Dance, Dine, Play: A New Vision for Barrie’s Central Waterfront

Centennial Park — already home to a beach, open lawns, walking trails, and some of Barrie's best lakefront views — is ready for its next chapter.

The Centennial Park Food and Activity Hub will introduce new food experiences, gathering spaces, and activity areas organized around three zones: Dance, Dine, and Play.

Centennial Park is the heart of Barrie's waterfront — a beloved gathering place where the city comes to celebrate, unwind, and connect with Lake Simcoe. The Food and Activity Hub builds on that foundation, imagining a new kind of destination at the water's edge: one that draws people in throughout the season, creates real economic opportunity for local food producers and entrepreneurs, and deepens the park's role as a place where everyday life and community celebration happen side by side. This project is about more than amenities — it's about strengthening what makes Barrie's waterfront worth coming back to.

This project is a key recommendation from the 2023 Waterfront Strategic Plan, which identified Centennial Beach as a priority location for new food services and public activity along Barrie's waterfront. Following public consultation and concept refinement, detailed design and construction are planned to start in 2027, pending future Council capital budget approvals.

The project team hosted in-person community pop-ups at the following times and locations:

Saturday, April 25, from 3 to 5 pm at Peggy Hill Team Community Centre (171 Mapleton Avenue)
Saturday, April 25 from 9 am to 1 pm at the Barrie Farmers' Market (inside the City Hall Rotunda at 70 Collier Street)

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The City has developed two preliminary design concepts for the future Centennial Park Food and Activity Hub. Each concept proposes different ways of organizing the park space around three waterfront experiences: dance, dine, and play. Together, these themes will create a lively and welcoming destination that supports everyday park use while providing space for events, food, and activity.

Step 1: Review the Proposed Design Concepts

A PDF of the two proposed design concepts will open in a new tab when you click "Proposed Design Concepts" below.

Proposed Design Concepts
PDF (7.82 MB)
Review the two proposed design concepts before completing the survey.

Who's Listening

Jordan Lambie
Senior Urban Design Planner

City of Barrie

Jordan.Lambie@barrie.ca

Establish a landmark waterfront destination: Develop a high-quality landscape architectural vision that elevates Centennial Park as Barrie's signature public waterfront space — a place with a distinct identity, strong sense of place, and the design quality to draw people in across seasons.
Support local entrepreneurs and economic opportunity: Create meaningful pathways for local food vendors, producers, and small businesses through flexible vendor spaces, temporary and seasonal opportunities, and accessible rental arrangements that help local entrepreneurs test and grow their businesses.
Celebrate local food and culture: Showcase Barrie's culinary identity and Simcoe County's agricultural heritage through outdoor dining, farmers market-style programming, and seasonal food events that reflect what this region grows, makes, and values.
Design for everyday life and special moments: Create welcoming spaces that support daily park use — meeting friends, enjoying the waterfront, grabbing a bite to eat — while accommodating the large community events and festivals that define Barrie's waterfront calendar.
Strengthen connections to the waterfront: Improve Park access and circulation, making it easier for people to move through the park, linger at the water's edge, and experience Centennial Park as a connected and accessible lakefront destination.
Support adaptable and sustainable infrastructure: Prioritize design approaches that are climate-conscious, seasonally flexible, and built to evolve — allowing the hub to grow with community needs and support programming year-round.

Timeline

Timeline item 1 - complete

Background Review and Analysis
Timeline item 2 - complete

Preliminary Concept Development
Timeline item 3 - active

Interest Holder and Public Engagement

April – May 2026
Timeline item 4 - incomplete

Concept Refinement

May – June 2026
Timeline item 5 - incomplete

Detailed Design and Construction

Estimated 2027

Contact Information
Phone	705-726-4242
Website	www.barrie.ca
In writing	70 Collier Street, Barrie, ON L4M 4T5

705-726-4242

www.barrie.ca

70 Collier Street, Barrie, ON L4M 4T5

Centennial Park Food & Activity Hub

Dance, Dine, Play: A New Vision for Barrie’s Central Waterfront

Share Your Feedback

Step 1: Review the Proposed Design Concepts

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