Cherry Beach
The life guard station on Cherry Beach
TypePublic beach
LocationToronto, Ontario
Coordinates43°38′13″N 79°20′40″W / 43.63694°N 79.34444°W / 43.63694; -79.34444
Created1930s
Operated byToronto Parks
Website

Cherry Beach (originally Clarke Beach Park) is a lakeside beach park located at the foot of Cherry Street just south of Unwin Avenue in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is on Toronto's outer harbour just east of the Eastern Gap. It was once connected with Toronto Islands as part of the former peninsula before 1852 and later was referred to as Fisherman's Island.

Despite its location at the tip of Toronto's formerly heavily industrial Port Lands area, Cherry Beach has still been a popular gathering place for years. There is no boardwalk and much of the surrounding areas is marshland or leftover grounds from what was once commercial industry and factory grounds. Recently the park has undergone improvements which includes a paved entrance way and a renovated washroom and swimming change room facilities. It has change rooms for bathers and barbecue areas for picnickers. It also has an off-leash area for dog walkers. The Martin Goodman Trail passes through the park.

In summer, the beach water is generally calm, and slightly warmer than other Toronto beaches along the lake shore, as its shallow water is sheltered by the Leslie Street Spit from direct surges of Lake Ontario.

History

Bathers at Cherry Beach prior to construction of Leslie Street spit, 1935
Martin Goodman Trail passes through Cherry Beach Park between the beach and wooded areas

The beach was developed by landfilling a marsh.[1]

It was originally named Clarke Beach Park after Harry Clarke, a Toronto alderman who was responsible for creating the park in the early 1930s. In 1974, the Toronto's Central Waterfront Planning proposed to eliminate Cherry Beach for industrial use.[2] In 2003, the city changed it to Cherry Beach which is the local common name.[3] In 2020, a group of local residents issued a collective statement criticizing a feasibility study by Waterfront Toronto which considered providing water taxis access to the beach.[4]

Ecology

For many years it was one of the few Toronto beaches that was clean enough for swimming, windsurfing and kitesurfing; It typically meets high water quality, environmental and safety standards;[5] however, a 2012 environmental assessment found that the concentration of lead and zinc in the soil at Cherry Beach is above guidelines, which is attributed to the area previously being used by industry.[1]

Cherry Beach Sports Fields

A wooded area by the beach has been turned into soccer fields, children's play structure and a metered parking area.

In 2006 a pair of soccer fields were completed on land that had formerly been part of the greenbelt, at 275 Unwin Avenue.[6][7] The fields were surfaced in astroturf and built to FIFA standards, and games of the 2007 FIFA Jr championship were to be played there. During the environmental assessment the site was found to be heavily contaminated by heavy metals, hydrocarbons and PCBs. The soccer field was described as a "transitional" facility, as most of the land on either side of Unwin was underutilized city land that could be repurposed to sport facilities even though it was contaminated.

Toronto FC used the soccer pitches for practice while their own dedicated training facilities were being constructed at Downsview Park.[8]

Pukka Orchestra had a local radio hit in 1984 with the song "Cherry Beach Express".[9] The song is about an urban legend that Toronto police used Cherry Beach as a location to beat suspects.[10] The police tried to have the song banned.[11]

Parts of the music video for the Alessia Cara song "Wild Things" were filmed at Cherry Beach.[12]

Parts of the film Silent Hill: Revelation 3D were filmed at Cherry Beach.

Toronto punk band Career Suicide named a 2008 EP after Cherry Beach.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Dakane, Abdulkadir. Bioaccessibility of metals in Toronto city parks. Royal Roads University, 2012. Link
  2. ↑ Fan, Larissa. Temporary landscape: the Port of Toronto. Library and Archives Canada= Bibliothèque et Archives Canada, Ottawa, 2009. Link
  3. ↑ Renaming Clarke Beach Park to Cherry Beach
  4. ↑ Johnson, Ron (2020-11-19). "COVID-19 second wave Q & A with Dr. Phil Shin of North York General Hospital | TRNTO.com". Streets Of Toronto. Retrieved 2024-01-08.
  5. ↑ "Cherry Beach Clarke Beach Park, Parks, Forestry & Recreation". toronto.ca. City of Toronto. Archived from the original on July 27, 2017. Retrieved December 6, 2016. Cherry Beach typically achieves annual blue flag certification. This international eco-label is awarded to beaches that meet high water quality, environmental and safety standards.
  6. ↑ "Port Lands Transitional Sports Fields Public Meeting" (PDF). Waterfront Toronto. 2006-09-13. Retrieved 2012-03-18.
  7. ↑ Ben Knight (2009-05-21). "Deep in the shadows". Onward Soccer. Archived from the original on 2013-07-04. Retrieved 2012-03-18.
  8. ↑ "Toronto FC to build training facility at Downsview Park". The Sports Network. 2011-04-18. Retrieved 2012-03-18. The Toronto first team has been practising on an artificial turf field at Cherry Beach while the academy sides have worked out on the turf at Lamport Stadium.
  9. ↑ "Pukka Orchestra, Cherry Beach Express". AudioDorks. Retrieved August 28, 2020.
  10. ↑ "The top 5 Toronto urban myths". www.blogto.com. Retrieved 2024-01-08.
  11. ↑ "Toronto Urban Legends: Cherry Beach Express". Torontoist, October 3, 2012.
  12. ↑ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: "Wild Things- Official Video (BEHIND THE SCENES)". YouTube.
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