Opening Your New Queens Quay

On June 19th we were joined by thousands of Toronto residents and visitors for the grand opening of the revitalized Queens Quay. (Photo credit: Connie Tsang)

POSTED: JULY 9, 2015 I CYCLING, DESIGN, INFRASTRUCTURE, PARKS AND PUBLIC SPACES, TRANSPORTATION
By Heather Glicksman

Last month we celebrated the official opening of the revitalized Queens Quay with our government partners, stakeholders, media and the entire waterfront community. People from all over the city came together for this unique ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate the waterfront’s new boulevard. Over 1,000 community members, project partners and stakeholders created a 650-metre blue wave by supporting a blue ribbon that stretched from York Street to HTO Park -- almost the entire length of the revitalized Queens Quay.

A small section of the 650-metre ribbon passing through the crowd gathered at the Simcoe WaveDeck. (Photo credit: CNW)

At the Simcoe WaveDeck, our government partners, as well as representatives from both the local businesses and residential community, spoke about the dramatic transformation of the waterfront’s main boulevard. This revitalization turned an unattractive and dysfunctional street into a beautiful and functional waterfront boulevard, rebalanced to provide space for all modes of transportation. This 1.7-kilometre stretch is now more than a gray road to carry drivers from Bay Street to Yo Yo Ma Lane; it’s a public space for local residents, area businesses and the many tourists who visit Toronto to enjoy.

Missed the official remarks? Watch the speeches in full on our YouTube channel here. (Photo credit: Connie Tsang)

Our official opening also kicked off this year’s Redpath Waterfront Festival. Festival highlights included appearances by celebrity dancers Jean Marc Genereux, Blake McGrath and The Next Step as well as the Ultimutts Stunt Dog Show, busker performances and the Swing Shift Big Band. New to this year’s festivities was The Waterfront BIA‘s Party on the Promenade, featuring two kilometres of entertainment and activities along the new Queens Quay pedestrian promenade and Martin Goodman Trail from Sherbourne Street to Spadina Avenue.

As the waterfront’s largest festival, this year’s festival not only featured some amazing activities for people of all ages to enjoy but it was also extremely well attended. Over 500,000 people came down over the three day festival to celebrate. Check out these photo recaps of Waterfront Toronto’s Official Opening of Queens Quay, The Waterfront BIA‘s Party on the Promenade and the Redpath Waterfront Festival.