Small or large, urban parks are even more a part of our daily lives in the summer. But what makes up their soul? Which one holds a special place in our hearts and in our routine? For this series, “Le Devoir” explores a few of them, sometimes accompanied by readers who wanted to share their stories. Today: Jarry Park, in Montreal.
Each park has its own personality: there’s the sportsman, the party animal, the stroller. Jarry Park is a bit of all of that. And that’s what makes it so charming, says Michelle LeBlanc, for whom this place has a special meaning. “I don’t live in Montreal, I live in the countryside, so I already have a piece of land where I can enjoy the air and the space,” she says. So why did she fall in love with a patch of greenery in the middle of the city? For her daughter, who lives in the Parc-Extension neighbourhood and for whom Jarry Park is, in a way, her backyard.
“The place where they recharge their batteries is Jarry Park,” explains Mme LeBlanc. “We often get together as a family there, with our picnics. I’ve seen so many great parties organized, I think it’s fantastic that it’s within their reach — especially since with the small apartment they have, it’s not an ideal place to be in gang. » She arranged to meet her daughter in different places in the park “for birthdays, for the pleasure of meeting up too.”
Laurence Gauthier, his daughter, also remembers with joy having celebrated her son’s third birthday there. Armed with her barbecue, she invited family and friends and gathered all these wonderful people in her “backyard”. “What I like is to create encounters between people,” she confides. “It was a great moment, because we had different networks that met thanks to my son’s birthday.”
The party animal
“This park is very big, so there’s something for everyone,” says Michelle LeBlanc. “Some people just want to lie down on the grass with a blanket… There are all kinds of activities that [s’y] pass.”
There’s no arguing with her. Anyone who walks through Jarry Park on a Saturday evening in the summer will almost certainly see the following things: first dates, joggers, families strolling around the pond, and groups of thirty-somethings sharing a bottle of privately imported natural wine.
“In general, it’s a pretty festive atmosphere. Especially in the central part, where there are a lot of people who have gatherings and barbecues,” notes Laurence Gauthier. Groups of dozens of people meet on the east side of the park, where charcoal grills are allowed, to cook what looks like the annual production of a slaughterhouse. When the air is very humid, you can even see a “smog” of braised chicken, that says it all.
So, we socialize at Jarry Park. It is also the meeting point between the Villeray and Parc-Extension neighborhoods, where more than half the population is immigrants. This diversity is visible: turbans, saris and hijabs rub shoulders with leggings, bikinis and Ciele caps.
The sportsman
Jarry Park is sporty at heart. Created in 1925 on land leased by the City of Montreal on the initiative of a committee including Raoul Jarry (1885-1930), a city councillor from the Villeray district, it became the property of the municipality in 1945.
From the late 1950s onwards, there was a wide variety of sports facilities, many of which have now disappeared: an archery range, the first tennis courts along Jarry Street, an athletics track and the first 3,000-seat amateur baseball stadium. The Alouettes also trained at the park for a few years.
In 1968, the ballpark underwent a growth spurt, expanding to 30,000 seats. In 1969, it hosted Canada’s first major league baseball team, the Montreal Expos. The team played there until moving to the Olympic Stadium in 1977.
Today, there are fields for almost everything: soccer, beach volleyball, pétanque, cricket, basketball, skateboarding, baseball, ping-pong, hockey, swimming… Not to mention tennis, of course. The IGA stadium, where the National Bank Open is held, is built on the remains of the Expos stadium.
The stroller
In May 2021, the City of Montreal launched a public participation process for a Jarry Park redevelopment project. In a report summarizing this process, published in January 2023, there is an “interest in enhancing the atmosphere of tranquility.”
Our interlocutors told us that while it is very active, the place is also conducive to relaxation. Among the changes discussed during the consultations, we find among others the increase in the canopy, the reduction of heat islands and the preservation of points of view — including the magnificent sunsets.
At the end of July 2024, the City is drafting a master plan to “validate the development strategies put forward by the development plan,” explains Nicky Cayer, public relations officer at the City of Montreal, by email. This plan should be published this fall.
“During the citizen consultations, the public clearly expressed its desire to improve the natural aspects of the park, to make it more attractive for relaxation, outdoor and leisure activities,” adds Mr.me Cayer. A facelift that should help keep this soon-to-be-a-hundred-year-old park looking its best.