New facilities, booking process coming to Quemahoning Family Recreation Area in 2022
Summer's Best Two Weeks is adding another option to the amenities being offered next year at the Quemahoning Family Recreation Area near Hollsopple.
A 30-by-30-foot concrete block shower house and restroom is going up in an open area near the park's entrance, behind the mini-museum and the men's and women's restrooms.
Que rec area
Record-breaking use of the recreation area over the last two years led to the expansion of the facility this year, including a larger parking area, three new RV sites and new playground equipment. The project was funded by grants and with work done by Summer's Best Two Weeks staff.
The organization, which operates a summer sports camp nearby, also manages the campground and recreational facilities at the Quemahoning Family Recreation Area for the Cambria Somerset Authority, which owns the reservoir.
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The new building adds six additional shower stalls to the property, two of which are to be handicapped accessible, authority Chairman James Greco said.
Summer's Best Two Weeks representative Jason Smith told the authority board at its meeting Dec. 2 that work on the building has progressed as far as is possible right now.
"The building will stay this way until we get better weather," Smith said, "but we are pleased with where (the project) is at."
How to make Que reservations
Authority board members also approved a change to the online reservations system next year at the Quemahoning Family Recreation Area. Smith said that Summer's Best Two Weeks plans to change its online reservation system software provider to a company called Astra.
The company, which offers its software to smaller campgrounds, is part of a larger company called Aspira, which manages the online reservations software for clients that include Pennsylvania's state park system, Smith said.
In addition to offering reservation costs that are at or below state park rates, the partnership with Astra is also expected to give the Quemahoning Family Recreation Area more national exposure through Aspira's ReserveAmerica website.
"The reservation process will be as user friendly, or more so than (it was) before," he said.
One difference that users can expect to see is an added $3.50 reservation fee applied at the time of reservation, Smith said, which is collected by Astra for its services.
Reservations for the Quemahoning Family Recreation Area's 2022 camping and rental season should open on Jan. 1 as usual, he added.
This article originally appeared on The Daily American: New shower house at the Quemahoning Family Recreation Area
