be easier and more convenient than ever.

It’s quite a list, but the team at Sherkston has resolved to accomplish it all. And we’re all hoping you’ll make a resolution to spend more time with us and have more fun when you do. Make that a New Year’s resolution you keep!

Guest Experience Manager Justin Allsopp hasn’t been home for Christmas for two years. But he and his wife Jennifer are returning this year with quite a present for his parents: new baby boy Zachery.

Home for Justin is Burton-on-Trent in England’s Midlands. He grew up there and played semi-pro soccer for the nearby Gresley Rovers. He went to work for Bourne Leisure, Royalty Resorts parent company, at a number of the company’s properties there. And it was there, at Rockley, that he met Jennifer, a Canadian who had come to work as a restaurant supervisor while he was Sports and Leisure Manager.

They still work together, though Jennifer is taking a year of maternity leave, tackling a somewhat tougher job than what she does in our Welcome Center. The two dated for three years before coming to Canada to marry in front of 170 family and friends three and a half years ago. And, as these things go, six months ago, along came Zachery.

Justin’s excited to return home and have the family – his Mum, Carol, Dad, Dennis, older sister, Dawn, her boyfriend, Phil, Dawn’s four year old son, Harry, and a host of aunts, uncles and cousins – come and meet the family’s newest member.

Justin is expecting it to be a traditional Allsopp family Christmas. Mum will have the Christmas tree decorated ahead of time and just the immediate family will spend Christmas Eve together, in all probability fawning over little Zachery.
Christmas Day will begin with bacon sandwiches with ketchup. (When we expressed surprise at this, noting that tradition here had bacon sandwiches in the U.S. usually came with mayo, Justin suggested we try it his way. We promised we would.) Then the family would gather round the tree and open presents, then turn their attention to the stockings that usually contain fun gifts. Santa will in all probability provide little Zachery with quite a haul. When asked if he had any of his shopping done or even knew what he was getting for Jennifer and son, Justin laughed and explained that shopping was usually a last-minute affair for him.

Then the family will sit down to a “huge” midday meal that this year will feature turkey with all the usual accompaniments, from stuffing and potatoes to parsnips and carrots.

“Then we’ll spend the rest of the afternoon unable to move, except little Harry who will be running rings around everyone,” Justin says. The remainder of the day will be spent entertaining family and friends who stop by to share a little Christmas spirit and meet young Zachery.

As for special plans, for Justin the most special thing of all will be to celebrate is “just to see people and do as little as possible. It’s been,” he says, “a very busy season.”

It certainly has been. In addition to assuming his new role of Dad, the former Sports and Recreation Manager has taken on a whole new set of challenges at Sherkston since becoming Guest Experiences Manager. In his new position Justin oversees the team leaders that look after the bar, restaurant, arcade, swimming pool, and Owner’s Exclusive.

“I love the job because of the diversity of things I get to do and it’s fun and interesting trying to get the best out of such a divergent group of talented people,” he says.

Which is why he’s so looking forward to spending time with the very best present he and Jennifer are going to get this year, their new best buddy Zachery.

If you’re out and about at Sherkston Shores, you’ve probably seen Sue and Dave Marshall with their two Doberman’s, Nitro and Dante. Walking the grounds of the Resort is one of the favorite activities of this couple from Troy, Ontario. “People are always stopping to say hello and tell us how well behaved they are. It makes for a wonderful icebreaker that leads to a bit of a chat.” The couple also has a Jack Russell, Zoe, who’s a bit older than her brothers, and three horses, two they keep are stabled at home and another that they board.

The Marshalls came to Canada for a visit in 1975 and fell in love with the country. They married here and decided to emigrate. They left their native Warwick, near Stratford-on-Avon, and a home they were in the midst of building to make the move. It’s a decision, like their decision to purchase a vacation cottage here, they’ve never regretted.

The Marshall’s discovered Sherkston friends Cathy and Dan Christou who have been coming here for more than thirty years. They’ve been visiting the Resort for the last seven or eight years, whenever their active lives permitted – Dave was in insurance, traveling the world, and Sue, an avid horsewoman, was competing in shows with her jumper, Remington Steele. Last year, with retirement near, they decided to purchase a vacation cottage in the Valley, an area filled with long time residents and mature vegetation.

