SaskatchewanVandals took a bite out of Kent Karemaker’s peace of mind, but kind supporters have pitched in to help him recover and carry on restoring a historic Prairie hotel.Kent Karemaker moved to Saskatchewan to find a new purpose. He found an old hotel and a new communityLori Coolican · CBC News · Posted: Sep 29, 2025 3:14 PM EDT | Last Updated: 2 hours agoKent Karemaker quit his job and sold his condo in Victoria to move to southwestern Saskatchewan, where he’s restoring the Grand Hotel, a 95-year-old hotel that sits vacant in Shaunavon. (Bonnie Allen/CBC)Kent Karemaker says he almost gave up and withdrew into himself after he discovered vandals had taken his car for a damaging joyride in the middle of the night.The 45-year-old, who moved from urban B.C. to rural Saskatchewan for a quieter life and a new sense of purpose — buying and restoring a hotel that sat empty for more than four decades — decided to reach out instead.”I had some really good heart-to-heart talks with some people who follow me and some people that I know, and I ended up going the other route and just kind of opened up on social media about how I was feeling and how I was dealing with it,” Karemaker told The Morning Edition host Adam Hunter.”The response was just so heartwarming and so overwhelming that it’s really been a blessing, actually.”The Morning Edition – Sask8:38Community rallies around man restoring Grand Hotel in Shaunavon after building and vehicle vandalizedKent Karemaker is restoring the Grand Hotel in Shaunavon. Last week his car was vandalized, which greatly impacted his mental health and his motivation to keep restoring. But his community has rallied around him to get back on his feet. Karemaker was on his way to another day of working at his passion project, the old Grand Hotel in Shaunavon, on Sept. 21 when he noticed footprints on the hood of his only vehicle, a white 1992 Chevrolet Caprice Classic.Then he saw dents up and down the driver’s side.”And then I opened my car door and I was hit by the strong smell of gasoline. And at that point I knew that something really foul had happened,” he told CBC.Adding insult to injury, a bunch of tools he needs for the hotel project were in the car and were damaged.Shaunavon RCMP are investigating.”Investigators believe the theft occurred sometime after 11:00 p.m. on September 20. The car was returned, damaged, to the residential property by the following morning,” RCMP said in a statement.They’re asking anyone who might have seen the car over the course of that night to call 310-RCMP or report it to Crime Stoppers.Karemaker said his decision to share the news of his setback resulted in a flood of supportive messages, which was “just a huge wind in my sails, and then I’ve had people offer me tools.””So it just goes to show you that for every bad egg in a community, there’s a million good eggs — fresh eggs, as it were.”B.C. man finds purpose in restoring old Sask. hotelKent Karemaker, 44, quit his job and sold his condo in Victoria, B.C., to restore the Grand Hotel in Shaunavon, Sask.. Karemaker says the project is helping him manage his depression and anxiety.As of Monday, a GoFundMe campaign to help him buy a reliable vehicle, replace damaged tools and carry on with the hotel restoration had raised almost $6,000.”The funds are amazing, because this time of year I’m usually coasting on fumes, like I’ve put all of my money and all of my effort into doing as much as I can during the summer months,” Karemaker said. “Before my car was taken I had $60 in the bank, and so not only are you dealing with the car and the tools that are destroyed and really affecting your work, but you have no money to replace it with.”Asking for help is uncomfortable for him, he said.”I feel like this is my project and I should be responsible for it, but I was getting so many people coming forward and saying, ‘How can I help you? Can I give you some money?'” he said. “I was against a wall. So I relented and I took people up on it, and I’m so happy I did, because it really has helped make me feel refreshed and rejuvenated, knowing I can recover from this year, and on to the next.” B.C. man who moved to Sask. for cheap housing finds purpose in restoring historic hotel The Grand Hotel in Shaunavon, about 280 kilometres southwest of Regina, first opened in 1929, right before the stock market crash upended the booming economy. It’s featured in a heritage walking tour of the town, which describes a fire, a dynamite blast and three murders at that location. It was divided into apartments later on, then sat vacant and unheated for decades.This old photo of Shaunavon shows the Grand Hotel, built in 1929. (Grand Coteau Heritage & Cultural Centre)Karemaker dreams of reopening the hotel on the 100-year anniversary of the day it welcomed its first guests.The project started out for him as a way to feel a sense of purpose when he woke up every morning, as a single, gay man in a small rural town, he said.”Now it’s sort of transitioned to the interactions I have with people online and the comments that I get, and the way that people are affected by this project,” he said.”Maybe just something that I’m doing sort of hits them in the heart somewhere. That’s a huge part of it.”ABOUT THE AUTHORLori Coolican has been a reporter and editor in Western Canada since 1996.With files from Adam Hunter
Supporters step up after vandalism sets back man restoring Shaunavon’s Grand Hotel
