This spring, as the snow melts and the weather warms, Oro-Medonte Township’s jewel will sparkle a little brighter.
Thanks to an injection of almost $500,000 – with much-needed help from government grants and community partnerships – Bayview Memorial Park is now home to a spacious new pavilion, accessible walkways, an accessible landing area near the beach, a new pedestrian bridge and a new septic system.
“We like to call Bayview Memorial Park the jewel of our park system,” said Shawn Binns, the director of operations and community services for the township, noting the popular park sprawls along almost 700 feet of Lake Simcoe shoreline. “It’s a very busy park in the summer time.”
The $300,000, 3,000-square-foot pavilion was constructed in the fall. This spring, the landscaping and related site work will be completed and finishing touches applied. “I think it’s going to be really well received when people see what it looks like in the spring,” said Binns, noting the 65-plus-year-old structure was in dire need of replacement. “Like much of our infrastructure, it was aging.”
The redevelopment of the park started almost two years ago when a “fully accessible playground” was built. “It’s not the old way of doing it – having just one swing that would accommodate someone in a wheelchair, for example,” Binns said. “It’s really about creating spaces where families can interact together regardless of ability. We had an accessible playground, but no walkways per se. Once you were there, getting down to the beach or to the other side of the park where the pavilion is, was pretty difficult.”
The new pedestrian bridge and accessible walkways change that. At the beach, a “landing ramp” has been created so those with mobility issues can “get right down to the beach and feel like they’re part of things … It comes back to the goal of inclusion.”
The township could not have completed the project, which “really transforms the space and functionality of the park,” without financial aid from other levels of government. The project was supported by about $118,000 from the federal government and $30,000 from the County of Simcoe.
Community partners also stepped up. For example, the Oro District Lions Club, with a 45-year history of supporting local projects and causes, donated $10,000 to the pavilion, which will be christened as the Lions Pavilion.
“We wouldn’t have been able to bring this project to fruition if we didn’t have the opportunity to tap into community support and upper tiers of government,” said Binns. “A whole host of community partners” supported the project. And it wasn’t just money; the local horticultural society, for example, completed the gardening work. “The assistance goes well beyond financial contribution and it speaks to the grass-roots nature of our community and civic pride.”
He said having a beautiful, accessible park is important. “Those kinds of things are really kind of the mortar of our infrastructure that binds it all together,” said Binns, noting the park is a community gathering place. “It could be something as simple as a family getting together … it’s about quality of life and creating a vibrant community.”
While the park is already popular, Binns hopes the changes will “act as a catalyst for some new programming and taking that master plan further. It’s cool to see the community working together on a project that will still be here 100 years from now.”
