Restoration of downtown Sudbury begins with makeover of Memorial Park

Work is being done in Sudbury’s Memorial Park to bring it back to its former glory, as part of a plan to transform the city’s downtown.

Like many downtowns across northern Ontario, public spaces became neglected as many people stayed home during the COVID-19 pandemic and didn’t return in regular numbers post-pandemic.

Early in the pandemic,  a homeless tent encampment popped up in Memorial Park and the Tom Davies Square plaza across the street, leading to an eviction by the city in June 2021.

The work being done now is, in part, to repair the infrastructure of the park, including the turf.

Jeff Pafford, the city's director of parks and leisure services, said that crews are re-seeding the north lawn this fall and plan to do the south side in the spring.

Bushes and tree limbs are being trimmed, he said, to improve sightlines across the street to city hall, areas for pop-up vendors and food trucks will be installed, a stage for performers upgraded and improved seating put in this coming spring.

It’s all part of the plan to bring people together and bring them back downtown, said Pafford.

"Whether it's through a festival or whether it's through pop-up programming and really making sure it's a dynamic, welcoming space, with all the efforts in the downtown where a lot of investment in the forms of a cultural hub, and a new event centre, we see Memorial Park being key to those other developments as well."

Jeff MacIntyre, executive director of Downtown Sudbury, said it’s been a struggle to get both the public and entrepreneurs back to the core of the city.

“We lost a lot of great businesses,” he said.

“Some of them were retirements that lined up a little too tight together because of COVID. If you're a small business owner and you know you're thinking of retiring in the next five to 10 years and then all of a sudden the world closes down, you realize you have to completely rebuild your business or sell.”

He estimated the downtown is at the midway point of rebuilding.

MacIntyre sees the makeover of Memorial Park as a key step in revitaliziating the downtown.

He’s working on bringing more festivals to the greenspace, hoping to attract more customers for downtown businesses and restaurants.