The City of New Westminster is eagerly anticipating the official opening of Westminster Pier Park.
After more than a year of construction, residents will be able to check out the park at the official opening that's taking place on Saturday, June 16.
"Our new waterfront park will be ready to unveil on June 16th and we want everyone to join in the fun," said Mayor Wayne Wright in a press release. "I can't think of a better way to celebrate the transformation of our city's waterfront than a big party in the park."
The official opening, which takes place from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., includes main stage entertainment, street food vendors from River Market, roving entertainers and activities for the whole family. The official park opening ceremony will be from 1 to 1:30 p.m.
"We know residents in New Westminster and surrounding communities have been anxiously waiting for the park to open and for the opportunity to celebrate," said Dean Gibson, the city's director of parks, culture and recreation. "We've planned activities and entertainment suitable for all ages. It's going to be a great event."
The main stage will feature live bands, and a children's zone will have a number of activities geared towards kids including boat building, on-site sandbox, bubble blowing and roving entertainers including stilt walkers, jugglers and others. Ball hockey, mini-golf, a climbing wall and other activities will be found at the Youth Zone.
The City of New Westminster is encouraging attendees to walk, take transit or bike to the Westminster Pier Park opening celebrations. A bike valet provided by Better Environmentally Sound Transportation (BEST) volunteers will be on-site at the park entrance to provide free, secure, coat-check style bicycle parking for the convenience of cyclists.
Westminster Pier Park has no public parking, so visitors arriving by car would have to park on the Front Street parkade or at the parking lot next to River Market.
Westminster Pier Park, a 600-metre long linear park, stretches from Begbie to Elliott streets along the waterfront. It includes two playgrounds, a sports court, a finger pier that stretches out over the Fraser River, a "festival lawn" gathering area that can accommodate 1,000 people, a sports court, a concession, washrooms (for men, women and families), walking paths and more.
The City of New Westminster purchased the waterfront site for $8 million in 2009 and is building a $25.1 million park. The city has received federal and provincial governments contributions for two-thirds ($16.6 million) of the project funding through the Build Canada Fund and contributed $8.3 million in city funds to the park. The city also received grant funding for site investigations through the province's brownfield renewal funding program and the FCM green municipal fund.
Before the park had even opened to the public it had won three awards: a 2012 Environment Award from the Canadian Association of Municipal Administrators, which recognized the innovation and administrative excellence demonstrated by the City of New Westminster in turning a contaminated brownfield into a usable greenfield; a Sustainable Communities Award in the brownfield category from the
Federation of Canadian Municipalities; and a national Brownie Award from the Canadian Urban Institute for sustainable remediation technologies.
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