Those of us who were around in Toronto back in the day will remember the stretch of waterfront southwest of downtown that housed Ontario Place. This entertainment and event venue opened in 1971, functioning as an iconic summer theme park until its closure in 2012 when its annual attendance dropped to just over 550,000 from a peak surpassing 3 million per year. I remember spending many summer days here, zipping down the water slide and watching the international fireworks competition over Canada Day long weekends.
The area surrounding the old Ontario Place has been under redevelopment for nearly a decade. Numerous revitalization plans have been proposed, but the only one that has come to fruition is the opening of Trillium Park in 2017.
Trillium Park was designed as an urban forest providing a natural looking landscape, with native tree and shrub species. It features the 1.3 kilometre William G. Davis Trail that connects to the longer waterfront Martin Goodman Trail, various gardens and ravines, pebble beaches, and a bluff consisting of stacked boulders and rocks that offers views of the city and Lake Ontario.
At the edges of the park, you will find remnants of Ontario Place, including the defunct waterslide tower. The Cinesphere, the world’s first permanent IMAX theatre, remains open and continues to show films and host events year round.
What a great transition! I haven’t been to that part of TO for years but I remember Ontario Place.
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There’s still a lot more space here for redevelopment. I hope they come up with something nice for the rest of the area.
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It’s an interesting place to visit, especially with the lighting you give it. No one thinks about making High Park economically viable, but Ontario Place has always fallen short of that benchmark. In a society where recreation and tourism have become an important part of our lives, it’s amazing that we don’t make better use of this space so close to the city centre and in the Harbourfront stretch. When I see what Montreal has achieved with the Old Port, I think there is potential.
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I agree, we could learn a lot of from other city waterfronts, like Montreal and Chicago. This area certainly has a lot of potential and it will be interesting to see what becomes of it.
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a little cloudy but the autumn colours are out!
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Yes, it was quite overcast but all the fall colours are out!
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Lovely seeing the fall colors in full! I forget that many parts of our world have actual, changing seasons, as opposed to the never-changing weather in Los Angeles…looks like you had a good stroll through Trillium Park, and I wish you a wonderful rest of the beautiful fall season!
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I love seeing all those colours – absolutely beautiful!
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That’s not a bad alternative to the old waterfront!
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It’s a nice park, hope they do more with that area in the future!
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Never been in Canada, looking forward to it. Your photos are really a good motivation to visit the park and all the country!
Thanks for sharing!
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Thank you for reading!
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Lovely photos. Great place for a stroll.
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