Fred Hamilton Park

A recent trip to Montréal reminded me that small parks are parks, too. The fine folks in Quebec have the mountain, similarly to how we have our big’uns: Trinity Bellwoods, Christie Pits, High Park, Riverdale, etc, but! We also have our small ones, and we should take a cue from les Québécois and use them from time to time. I had never seen so many quarter-​block parks filled to the brim as I did in Montréal, and truth be told (sorry, QC) our small parks are more plentiful and from what I saw, better taken care of.
Chances are your house is closer to a tiny city park than one of the above mentioned tree-​lined giants, so why not say hi to your neighbourhood green space? I did just this recently at Fred Hamilton Park and it was lovely. Less people means more space for my blanket, pals and wine. Sometimes less of a scene is a super-​duper thing…

This park is kinda whack but it’s the closest one to my place so I’m here almost every morning with the dog. One day, animal services actually issued me a warning here while walking him off-​leash. So beware of that if you like letting your dog get a little exercise. So ridiculous that I would be hassled for letting my harmless dog run around off-​leash when I’ve seen people shooting up heroin in this park.
It’s located right behind a Tim Horton’s so inevitably there’s always garbage strewn about everywhere. They do have 2 bocce ball lanes at this park. And washrooms. And a playground with a wading pool, towards the south end of the park. I remember going there a lot as a kid. Oh they also have that funny metal workout equipment that I’ll hop on every so often for shits n giggles. My dog always barks at me when I do though, haha.

A nice sunny park with trees and accompanying wildlife (mostly birds and squirrels). Wear a sweater if its chilly, but otherwise let your freak flag fly dude! There are several benches to sit on and hang around and watch people. Fairly interesting foot traffic (both human and canine LOL). At the far end is a large sandbox where local grandfathers meet to yell at each other and play «bowls». Timmies Horton’s is nearby which means there are many cups available to be procured from the trash (or recycling) bins should you need a less conspicuous container for a relaxing brewski. So far, this park is really doing it for me!