The North Bay Waterfront will be receiving a new addition in the spring.
A new pathway leading from the pedestrian tunnel behind the North Bay Museum will lead to a new gathering area, North Bay Canada Place.
Plans for the gathering place began in 2017 when the North Bay Heritage Gardeners were pushing for federal funding through the Canada 150 program. After revising their ideas a few times, funding was finally granted through the federal government.
Hariett Madigan, the co-founder and past president of the Heritage Gardeners, says that the walkway will be a welcome addition to the North Bay Waterfront.
“We don’t have a lot of pathways leading from the pedestrian pathways to the waterfront. So that’s what this area will do. It will be a destination for everyone – community and visitors,” she said.
When Madigan co-founded the Heritage Gardeners in 1997, it soon became a hit in the community, quickly gaining the city’s support by hiring a coordinator of the 250 volunteers needed to maintain the 53 garden beds near the waterfront at the time.
“Our goal is to bring the beauty of the waterfront and the stewardship culture of the heritage Gardeners right to the whole city. So everywhere you go, you’re going to see something beautiful,” Madigan said.
Construction of the pathways was mostly completed this past summer, with the finishing touches being added in the spring.
“It will surely be a place where people say ‘meet me at North Bay Canada Place’. That’s what I’m envisioning,” Madigan commented.
And after 23 years of being involved with the North Bay Heritage Gardeners, Madigan is happy with what her group has turned into.
“It’s been an absolute privilege to watch individuals come together collectively to do good things in the community,” she said.
In the spring, the Heritage Gardeners will be running a fundraising campaign to honour the donors who have contributed to the development of the waterfront gardens.
