Dunkerque LNG and its territory

Parc Galamé: a great success!

24/04/17

The Parc Galamé consists of a fun space with an outdoor biological bathing area and of an educational space inside a nature centre. Dunkerque LNG provided 3 million euros in financing for the project within the framework of support measures in parallel to the installation of the LNG terminal. We take a look back on a space whose success has been proven.

Nine-and-a-half-year-old Marguerite, from Gravelines, especially likes the bathing area, which she has visited several times last year with her friend Suzie. Even though the water was a little cold, �œit was awesome, especially the inflatable toys,” she confirms. Céline from Coudekerque-Branche and her family truly appreciated the park, the pony rides, and the zip line. �œIt is an ideal place for walks with the children, and the park staff welcomed us warmly.” Théo, 10, especially liked the nature centre where he and his class from Loon-Plage attended workshops during which he learned a lot about bees. �œActually, now, I'm not scared of these insects at all anymore,” he declares. With 47,000 visitors last summer and 5,000 activity cards sold, the Parc Galamé of Loon-Plage is undeniably a real success. The biological bathing fun space and the educational nature centre provide something for everyone to have a great time. �œWe were even victims of our own success last summer,” admits Laurence Bruzac, the park director. �œWe were a bit overwhelmed by IT difficulties. This sometimes generated unreasonably long wait times at the reception area. But we learned from this experience, and we are now fully prepared to welcome visitors this summer in optimal conditions.”

The fun part of the park is especially active in the summer, in July and August, but �œthe fishing pond, hiking trails, and animal park remain open year-round,” explains the director. In the summer, the bathing area is without a doubt the main attraction in the park, complemented by a treetop adventure course, a zip line, wood laser tag, bubble soccer, minigolf, and pony rides. �œA number of families and groups of teenagers come here for the day and go from one activity to the next,” observes Laurence Bruzac. �œLoon-Plage residents no longer make up the majority of our clients. People come from all over the Dunkirk area, and sometimes from much further away, without us doing a lot of communication work. Word of mouth is very effective.”

The educational part of the nature centre is open year-round. The public has access, for free, to one permanent and one temporary exhibit on nature and the environment, a discovery space about bees featuring an example of a bee hive, and an educational pond. �œI really like our immersive space which enables people to see the world from a bee's perspective, too, as well as our many events, some of which are organised in partnership with the CPIE Flandre Dunkerque (permanent centre for environmental initiatives), geared toward schools and recreation centres. Our asset is to be able to offer on-demand events based on teachers' needs and on the school curriculum. Within this framework, we have already welcomed schools from the Valenciennes and Calais areas,” explains Laurence Bruzac.

Find out all of the information about Parc Galamé activities at www.parcgalame.org

Article présenté sur la lettre d'information : Avril 2017