St. Catharines is doubling its special event parking fees downtown this weekend in anticipation of thousands of visitors flocking to the core for the Born & Raised two-day concert at Montebello Park. A special event parking rate of $10 will be in place at the city’s parking garages and surface lots.
The increased fee will be in place starting at 4:30 p.m. on Friday and at 4 p.
m. on Saturday. The city’s garages and lots are normally free on evenings and weekends but a special event fee of $5 is charged when there are big events at Meridian Centre or FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre.
In 2022, city council agreed to allow the special event fee to double to $10 for large-scale and “one-off” occasions that bring thousands of people to the core at once. This weekend’s Born & Raised event Friday and Saturday nights in Montebello Park is expected to draw those kinds of numbers as it did for the inaugural concert in 2022. The city has installed temporary fencing around the park, which will be closed for the event and setup and tear down of equipment.
Streets around the park will be restricted to local traffic only and detour signs will be in place. A small section of Lake Street between Ontario and Queen Streets will be closed to all traffic both nights. The city said parking enforcement will be in place all weekend.
The special event fee affects the city’s two parking garages and surface lots at William Street, Market Square, St. Catharines Public Library, St. Paul Str.