Jackson Park Band Shell

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• Andrew - thanks a lot for the information about the band shell. I think everyone is in agreement that if there's a way - it would be great to restore this forgotten piece of our history. It's really a shame that it was allowed to get the way it is - but judging by the pictures it definitely looks like it can be reconditioned! thanks again.

• not this stand but did see Princess Elizabeth or maybe by this time she was Queen, at original band stand with windsor schools in 1952 or 53, I remember it was coloured like a giant clam shell.
  ron

• correction on number 22 comment it was 1951, and she was the princess royal.
  she would be queen of canada the next year....

• I have a copy of the program for the 1959 Freedom Festival (the first one). It is true, events were held at Dieppe Park (which was inaugurated during the festival) and at Jackson Park.

  Under the calendar of events

  June 29 - 8:15 pm: Detroit Symphony conducted by Valter Poole at Jackson Park Bandshell, guest soloist, Maureen Forrester, leading Canadian Contralto

  June 30 - 8:00 pm: Sixty-five piece Detroit Concert Band at Jackson Park Bandshell - Leonard Smith conducting.

• The Emancipation Day festival used to be massive, attracting over 250,000 at its peak.

  The CBC has a blub about it, on their site. It seems like it was canceled due to the Detroit Riots in 1967, and canceled again in 1968.

  In 1969 it returned, but this time in MicMac park.

  http://www.cbc.ca/windsor/features/detroit-riot/emancipation.html

• In the 50s and 60s (my time growing up in the "Rose City") Jackson Park was the focal point of summertime celebratory fun. All the major parades would end there after marching up Ouellette. Typically there was a carnival midway and all sorts of events scheduled on the broad grassy fields and the bandshell. The "grandstands" that people keep referring to were nothing more than a plain and simple set of bleachers, quite out of synch with and something of an afterthought next to the daring (for Windsor anyway) modernist design of the bandshell itself. The previous bandshell, which I remember very vaguely since I was a young child on my only visit, was more of a traditional "Hollywood Bowl" type of semi-circular clamshell. It was fronted by rows of proper seats, or at least benches with back support, as I recall. The "Emancipation Celebration" took place on an August weekend and was sponsored by Dr. Roy Perry, a long time Windsor dentist and Alderman. It featured a parade, carnival, and musical entertainment. As a young fella I remember being fascinated by the large numbers of gleaming automobiles with license plates from such exotic places as Alabama and Mississippi scattered throughout the park. It was a huge event and drew tens of thousands of negroes (as African Americans were properly known in those days)from all over the map. The last big blow-out of the summer was the Firemen's Field Day, sponsored by the Windsor Firefighters, held over the Labour Day weekend. The Labour Day parade was HUGE, as you can imagine, during the halcyon days of 60s prosperity. Every family seemed to have at least one individual employed in the red hot auto industry and every shop was a union shop. Jackson Park would be teeming with revelers. The last time that I was at the bandshell was some battle of the bands, Labour day weekend '67 or '68. One of the top bands was " The Dukes of Windsor" a bunch of South Windsor dudes with skinny pants and skinnier ties. Sad to see the site falling to ruin and suffering such humiliation. I always felt that the bandshell was poorly situated, hard up against the backside of Windsor Stadium. These venues require a broad expanse of open space in front of them, and what we got here was just the opposite.

• thanks john, it didn't seem that there would be enough room for people to watch from around that thing. when i remembered they played there though it's where i thought they might be since i didn't think many people would want to see them play.

• I remember the news story too. They mentioned that new stadium seating would be reversible so you could watch the football game and if there was a concert, the stands would be switched to face the stage. Will that ever happen?

• Well they did have a string of top 10 hits leading up to that time and were big on FM radio, so the stadium was actually packed. It wasn't like Duran Duran, but they were still relatively "big" at that time. I think these days Air Supply's Greatest Hits CD would be a guilty pleasure. ;)

• I think Shawn's suggestion of "Guerilla Events" at the bandshell should be examined. Exactly how secure is this fence around the property? It doesn't look like it is too inaccessible from the aerial photos.