Boardwalk in Rigolet complete, may now be North America's longest

The last nail was driven into the last plankofRigolet's shoreline boardwalkThursday, marking the end of atownprojectto buildthe longest boardwalk in North America.

RigoletInuitCommunity Government AngajukKk(Mayor)JackShiwaksaid there was more to themoment than just the swing of a hammer.

"There's been a lot of work to it. Not only the people that built the boardwalk, butbehind the scenes at the office peopledoing proposals, trying to get money to fund it,"ShiwaktoldLabrador Morning.

Atlantic City is said to have the longest boardwalk on the continent, running about 8.4 kilometres.

Shiwak said there will need to be aprocess to complete before Rigolet can officially claim thattitle.

"We are well over eight kilometres," saidShiwak."That'ssupposed to be enough."

Tourism potential

Shiwak said his communityis looking ahead tobecoming a gateway for theMealy Mountains National ParkReserve,hoping todraw those tourists into Rigolet.

"We want to give them an experience in the community," said Shiwak. "The big draw is this boardwalk is all along the seashore."

Besides birds, seals and whale watching, Shiwak compares the boardwalk hike toa museum-like experience of local history.

"You walk past a lot of the old places where people used to salmon fish or live at one time. All those remnants you can see. and then at the end of the boardwalk, we're looking at three sod houses that were excavated over the last couple years," said Shiwak.