ATHABASCA — Blizzard-loving residents of the Athabasca area will be able to get their favourite frozen treats and hot eats sans the typical road trip this summer as construction on the town’s newest fast-food franchise gets closer to completion.
In a June 5 email, John Semashkewich, chief commercial officer for Melewka Structures and Design, said despite a few obstacles along the way, Athabasca’s own much-awaited Dairy Queen is expected to be finished before autumn arrives.
“We’re aiming to complete the project with some summer left, which would put our estimated completion date around early September at the latest,” wrote Semashkewich.
Insurance for the project, located on 48 Ave in Cornwall next to Tim Hortons and Boston Pizza, was secured in October 2023, a step Semashkewich called “crucial” for the upcoming work.
Hold-ups in permitting and engineering in the latter months of 2023 pushed back the starting date for construction work, but crews broke ground on the project in January of this year.
“Unfortunately, the delays in permitting and engineering have put us behind schedule by about three months,” wrote Semashkewich.
“To make matters slightly worse, the recent rain has slowed us down a few weeks for exterior finishings, but we are not that sweet and don’t melt.”
Despite the delays due to weather and the lengthy paperwork processes, which Semashkewich said has been the longest part of the project thus far, the work on site has been progressing quickly, and passersby have taken notice.
“We’re beyond thrilled to finally bring a Dairy Queen to our hometown of Athabasca!” wrote Semashkewich. “No more driving for hours just to get a blizzard fix! We’re pretty sure the grand opening will be a big success, we have people come to site all the time asking about it.”
