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The Rosebelt Valley Campground is a peaceful place, east of the town of Didsbury, north of Calgary.
Martin van Buuren has been at home for the past three years, but this weekend brought the end of his arrangements he hoped to keep moving forward.
“In this park, I love it.”
“The town is great, the people are great. Everyone gets along.”
Van Buuren and other long-time residents of the park, several of whom were subject to sudden changes in the town of Didsbury, where the property was managed.
The town has moved the booking system online and needs to pay in advance.
While Van Buuren and others are still able to pay a month a month as they did for years, they risk being snatched by weekend campers.
“If I stay here, anyone can book my website.”
“That means I have to move the trailer (around the campground).
Or worse.
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If the campground is booked on a specific weekend before Van Buuren pays for the next month, he will be forced to hitchhike and take his trailer away.
“I’ve been here for so long…I don’t understand.”
The town of Disbury told Global News that the campgrounds are for entertainment only.
Van Buuren said it was a sudden conversion and other long-term tenants would not be as easy to manage as he did.
“They will have the same problem and have to transfer the trailer from the site to the site…there are a lot of trailers here without vehicles to tow them.”
“I don’t know what would happen if their website was booked…if they had to find someone to help them, or get the trailer and get it on the bill.”
A close connection to a community of about a dozen full-time residents – a Van Buren doesn’t want to stay.
He said that for the same reason, they are mostly here.
“Because we can’t afford the rent…if I could rent an apartment, I would.”
“I can’t do it, pay for child support and then pay here, I’m just doing enough time.”
Van Buren was initially told he had to evacuate the property by 2:30 p.m. Thursday.
So he reached out to Didsbury Zion Church across the road, hoping he could park there for one night.
“We will help with something like this,” Pastor Bruce Archer said.
“They came at a very vulnerable moment.”
Archer estimates that the church spends thousands of dollars a year to support locals.
“Most of the people who come here are from the RCMP, the hospital, the city hall – they’ll be there and they say the church will help you.”
Van Buuren doesn’t need a few more nights of help. After global news reached out, Disbury Town gave him another three days until Sunday night, when he said he had paid for it.
Although he has some new landing site options, his new long-term residence is not yet clear.
But he said he was glad he no longer needed to rush.
“That way I can clean up (the website) so the town doesn’t have to come down to do all of this – I will try to do as much as I can.”
& Copy 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
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