Reserving and paying for a campsite at Garvin Park and Twin Lakes Park will look a bit different by the time the 2026 camping season rolls around.
The Lyon County Board on Tuesday OKd implementing a pre-payment system called Firefly that will allow guests to book a campsite through their electronic device at arrival or prior to their arrival. There will be little to no cost to implement the system; the only cost would be for the installation of posts and signs and each campsite.
Starting next year, the County will no longer accept cash or check payments, and the board action Tuesday was also to support listing all camping sites at both parks to be prepaid through the Firefly system. Firefly is currently being used as a reservation system for a few of the campground sites — seven in each campground loop can be reserved, and the rest are cash/check payment..
The cost of reserving a campsite is $25 across the board. County Parks Programming Manager Brooke Kor presented three different and new payment options to the Lyon County Board of Commissioners at Tuesday’s board meeting.
Kor said benefits of an online payment system include the gathering of all visitor information, which will allow staff to send notices and information to previous visitors via email; the ability to send out confirmation emails that would include park rules, notices and hunting seasons; guaranteed payment upfront to avoid any kind of honor system, which has been taken advantage of in the past; allowing visitors to book a campsite either at home or at the campground itself, viewing site availability prior to departure and giving visitors the ability to book for family reunions or larger gatherings.
There was discussion about using one of three costly onsite kiosk systems at the parks, but there was no appetite to use any such system.
The Park Board at its most recent meeting, a recommendation was made and approved to move all campsites at both parks to the only Firefly system by 2026, Kor said.
“The reason we’re talking about this now is if it were approved, it would give us an entire camping season to let campers know of this change for the next camping season, so no one’s blindsided when they come in and there’s not a cash box to do payment with check or cash,” Kor said. “People can still call the office to do a payment over the phone.”
“It sounds like a good system,” Commissioner Todd Draper said. “With the kiosk deal, the first thing I thought about was vandalism. “I think this is a good option.”
The system would not apply to seasonal campers.
In other business …
• The board approved a quote of $18,000 for roof repair at the RALCO building at the Lyon County Fairgrounds
• The board approved a quote from a Canadian company of $62,243.88 (before potential tariffs take effect) for a new leachate pond aeration system as current aerators are at the end of their life and parts are no longer available due to model parts having been discontinued. This would be the first of its kind in Minnesota.