“Even though we’re new here – many of our neighbors have been here twenty or thirty years – everyone makes us feel welcome and a part of the community. I think that says something about Sherkston Shores.”

What Dave says about Sherkston is that, “It’s perfect! You come through the gate and your stress level just drops. Golf carts going by, people smiling, saying hello, and the beach is waiting.”

“And the team is always happy to go above and beyond. We’ve asked for a few things and they’re done immediately and professionally. It’s a very hands-on team. They recognize you, they know you, and they treat everyone as if they’re somebody.”

The Marshalls know of what they speak. Dave’s job has taken them all over the world to all sorts of luxury resorts. “But I’ve never found a place that’s treated us any better,” he says. “Or one that’s been better maintained.”

In fact, the Marshalls like Sherkston Shores so much, they’re planning a visit to Sun-N-Fun in Florida to see if they might join those lucky folks who split their time, summer and winter, between the two Resorts.

The couple tries to get up every weekend and for two weeks during season. “For us, it’s just a place to relax,” Dave says. “We like to walk and Sherkston Shoes is ideal for that. And we enjoy the beach: sunbathing, swimming, and reading.” Asked for a good beach read recommendation, Dave suggests one of the detective procedurals about Detective Inspector Frost – also a long running BBC series – by R.D. Wingfield.

And while the Marshalls think of it as a place to relax, they do appreciate that people can be as active as they choose. “There’s something at Sherkston for everyone, whether they’re children or seniors. We love the diversity of people you find here.”

One of the things the Marshalls enjoy most about Sherkston is walking down to the beach to watch the Saturday night fireworks. “In my opinion, they’re better than what you see at Niagara Falls on New Years. Quite spectacular.”

Monsters, maniacs, and mutants: every year our Halloween celebration grows more frightening – and more popular. So this year we’re going to go all out to scare you out of your wits, throwing the biggest, scariest, most fun filled Halloween in our history. And we’re inviting you to join us, along with the More Bad News and Horns from Hell band, for a month of weekends we promise will have you shivering in your shoes!

Why three weekends? Because this celebration is just too big for one. It kicks off October 15^th & 16^th, continues on the 21^st and 22^nd, and then winds up on the 28^th, 29^th and 30^th with a giant costume party. We promise you won’t want to miss a single bloodcurdling second of it.

So join us. We dare you to experience the terror, the horror – and the fun – of this year’s haunted house tour we’re calling the Stairway to Hell.

It all begins in the Dark Maze of what used to be the Funplex. There you’ll encounter Freddy Kruger, Jason, Saw, Carrie, Pirates, and the Horror Clowns.
Just try to keep your wits – and your head – about you as you wander through scenes, each more terrifying than the one that preceded it, with its own sound and lighting effects, all guaranteed to have you screaming in fear.

From there, you’ll make your way to the Haunted Church – but not before you have to travel through Zombie Land where creatures of the undead want nothing more than to feast on your brains. You’ll have to be lucky to escape the bloodlust of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre maniac, as well as the fires and rubble of destruction caused by the walking dead.

Then, if you have the courage for it, you’ll reach the most dread-filled part of the Stairway to Hell, the Haunted Church. There you’ll travel through a maze filled with baby vampires waiting to bite your neck, suck your blood and turn you into a creature of the night. Finally, you’ll come to a dead end – a dead end where the Devil will swoop down to take you to the very gates of Hell. If you can make it past him and the horrors he has in store for you, you’ll pass through a door where new terrors wait: a skeleton pianist, a scene with Shocker in a prison electric chair, and a coffin filled with a dead – or is it a live – body.

And the very bravest among you – those who are willing to traverse this scream fest a second time – will be rewarded with a whole new set of horrors because every time you climb the Stairway to Hell the frights that await you change. So you never know where to look for safety.

During the day, we’ll conduct behind the scenes tours for the kids to show them how it’s all done, so they can help us to scare the adults.

