ALMA, NB – Those hoping to fill up in Alma over the long weekend were out of luck as the village’s only gas station ran out of gas.
Fundy General Store in Alma, which is situated about 50 meters from the entrance to Fundy National Park ran out of gas on Saturday afternoon.
The station was still out of gas as of 2 p.m. Tuesday.
The August long weekend is the busiest weekend for tourists for both the village and the park. Alma Mayor Kirstin Shortt estimated about 3,000 tourists passed through the village over the weekend.
“It’s very disappointing for us because we’re trying to portray a very positive image of the village,” Mayor Shortt said, explaining that tourism is the village’s main industry and she’s concerned the gas shortage will reflect poorly on the village as a whole.
“That is very negative publicity, which is certainly not something we’re striving for.”
Mayor Shortt said this weekend was not the first time the gas station has run out of gas, and, in fact, it has become a regular problem.
“This is an on-going issue with the supplier for gas in our village and it’s become almost a joke here, because the next village knows that we’re out of gas.”
The next closest gas station is just under 30 kilometres away in the village of Riverside-Albert.
The gas station in Alma is privately owned, but supplied by Irving Oil. Mayor Shortt said she has filed several complaints with Irving.
The owner of the gas station refused to do an interview with Global News, but said the issue was on Irving’s end and he was waiting for a shipment that he believed was arriving Monday morning, but then didn’t come. He added that he has been trying to switch suppliers since April. The owner said he was expecting more gas Tuesday evening.
Motorcycle driver Wayne Chase is touring New Brunswick from Cape Cod, Massachusetts with a friend. He stopped in Alma on Tuesday afternoon because he needed gas. He was frustrated to find the gas station empty.
“I only have about 20 miles worth of gas left,” he said. “We were basically depending on the place right here.”
Chase said the plan was to also break for lunch in the village, but instead he and his travel partner would have to keep driving to Riverside-Albert.
“We’re gonna have to skip the town and we might run out of gas,” he said. “Hopefully my partner’s got enough that he’s going to be able to bring me back a can, but I mean, I’m barely going to make it to 20 miles.”
Global News followed the pair to Riverside-Albert and Chase did make it to the station, but said his reserve light was on for most of the trip, and he said he coasted on every hill.
No one from Irving Oil returned calls or e-mails for comment on this story.
Livia Goodbrand, spokesperson for Fundy National Park, wrote in an e-mail that the park works very closely with the village to provide services for more than 250,000 visitors a year, and this August long weekend was the busiest of the season.
“It is unfortunate that visitors to the area were inconvenienced, but we are confident that the issue will be resolved as soon as possible,” she wrote. “Until then, Park guests can gas up on their way to Fundy National Park.”
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