King’s Square

Across the street from Saint John City Market is King’s Square. Surprisingly there is no website dedicated to it to learn more. It was a lovely park to walk around and sit for a bit.
The square was named for King George III and granted to the city of Saint John by Royal Charter in 1785. In the early years, the grounds were the site for such public uses such as oxen roasts, fireworks displays, militia parades, cricket games, public wells, a slaughter house and agricultural fairs. It was developed into a park in 1844 and the current design of paths was laid out.
The bandstand in the middle of the square was designed and built in 1908 for the city coronet band by Neil Brodie, a local architect. One year later, it was donated to the city of Saint John in the name of King Edward VII of England.
There are many monuments and statues scattered throughout the square.

After coming out of the City Market, we decided to stop here to chill, briefly.
This park was located right across from the City Market. It took up a whole entire block. As such, the whole entire park filled up a square-​like perimeter. Maybe that’s why this park has the word «Square» in it, right?
The park had several pathways that led people to certain parts of the streets that surrounded the area. Benches were available for people to sit and relax. We even saw one person on a bench feed tiny pieces of bread to a flock birds, which was cool. Some brightly, colored flower beds were visible in parts of the park as well.
But what really caught our attention, and probably everyone else’s, was the Bandstand. This was situated in the center of the park. Green and white colors were existent on the exterior. Strings of lights were attached for nighttime purposes. Someone there told me that this was utilized for concerts during nice weather. Of course, nothing was going on at the time I was there.
The bandstand was elevated. Band members would have to get on to the top floor in order to set up and perform. On the bottom of that floor was a nice water fountain placed in the center of a circular base. All of that looked really cool.
At the time I went, it was really crowded. Considering it was a nice day and a nice park, I could see why a lot of people came out to hang around. I wish I could say more about this small park, but that’s about it. It’s definitely worth visiting.

You can spend hours watching the many people that use king square to commute.
Beautiful park filled with beautiful people. Dont be shy to say hello to a stranger — in Kings Square everyone is friends.
Highly recommend! — and pooch friendly!

A square with
monuments
very old trees
flowers
and
lots of pigeons
Kings Square is to St. John what Boston Common is to Boston. The Square is a lot smaller than the common but then St. John is a lot smaller than Boston.
It’s a place where local people go to sit, talk, walk, reflect and of course feed the pigeons. The square is located right in the middle of the city and has been here for centuries. An elderly guy I talked to told me a story about how they carved the square right out of solid rock and built the city around it. The square was the beginning and everything else came after.
One big difference in King’s Square and Boston Common is that the people in St. John are extremely friendly and verbose. You can go up to anyone in the square and just strike up a conversation. Try that in Boston. I had a great time listening to people tell me about the history of the city and what it was like growing up.
The square reflects the Canadian fascination and even obsession with statues and monuments, These things are everywhere. A monument for some war or other, a monument for King Edward something or other, one for some politician, one for the fire department, one for a guy who saved someone from drowning, another for the loyalists who stayed with England during the American Revolution and even one for some ice skater fellow. All these plaques and monuments are typical of parks in this part of Canada.
The square also has ancient band stand, flowers, fountains and some very old trees. One woman told me that some of the trees were planted when the park was first carved out of the stone. Not sure if that’s true but they certainly look old.
They square and people seem to have a thing for pigeons. I didn’t have any food but every time I stopped a whole flock seemed to gather around me looking for a treat. There were signs saying don’t feed the pigeons but they were totally ignored by the people and pigeons in the park. On lady told me the signs were for the benefit of the politicians in the city not the pigeons and that pigeons can’t read but then again most politicians probably can’t either.