We know there are unbelievers out there who question whether Sherkston’s lovely white steeple church is really haunted? So we invited Gary Holgate, a paranormal investigator from the Southern Ontario Paranormal Society to check out the truth of long standing rumors about a soldier who haunts the church. You can decide for yourself by checking out Gary’s pictures on our Facebook page.

So join us for a weekend of thrills and chills. We promise, it will have you believing in ghosts – and good times!

We sat down with some of the dogs here at Tropical Palms to get their point of view on what life is like for them at the Resort. We had to bribe them with some biscuits and belly rubs to get them to talk, but once they got started they had plenty to say, starting with Stephanie and Brian Johnston’s Jamiee and Jessee.

Jamiee and Jessee Johnston

“I’m a Redbone Coonhound and my little brother Jessee is a Weimaraner. Some little brother – he’s 105 pounds of pure mischief. But I hold my own. I’m 70 pounds and every bit as mischievous. But because we’re kind of adorable we can get away with it.

“Our newest thing is to wait until Mom puts out a new roll of toilet tissue. One of us will grab the end and unwind the roll all through the cottage. We think it’s pretty funny and while Mom and Dad may give us the look, they are pushovers for us.

“But they’re pretty smart. They give us a pretty good workout at the start of everyday, just to tucker us out. We start the morning with a walk around Wyldewood where we have our vacation home, make our way around Gulliver’s, then over the sand dunes to the Bark Park, where we get to run around and play with friends like Minnie, a little Shih Tzu, and Jake, a Coonhound like me. Then it’s over to the beach for a swim. That’s one of the best things about Sherkston; we’re allowed to go swimming before eight in the morning and after eight at night.

“But even with all this, we still have plenty of energy left over to get into a little trouble. It’s just that we like getting into things. Or should I say eating things. Like the time Mom was stuffing a chicken for Dad’s dinner and left it on the counter to go into the other room and answer the phone. I’m not admitting a thing – but I sure love chicken wings. In fact, we love chicken, especially those chicken hot dogs Mom gives us for treats. Mom always says that our whole lives are about food and more food.

“That’s only partly true, cause a big part of our lives is about giving Mom and Dad all the loving we can. That’s why first thing every morning, when Mom opens her eyes, there’s Jessee, his head on the pillow beside her giving her good morning kisses, with me right behind. Mom says our wake up kisses make her day. Truth is, it makes ours too.

Sugar Buchanan

Sugar, a seventy-pound Lab and Sheppard cross, starts her day with accompanying her dad, Dave, on his morning run.

“I go on a five K run with Dad every morning and I’ve got to say, there’s no better place to get out and run than Sherkston. There’s more than five hundred acres for us to explore and it’s all really beautiful. More important, it keeps me in shape for looking after my human sisters and brother, Sabrina, Olivia and Emett, when they go bike riding around the Resort. For me, looking after the kids is the most important job I have.

“We usually end up at the beach, which is my favorite part of the run because I can get in the water, swim a bit and cool off. I love the water and I love hanging out with Dad. Then it’s home and a chance to kickback at my favorite spot under my favorite tree and wait for folks to stop by with treats and chew toys. And they always do.

“My Mom, Patricia, used to come to Sherkston when she was a kid with her family and now she’s kept the tradition going. Which suits me just fine. We come for about three weeks every spring and then again in the summer because it’s close to our home in Niagara and just a great getaway spot for all of us.

“My favorite thing about Sherkston? Well, it’s always a lot of fun because I get to keep so busy, but there are two things I especially love. First, I get to sleep on a bed in our vacation home, which I’m not allowed to do at home. The other is sitting by the campfire on my special carpet, watching sparks fly, waiting for marshmallows. I love burnt marshmallows. All in all it makes Sherkston just a little bit of heaven for this dog.”

Join us for the first annual Sherkston & Sun-N-Fun Petanque Tournament August 13^th & 14^th. Since being introduced at Sun-N-Fun. We hear they’re sending some terrific players, but we’re ready for them. Come out and cheer your favorites onto victory.