A first-of-its-kind tourism attraction in northern Ontario is set to welcome visitors this weekend, offering everyday people the chance to operate excavators, bulldozers and backhoes in a supervised setting. MASHinery Inc. officially opens to the public on July 25, following a VIP grand opening ceremony on Friday at its Highway 11 North facility. The attraction bills itself as a “construction playground” where guests from age five to 80 can get behind the controls of real heavy machinery. From Las Vegas idea to northern Ontario reality Founder and chief machine operator Ken Sim said the concept was inspired by a similar operation he visited in Las Vegas called Dig This. “We went and tried it out one day, and it seems to be like the number one tourist spot, so they claim, in Vegas,” Sim said in an interview with CTV News following the grand opening. “I’m like, this would be really great to do in Canada and we looked into it. There is none. None in Canada, three in North America. I’m like, wow, this is crazy that Canada doesn’t have something like this.” Sim, who also runs Canor Construction, said years of public curiosity about his equipment helped cement the idea. “People are always asking us, like, can we, like, ‘what would you charge us to just let us like sit in one?’ Or ‘can we just dig a hole one day?’ Or ‘can we go for a ride in a dump truck?’” he said. “Years of that, plus then seeing the operation in Las Vegas, sort of put it all together and said, I think there’s a market to do this in the north.” The project received financial support from the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation. “NOHFC came to the table and said, we will be happy to partner with you on this as a tourism grant to sort of bring this kind of entertainment to the north,” Sim said. Machines, age limits and safety measures The facility features four-ton and 13-ton excavators, bulldozers, rock trucks, loaders, skid steers and backhoes. A dedicated kids’ zone for children 48 inches tall and at least five years old includes smaller excavators. “We call them dinosaur bones, but we’ve simply buried like some dog bones from the pet store,” Sim said. “So, they can hop in the excavator and actually pretend to actually dig but look for these bones. So, it’s kind of a neat thing for the younger kids to do.” Outside the kids’ zone, participants must be at least 10 years old and anyone 16 and under must be accompanied by an adult. Sim emphasized that safety is built into every experience. “The safety of the machines – you have a hard hat, obviously. It’s a two-way communication system, so you’re one-on-one with one of our trained operators,” he said. “And if things ever do get scary for either one of us, we have disconnect buttons on our lanyards that shut down the machine safely. So, there’s no chance of the machine running away or doing something we don’t want it to do.” Car smash and skill challenges The attraction’s marquee offering is a “car smash” experience. “It’s the most expensive one, unfortunately, because it costs money to get the cars here and then we have to depollute them and we have to deal with them after,” Sim said. “But mainly that event is you take, it’s a whole car. It’s going to have all the chemicals removed. It’s going to be in decent condition.” He said the car smash offers a rare release. “We’ll work on some aggression because that’s something you don’t, most people don’t ever get to do with the machine,” Sim said. “Maybe you have opportunities to dig a hole in your backyard somewhere, but to smash a car or a pickup truck should be pretty unique.” Other activities include digging and filling holes, as well as moving and reconstructing stacked tires. “So, like simple tasks all the way up to really hard tasks, depending on what the user wants,” Sim added. Pipeline to the trades Beyond recreation, Sim said he hopes the attraction sparks interest in construction careers, particularly among young people. “I’ve heard from some of our suppliers, like from, you know, CAT and people that sell the machines in the industry, this is a really good way to get young people reintroduced into the industry,” he said. “Because a lot of people are going to computers or different facets in life. This is a really good way to get them interested in infrastructure or running machines. Because it’s going to be a long time before technology advances before these machines aren’t needed.” During the VIP opening on July 24, MPP Vic Fideli and Mayor Peter Chirico participated in a car smash demonstration. “Many people have watched excavators their entire lives and wondered what it would feel like to run one,” Sim said in a news release earlier this week. “We wanted to turn that curiosity into an experience anyone can enjoy.” The facility is now accepting bookings through its website.
