Mazinaw Lake Swim Program Only Getting Stronger After 53 Years

Jeff Green | Jul 31, 2025

The Mazinaw Lake Swim Program (MLSP) just wrapped up for the year at its home base at Bon Echo Park on July 25th, the program has a lot to celebrate.

Not only has this program continued to get local children started with swimming, it offers all levels of Lifesaving from Parent and Tot (which has 3 levels) to Bronze Cross. Programs include, Swimmer 1-6, Rookie, Range, Star Patrol and Bronze Star, Bronze Medallion and Bronze Cross. It has provided well paid jobs for teenagers, most of whom have come through its ranks, and continues to have swimmers go on to become instructors & lifeguards, thereby paying it forward to help new generations of swimmers learn to swim and be safe as they grow up around the water in Ontario’s Land O’ Lakes

The program had its start in the early 1970’s, in the aftermath of a tragedy, which led mothers in the community to start a swim program to ensure that children in the area have an opportunity to learn how to swim for fun and safety as they grow up around boats and water. Today many of the grandchildren and even great grandchildren of those families continue to be part of MLSP.

The program was always well attended, but about ten years ago it was running up against some financial struggles. Mary Kelly, an active community member, had sent three grandchildren through the program the previous summers.
“I got a call telling me that the swim program has only $24 in the bank and needed an influx of cash or the program had to fold.”

The MLSP is a program of Land O’ Lakes Community Services, which is run by a small, volunteer committee. Mary Kelly was asked to join the committee and help with fundraising, which she did at that time.
Since then, thanks to sponsorship from the local business community, the fundraising efforts of the annual Swimathon, and income from registration and grants, the program operates on a budget of over $50,000 each year.
“One of our biggest costs is for busing,” said Mary Kelly. Busing is available for MLSP participants along the Highway 41 corridor from Kaladar all the way up to Denbigh, including communities that are not on the highway.
“Busing makes the program accessible for so many more working families in the area,” she said. “That, as well as staffing, are the biggest costs.”
This year, a total of 18 people worked for MLSP, many were local youths who have come up through the program.
“By offering these jobs, we are able to sustain the program,” said Kelly.

A number of other swim programs in the region were hit hard by COVID precisely because teenagers who could not attain instructor level, ended up moving on, and the programs were unable to bring the next generation through because there was no one available to teach.
This was felt in South Frontenac, where the township operates the swim program, although that program has since recovered. In Central Frontenac, the program could not recover its instructors, and the program is not running currently.
“Luckily, we never had that problem.,” said Mary Kelly.

The other major sponsor of MLSP is Ontario Parks/Bon Echo Park, which offers access to the south beach at the park to MLSP for the month of July each year. The program had been in Marble Lake and moved to Bon Echo in the late 80’s or early ‘90’s.
“The Bon Echo partnership is key for us, and it may be the only swim program in the province. The staff are very supportive, and a lot of the kids who go through our program also end up working in the park, which is good for the Park and local families.”
In the last few years, MLSP has added adult and mother & tot courses, another way to make our lakes safer and more enjoyable for the entire population.

And one of the adults who have taken advantage of the program is Mary Kelly herself.
She said she has never been a swimmer and has always feared the water, but she is now working on it.
“I’m still not that comfortable in the water, but I have my simmer 1 badge now,” she said.