The bandshell at Jackson Park is on the agenda for Monday's Windsor City Council meeting, but renovating it may be a hard sell for those around the council table.
A report to councillors says there's no money in the capital budget to conduct a feasibility study, and part of the former seating area doesn't sit on municipal property. It's on land owned by the Greater Essex County District School Board, presenting a challenge should the city host a concert there.
The original bandstand was built shortly after World War II but burned down in 1957 in one of the most spectacular fires in Windsor's history.
Two years later, city council approved the construction of a new one, and it got a lot of use in the 1960s and 70s during the Emancipation Day Festival and Windsor's Battle of the Bands.
Today, the bandshell is unusable, partly because some of the structure sits on school board property. A Master Plan penned in 2016 didn't even recommend refurbishing it.
However, in September 2022, Councillor Kieran McKenzie inquired about renovating it for community use.
Monday's report says the Municipal Heritage Register lists the bandshell, so work on it would have to be sensitive to its original design.
The city would have to commission a study assessing its current condition and then prepare a vision and rendering study before a full study goes back to councillors. It could take nine to ten months and cost $100,000. Environmental assessments could cost another $20,000.
Then there's the question of whether it is needed since most large concerts and gatherings are now held at the Riverfront Festival Plaza.
If city councillors opt to proceed with the study, they need a way to pay for it during the 2024 budget process.