High Park’s cherry blossoms will be off limits this year,
With High Park’s closing, crowds are encouraged to stream live videos
High Park will be closed entirely while cherry trees bloom, a “very difficult” decision that Mayor John Tory said Wednesday was necessary to prevent crowd scenes and the potential spread of COVID-19.
Tory said the photo-friendly pink fluffy blooms — one of the “surest signs of spring” — are expected to be out between four and 10 days starting in late April or early May, and the city will give residents notice of the closure dates closer to then.
“We know that maintaining physical distancing is simply not possible with the size of crowds that come through High
Park every year to see the blossoms,” Tory said at a city hall press conference.
He said the decision to close the city’s largest park was taken on the advice of public health officials.
He said anyone in violation of the park closure — which includes anyone who enters the park for any reason — can be fined at minimum $750 and up to $5,000 under existing municipal bylaws, and not emergency orders, and will only be in effect during the pre-bloom and peak bloom period. Police and bylaw officers will be deployed to the park to enforce the closure, Tory said.
Instead of big crowds gathering under the cherry tree grove — a gift from Japan many years ago — Torontonians will be invited to see the blooms from home via “multiple” live video streams, Tory said.
Details will be announced later.
The city said in a press release that the fleeting bloom typically attracts tens of thousands of inperson visitors.
Similar cherry blossom crowd control measures have been put in place in other countries, Tory said, including Japan.
Mississauga has closed Kariya
Park during cherry blossom season and is also offering a view of the blooms online.
Tory said officials considered a partial closure of High Park, but decided it wasn’t feasible given the location of the trees and the risk of crowds gathering elsewhere to catch a glimpse of the blossoms.
Tory said the city will take advantage of the closure to do spring cleaning in the park.
On Wednesday, the city’s medical officer of health Dr. Eileen de Villa said Toronto continues to be in the peak period of the outbreak.
As of 12:30 p.m., there were 4,069 cases. A total of 210 people have died as a result of the virus.
But officials say social distancing and other restrictions must remain in place until they have a better handle on the virus.