Province reviewing options for Windsor Stadium amid push for Jackson Park band shell restoration

CBC

17-05-2025

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A key piece of public property that Windsor's mayor says stands in the way of any effective restoration of the Jackson Park bandshell could soon be up for grabs.
A spokesperson for Ontario's minister of education is confirming that Windsor Stadium is going through a process that could lead to its sale.
The neglected public school board property is now being considered for new uses by the province and Mayor Drew Dilkens has suggested it could be purchased by the city.
Windsor's English public school board has submitted the Windsor Stadium track and field property to the Ministry of Education as a site they want to get rid of.
Ontario is considering potential alternate uses for the site, which could include housing development, but "it would be premature to speculate on the outcome of the review at this time," said a spokesperson for Ontario's education minister.
Taxpayers have made continuous plea for renovated band shell
This first came to light when Windsor's mayor abruptly halted Monday's council meeting.
People were pleading for city council to spend money on a study that could present options for the future of the decrepit Jackson Park bandshell.
Dilkens said he told council in private session that the Windsor Stadium property could soon be for sale, which could change options for the site moving forward.
Current condition of Jackson Park bandshell 'shrugging' off Windsor's story, says historian
4 years ago
Duration 1:28
Kimberly Simmons' grandfather chaired Emancipation Day ceremonies in Windsor that would draw hundreds of thousands of people from across North America.
Dilkens has in the past opposed spending money on a study that would look at how to restore the Jackson Park bandshell because he believes it can't be done without owning the track field and grandstand behind the site.
The bandshell holds great significance in Windsor's history because it was the home of massively attended Emancipation Day celebrations.
But it's now rotted away, sitting idle for decades without being used except to store city equipment.
The version that stands at Jackson Park now is not the same one that Martin Luther King Jr. spoke at in 1956.
That's because a fire destroyed the building a year later.
City council is expected to discuss paying for the Jackson Park band shell feasibility study again at its next council meeting.
Staff now believe the initial $120,000 estimated for the study is not enough because they believe it will require a Heritage Impact Assessment.
However, the chair of the Windsor Region Society of Architects has wrote to council saying that the city's asking for qualifications that are "excessive and will inflate the costs" involved in the study.