Day on Bridge event raises nearly $500K for EcoPark

A few thousand people stopped to “get a glimpse of the view” on the McQuesten High Level Bridge while it was closed to traffic Sunday afternoon.

The closure was part of the A Day on the Bridge fundraiser, dreamed up and put on by businessman Patrick Bermingham.

The event raised close to $500,000 to purchase and protect land for the Cootes to Escarpment EcoPark.

“It was all about slowing down and taking the time to see the view,” Bermingham said.

Between 3,000 and 4,000 people were at the public portion of the event between Dundurn Castle and the Royal Botanical Gardens’ rock garden. It featured food trucks, an art auction, and music and dance performances.

That was followed by a gala fundraising dinner in support of EcoPark — a protected, permanent and connected natural land sanctuary from the harbour to the escarpment.

Mary Pat Fuchs, who was in charge of the art auction alongside Debbie Carson, said all but a few of the 28 works submitted by local artists sold. “It was a success.”

Bermingham called the money raised at the privately financed event a “very good start.”

He said Sunday’s event was a “kickoff ” to a year-long fundraising campaign with a goal of $1 million.

He said 270 people bought tickets, which cost $365, for the four-course dinner. Originally, the plan was to have up to 800 people.

“We talked about some big numbers, but that was just marketing,” Bermingham said. “I don’t think we could have handled anymore.”

A highlight of the event was the approximately 700 people who had their photos taken in one of the vacant niches in the stone pillar framing the bridge, he said.

One of the challenges was a shuttle bus running from Hamilton’s Kay Drage Park that left people waiting for a ride, Bermingham said.

While he doesn’t have any plans to continue organizing the event, he said the city or another agency could take it on.

“I had the vision that we could do this and pull it off, and then we worked to be able to demonstrate that it could be done,” Bermingham said. “We bet that people would support the idea of conservation in our backyard, and they do.”

The city received one complaint about the road closure on York Boulevard, and a handful of other calls about the event and how to get there, said spokesperson Jasmine Graham.