Multicultural legacy site planned for Waverly Beach

The Town has confirmed plans for a multicultural legacy site at Waverly Beach–once home to the Erie Beach Amusement Park that operated until the late 1880s–which will bring new storytelling and interpretation to one of Fort Erie’s most historic waterfront areas.

Fort Erie Planning and Development Services confirmed to Fort Erie Radio it is developing the Erie Beach Landscape Masterplan to create a multicultural legacy site along the park’s trail. Staff said the work is in the planning and design stage and will come to council once studies, public input and a proposed scope are complete.

The project was brought up during the Valour and Victory ceremony in Queenston on November 8 attended by Mayor Wayne Redekop as one of the big upcoming developments to honour Indigenous heritage. He told attendees the Town wants to strengthen its relationship with Indigenous communities and their historical presence along the Niagara River.

“I’m proud of the relationship that the Town of Fort Erie has forged with our Indigenous community, in great measure through our interactions with the Fort Erie Native Friendship Centre and the Niagara Chapter of Native Women,” said Redekop.

The Town already retained a consultant earlier this year to begin shaping the site, still in the concept development phase looking at commemorative elements and protecting the ecological history of the area.

“Early discussions have identified opportunities for interpretive elements as well as planting that will help to provide habitat and restoration of the sensitive landscape,” said the Town of Fort Erie in a statement emailed to Fort Erie Radio.

Specific features will be developed in dialogue with community partners, including Indigenous team members within the consulting group and a steering committee with members from the Fort Erie Native Friendship Centre.

The Niagara Movement plaque at the park, which marked its tenth year since installation this summer, is a separate commemorative piece but will be considered in design work so future elements feel consistent and respectful.

That plaque recognizes the civil rights meetings held at the Erie Beach Hotel in 1905 which called the start of the civil rights movement. Those meetings helped form what became the NAACP and remain a point of pride for local historians.

Erie Beach is one of several shoreline areas where the Town has recently been recognizing historical and Indigenous significance.

Residents gathered on Lakeshore Road in September to celebrate the naming of the Snake Hill Parkette, a site linked to centuries of Indigenous presence and to some of the heaviest fighting of the War of 1812.

A public engagement plan and a Let’s Talk page to collect feedback on the Town’s website are expected in the coming months.

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