Lakeside Park, a fantastic park, gives an opportunity to visitors to enjoy and relax. Visitors take a walk on the beach and appreciate the beauty of the scenery. Children derive pleasure from carousel, playground equipment, and volleyball courts. Lakeside Park is an ideal place for picnic. Families are allowed to have a picnic in the natural scenery. Also, Lakeside Park provides free parking spaces. Visitors are able to fully enjoy Lakeside Park services for free. Lakeside Park is considered as a good choice for children to spend their time with families.

Lakeside Park has an area of about 5.3 hectares, and is situated at 1 Lakeport Road in Port Dalhousie. It is regarded as a combination of leisure park and amusement park. As a leisure park, visitors can enjoy sightseeing, take walk on the beach or boardwalk and have a picnic. Visitors can have fun in recreational facilities as well, such as carousel, playground equipment and volleyball courts. In Lakeside Park, the scenery changes from morning to evening, from season to season. Visitors always find surprise when visiting Lakeside Park. Furthermore, Lakeside Park is a popular place to watch the sunset which attracts a lot of photographers. There is no admission fee and parking charges in Lakeside Park.

While enjoying the natural sights, visitors can experience a cultural trip. Annually, Lakeside Park holds several festivals, including Drumming Down the Sun, Festival of the Carousel and Lion's Club Carnival. Drumming Down the Sun is a celebration for the summer solstice which is held in the first summer evening. People usually play the drums, sing and dance in the festival. Lakeside Park's carousel is well-known and attracts a lot of visitors. The carousel is unique, because it contains 68 hand-carved animals. Due to the importance of the carousel in Lakeside Park, Festival of the Carousel is held every year in June. Lion's Club Carnival is celebrated every year in the first weekend in July. Moreover, visitors can watch the fireworks in Canada Day every year. Lakeside Park is surrounded by several trails which connect other attractions. For example, Harbour Walkway Trial connects Lakeside Park with the Port Dalhousie downtown. Along the trail, visitors can visit some attractions, including Fairview Creek, Martindale Pond, Martindale Park, Michael Rennie Park and Michigan Beach. Thus, visitors can spend an entire day in Lakeside Park and its surrounding attractions.

Sandy beach

Take a walk on the 1,500 feet of sandy beachChildren play with sand and make different shapesWatch sunsets by sitting on the beach

Carousel

Having fun with the hand-carved carouselSpend only 5 cents for a ride

Playground facilities

Children have fun with playground facilities

Volleyball courts

Visitors can explore the joy of movement

Marina

Provide various recreational boats for visitors, as well as sailing lessonsVisitors can experience having barbecues onboardA good place for fishing

Originally, Lakeside Park was the marshy mouth of Twelve Mile Creek. In 1902, Lakeside Park was established and served by two steamers, including Dalhousie City and Northumberland. At this time, it cost about 2.5 hours travelling from Toronto to Port Dalhousie. In 1921, Lakeside Park was managed by Canadian National Railways. Canadian National Railways aimed to develop Lakeside Park with a high quality. And then, Lakeside Park became an ideal place for one day or weekend trip, because the high-speed electric streetcars in St. Catharines and Niagara Falls. In 1930, Lakeside Park was sold to a private. In 1949, the service of steamers was abolished by the government. As a result, Dalhousie City and Northumberland were sold. After the settlement reached, the ownership of Lakeside Park was turned into the government of St. Catharines.

Lakeside Park Carousel were carved from 1898 to 1905 in Brooklyn, New York. The 68 animals were carved by Looff's factory staffs. In the past, the carousel was accompanied by a music which was played by ab Artizan band Organ. In 1974, the organ and 20 animals were caught fire and damaged. Previously, visitors were allowed to swim, bath and play on the water slide. Before 1990s, swimming in the public was illegal. Later, people were allowed to swim and bath in the public. Thus, Lakeside Park became a popular resort in summer. Also, the pavilion was active. In 1930, a dance band was popular in Lakeside Park which held dance party six times a week. In 1974, the pavilion caught a fire and burned. Consequently, the dance party was cancelled.

Natural environment plays an essential role in Lakeside Park. The local climate is suitable for the growth of flora and fauna in Lakeside Park, which has a steady reliable rainfall. Niagara region has over 1,500 plant species. And there are a variety of native plants close to Lakeside Park, including Sugar Maple, White Ash, White Cedar, Grey Dogwood, Elderberry, Solomon's seal, Golden Rod, Wild Ginger, Trillium and Virginia creeper. There are various types of animals, especially fish species. Rainbow trout, Brown trout, Chinook salmon, Coho salmon and Lake trout can be found in the area of Lakeside Park. Cherry Birch is an endangered tree species in Port Dalhousie. Due to the development of Lakeside Park, plants are likely to be damaged. Thus, Canadian government started to strengthen the conservation of flora and fauna in Lakeside Park.

The Parks and Recreation Department, City of St. Catharines

Parking spaces for disabilitiesSidewalk available in Lakeside Park

Lakeside Park Carousel. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.stcatharines.ca/en/experiencein/lakesideparkcarousel.asp

Beaches. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.stcatharines.ca/en/playin/Beaches.asp

Lakeside Park Beach. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.visitniagaracanada.com/do/lakeside-park-beach/

Lakeside Park. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.stcatharines.ca/en/facilities/Detail.aspx?CategoryIds=&FacilityTypeIds=&Keywords=lakeside&ScrollMap=true&CloseMap=false&id=745b16a7-ea16-440e-98ce-bbcfc703649e

Lakeside Park. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://gobeweekly.com/lakeside-park/store/227

Port Dalhousie Harbour Walkway Waterfront Trail. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.stcatharines.ca/en/playin/PortDalhousieHarbourWalkwayWaterfrontTrail.asp