The Riverside Park neighbourhood is noted for…well, for its amazing park.
Along a heavily altered section of the Speed River, dammed up and redirected here and there with spillways and weirs, the park is a year-round community hub. A much smaller version of it was first established in 1905 as a streetcar stop.
The park hosts an elaborate festive light display in the winter, fireworks on New Years Eve, Canada Day festivities, a number of festivals, and several community fundraising events throughout the year. And it hosts a lot of Canada geese, draw to the gently flowing river.
It is a favoured walking, jogging, and biking space, and its trails connect to the wilder pathways of the Speed River Trail system that meanders all the way out to Guelph Lake.
The park, indeed the entire neighbourhood, is famous for its antique wooden carousel, and its miniature train, which should be in operation by May 20th. That’s around the time of the year when the normally sleepy Riverside Park neighbourhood swells in numbers and gets a jolt of excitement.
Otherwise, the residential neighbourhood to the east of the river is a very peaceful one. Upper middle class for the most part, it has a much newer feel than the neighbourhoods around the city centre, with most of the homes of a mid-20th century vintage dominating the streets.
The neighbourhood is also noted as a major retirement area in the city, and is home to the ever popular Evergreen Seniors Community Centre, run by the city. There are a number of retirement homes in the vicinity.
There is not much in the way of new construction in the neighbourhood. Guelph has grown by over 11,000 residents since 2011, now nearing a population of 132,000. It seems fair to assume that not much of that population growth has been accommodated by the Riverside Park neighbourhood.
Most of the residential development in Guelph’s north end is up in neighbouring Victoria North.
