Exploring Sarnia - The Bay!

The Bay!

"Down by the bay, where the watermelons grow, back to my home, I dare not go. For if I do, my mother will say, have you ever seen a hill with enough chemicals to kill, down by the bay!" I'm sure you all know the tune, maybe just a different version. Although watermelons dont grow down at our beautiful bay here in Sarnia, the whole hill thing is not a far stretch from the truth, just as the burning ass hair smell I mentioned in my first post about Sarnia was on point. Don't get me wrong, our bay is beautiful and holds many of our major activitities, but that came with a huge obstacle to over come. Come along with me through my story and pictures to experience Sarnia bay, without the threat of extinction!

(a new part of park, taken by me)

If we go back a long, long time ago to 1866, thats when the bay began. It started with one man named Samual Platt and a dream. A dream of digging for oil, since that was the boom during that time. With $11,500 he set off in search of rich oil. After many failed attempts he finally struck it big! It was not the big he was hoping for though. Instead of oil he hit a huge lot of rock salt. Sarnia was sitting on a ton of salt. After changing companies many times and an explosion that wiped out the block, Sifto came and started offering wood services as well. Sifto finally closed its doors in 1964. Putting the land up for sale. The land was finally purchased in 1965 by our mayor at the time for $250,000. Which he turned into the park we know and love today Centennial Park!

(photos from when the salt mine was here)

Centenial Prak was actually to be built for Canada's Centennial, that is why it was called Centennial Park. I was shoked when I read that it cost $400,000 on top of the purchase price to get the park up and running. For 1965 that sure is a lot of dollars! They sure did struggle to get the park up and running. The salt mining wells that were capped, ended up leaking fuel everywhere. Not only that but they also had to dig up the earth and replace it with dredged materials mostly sand (not 100% sure what is in dredged materials). They had to do this because the earth was so poluted with salt, that grass would not grow. Now that is pretty crazy. Two years later on Dominon Day in 1967 the park we know today as Centennial Park was first opened.

(picture of bay taken by me)

I sure am glad that it is a park now and not just a dirty old mill. Many of my fondest memories have been down by the bay. Have any of you heard of Bayfest? Bayfest was one of the best things about Sarnia. It was a huge 3 day outdoor summer festival that drew crows in from around the globe. We had artists like Kiss, Rush, Aerosmith, Fergi, Kid Rock and many many more. What started as a small festival in 1999 that only had a few thousand people, grew to be bigger than expected with over 100,000 people in attendance. It really is crazy to think that more people were down by the bay, than the population of my whole city. Somewhere over the years during its growth Rogers became a sponsor and the festival became known as Rogers Bayfest.
On February 25, 2013, the Sarnia Bayfest announced it was taking an indefinite break as a result of increasing costs and low sponsorship opportunities. I really do miss Bayfest and hope they do bring it back one day! It gave us something fun to do!

(photo of Bayfest from above)

On the other side of the bay there is the marina. This is where people with a membership can dock their boat. I wish I had a boat! Anyways, they have access to a ramp and a pool. Inside the marina there is a little store and they also have this amazing restraunt. I remember going as a child. Birds literally fly over your head as you eat. It is all open concept. I have not been since a child and now restraunts are one thing I have chosen to live without, as an attempt to eat whole and live healthy. There used to be a tree maze when I was growing up, but for some reason they removed that as well. They do still have the replica of The Great Lakes though. They are pretty cool, kids love to play in them.

(the replica great lakes, taken by me)

Another great thing about Centennial is the hills. I have been watching fireworks and sledding on those hills for as long as I can remember. However like I said earlier, the hills have chemicals that kill. I was not lying. Maybe a little more exaggerated than needed. In April 2015 the hills were found to have asbestos in them and the whole park was pretty much closed down and fenced off. It took them quite awhile to figure out how to fix the issue. Finally in 2017, after two years of being closed they re-opened. They ended up having to remove the "dredged material" and put in new soil. I wonder if it was the dredged material, a leaky pipe or the old abandond asbestos factory down the street that contaminated the park. I guess we will never know.

(photo of area zoned off)

The park now is beautiful but many locals including myself are not used to the new changes. They decided to put in a new theatre to replace the old one. Great idea yes, but the actual build was a flop. Our old Dow People Place theatre was geared towards an elderly crowd and was fenced in with seating. The new theatre is just open spaced with no seating. So I am not really sure what crowd they plan on drawing in. The whole place looks messy as the new grass tries to take hold. I know that personally, the good out weighs the bad. I'm happy we can go sledding, watch fireworks and go to the celebration of lights again. Plus I still am hoping one day Bayfest will return. Or maybe something similar! A girl can dream.

(the new theatre)

(sledding on the hills)

(celebration of lights)

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Links to previous Exploring Sarnia Posts.

Exploring Sarnia - The twin bridges!

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The following is a list of references I used for my research and some photos.

The Observer

Sarnia Observer

Sarnia Historical Society

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Have a wonderful day and enjoy the small things in life!

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[//]:# (!steemitworldmap 42.980257 lat -82.405937 long d3scr)