Most would say that Spencer Smith Park, with its pier and promenade, is the jewel of Burlington. It is rightfully used in most marketing and community-building endeavours. The beautiful park is host to a myriad of events throughout the year, like Rib Fest, the Sound of Music festival, and Canada Day celebrations, to name a few. Citizens and visitors alike should enjoy this piece of land by the water and be proud of the beauty it brings to our city. Burlington is cited as one of the best places to live in Canada and the vitality and beauty of our waterfront plays a huge role.

However, there are other gems in this city and Central Park is one of them.

Bounded by Drury Lane, New Street, and Guelph Line, Central Park is usually a buzz of activity and its silence in March 2020 was a telling factor of the effect of COVID-19 on our community. Many people may not know that this green expanse in the heart of Burlington’s core has so many recreational and educational facilities that offer so much to the city. Here’s what you can find at Central Park:

  • one full-field soccer pitch
  • three smaller soccer pitches
  • one large and one smaller softball diamond
  • one cricket field
  • a playground (refurbished in August 2020)
  • a community garden
  • Central Arena, at Central Recreation Centre
  • Burlington Senior’s Centre
  • Drury Lane Theatrical Productions
  • Burlington Lawn Bowling Club
  • Burlington Curling Club
  • Burlington Public Library’s Central Branch
  • Burlington Tennis Club
  • Burlington Music and Drama Centre (home of the world-famous Teen Tour Band)
  • Central Park Bandshell
  • Rotary Youth Centre
  • Central Park Labyrinth
  • Rotary Memorial Forest
  • Ron Edwards Family YMCA, an honorary member of Central Park, across the street from the park on Drury Lane

COVID-19 shut down these facilities, and the activities they create, for varying amounts of time this year, but that did not shut down all activity in this beautiful park, with its walking trails and naturalized areas. Dog owners in the area brought a sense of normalcy to the park, as their dogs still insisted on being walked along Central Park’s paths. For a while, the parking lots were closed to keep the crowds at bay, but people would park on nearby streets and make their way to the grassy expanse. As the restrictions were gradually lifted, the use of the park grew and grew.

The community was coming back together, as much as safely possible.

For several months, the facilities of Central Park lay dormant while the lockdown was in full force. This still allowed nearby residents to navigate the park on their daily walks for a sense of calmness in this sea of fear and confusion. People kept their distance and generally followed the prescribed rules. There were several off-leash violations, but all in all, it was a peaceful place to walk and reflect. The dogs must have been confused but happy, as they were being walked much more than usual!

Gone also were the other activities that happen in a ‘normal’ year. The library is still closed to visitors; the concerts in the park are not happening in the bandshell; no organized sports games are being played. Even the Teen Tour Band and their regular practices were shut down, although in recent weeks, they, too, have returned. It is always great to get a free concert as the band marches around the arena parking lot.

As the virus case numbers declined and the regulations were loosened, a new sense of life came to the park. Individual athletes were getting their workouts in, using the park as a training ground. Then small groups started to get together to get their kicks with a soccer ball. No games, just team and group workouts that gave kids a chance to be active and play the sport they love.

Then the sounds of summer came alive, albeit on a reduced and reconfigured basis. Co-ed softball returned. The cricket guys came back on Saturday and Sunday; despite not knowing the nuances or rules of the game, it was great to hear their energy. I watched a soccer coach put four players through the rigors of a tough workout for over an hour. I watched three baseball coaches put a group of about ten players through their paces with great fundamental skill training and without the carrot of an upcoming game or tournament. Those games and tournaments are what kids live for, but in this year of 2020, they were playing for the love of simply playing.

With August turning the page to September and October, exactly where all this is heading is very uncertain, but the sounds of kids playing, coaches coaching and people being active gives one a sense of normalcy, listening to these people having fun doing what they love to do. That is a good thing with so much doubt and uncertainty around us; let’s take the optimistic view when we hear those happy noises – there will be an end to the pandemic, even if we don’t know when it will come. Hope remains eternal, and like a good walk around the Central Park labyrinth, that, too, is good for the soul.