The wooden grandstand at Emslie Field in Pinafore Park has been closed to the public since last November, and the city isn’t planning to repair it. Council has decided to tear it down and build something new in its place.
Emslie Field opened in 1898, and the grandstand people know today was rebuilt around 1938 after the original burned down. In the summer of 2025, the city hired POW Peterman Consulting Engineers to check its condition, since no original building drawings survived to guide upkeep. The engineers didn’t like what they found: 11 steel beams badly corroded and needing full replacement, damaged roof joists, and aisles too narrow to meet current accessibility rules. Even under normal conditions, they warned, high wind gusts could cause further damage or failure.
Staff brought that report to council on November 3, 2025. Council closed the grandstand to the public right away for safety and sent the project into the 2026 budget process, carrying the engineers’ full-rehab estimate of about $1.17 million while staff went looking for outside grants. But councillors that same night also floated a cheaper idea on the spot: tear it down and put up something smaller instead.
That cheaper idea is the one that stuck. In December, as part of the 2026 budget, council voted to change course. Instead of a full rebuild, staff will design a $600,000 replacement, described in the resolution as “a redesigned, modernized approach” focused on functional, accessible spectator amenities, funded through the Canada Community Benefit Fund. The vote came with a condition: staff have to bring the finished design back to council, along with a summary of what local user groups and the city’s Accessibility Advisory Committee think of it.
That follow-up report hasn’t come back to council yet, along with what local user groups and the city’s Accessibility Advisory Committee think of it, and there is no demolition date set. Until those steps happen, there is still time for council to reconsider.
Sources: City of St. Thomas Report PRF-33-25, Emslie Field Grandstands Structural Assessment, November 3, 2025 council meeting, City of St. Thomas Report TR-20-26, 2026 Draft Budget Amendments, December 8, 2025 council meeting, November 3, 2025 Council Meeting Minutes
Edited by Anthony Zruna · About the LocVox Newsroom
Update - July 22, 2026, 1:24 p.m. ET: Added to the closing paragraph to make clear the replacement design must still return to council and no demolition date is set, so the plan is not final.