New Sugarbowl Park bandshell gets grand opening concert

Live R&B tunes resonated around Sugarbowl Park on Wednesday for the grand opening concert of the Sugarbowl Park bandshell, bringing an all-new stage to Fort Erie available now for rentals.

Dozens of local families and music lovers gathered on blankets and lawn chairs for the show featuring three shows from The Recipee, Omar “OH” Lunan and Mike Ferfolia, made possible by a $50,000 donation from the Fort Erie Lions Club.

The concert ran from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. on June 24 after rain forced a postponement from June 18, prompting some residents to comment on the town’s Facebook post that a weekend concert may have brought a larger turnout.

Until now, Fort Erie has never had a permanent outdoor stage. Sugarbowl Park already offered parking, washrooms and open lawn, but nothing stood over that lawn to shelter performers or anchor a concert, so the $275,000 bandshell fills a gap the town has lived with for decades.

The Recipee, a Toronto soul and R&B group founded in 2012 and made up of Jason Larmond, Juwayon Clarke, Otis Williams, Johnathan Kerr and Omar Lunan, introduced itself from the stage before the show.

The Toronto group has shared the stage with Justin Bieber, Usher and Brandy, and brings more than 20 years of combined experience performing.

“I asked them what’s in the recipe,” said Mayor Wayne Redekop to the audience. “They told me a pound of butter, a cup of flour and a cup of water.”

Edward Terry, the town’s manager of policy and community planning, secured the performers himself through personal connections built over years working with The Recipee in other parts of Ontario.

Kathryn Strachan, the town’s landscape architect who oversaw much of the build, opened the ceremony with a nod to the local support behind it.

“This project is really an amazing reflection of our community coming together and building a really great space to enjoy,” said Strachan.

“These ladies and gentlemen have served the community here for almost 100 years. And the things that they have done in Fort Erie are visible all over the place, including the reconstruction of this park,” said Redekop.

Mike Detenbeck of the Fort Erie Lions praised the bandshell’s acoustics and the added use it gives the park.

Keith Rothney, president of the Fort Erie Lions Club, connected the donation to that decades-old plan.

“In many ways, this $50,000 donation feels like we are finally completing something we set out to do decades ago,” said Rothney.

In addition to the Fort Erie Lions Club, the Fort Erie Underwater Recovery Unit also contributed $20,000 toward the installation of the bandshell, and Niagara Region contributed a $70,000 grant through its Public Realm Investment Program aimed at improving the walking and cycling paths along Gilmore Road and the connections leading into the park.

For the Lions, the gift closes a loop that opened a generation ago. When Sugarbowl Park was first being developed in the 1990s, the club donated roughly $300,000, and even back then the plans called for a bandshell or pavilion that never got built.

The addition follows other recent upgrades at Sugarbowl Park, including a new splash pad and playground, which now has its dump bucket working properly after some issues earlier this month.

Anyone who wants to use the stage can submit a booking request through the town’s parks and facilities division, which handles all rentals and reservations.

Local band Westwind is scheduled to perform at the bandshell July 10.

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