St. Thomas council did not choose a plan for the closed Emslie Field grandstand at Pinafore Park on November 2nd. Instead, it sent the decision to the 2027 budget deliberations, where the cost can be weighed against everything else the City wants to pay for next year.
In their report, City staff had asked council to pick the cheapest of three options: a minimum repair with accessibility upgrades, estimated at $785,950 in 2025 dollars. It would fix the steel and concrete, replace about 30 percent of the wooden roof joists, put a metal roof over the old deck, and add an accessible ramp, a new stairway and a wider main aisle. The old wood benches would stay. The engineers expect that repair to last about 15 years.
A full rehabilitation, the option the engineers themselves recommended in 2025, was estimated at $1.172 million. Tearing the grandstand down and building a new, modern one was estimated at $971,000, with a life of about 40 to 50 years.
Council already set aside $600,000 for the grandstand in the 2026 capital budget. St. Thomas Minor Baseball has offered $100,000, but only if the existing grandstand is kept, and the City has not formally accepted that money yet. Staff warned that tearing the grandstand down could cost the project donations that are tied to saving it.
One councillor opposed the cheaper repair and favoured the full rehabilitation, saying the cheaper option “will only give us a renewal of approximately 15 years” and would leave the City “back where we were” in 15 years. Councillor Jim Herbert, who moved the staff recommendation, backed the repair, saying “it’s going to be a tight budget coming up for this year” and that many people involved with minor baseball want the grandstand fixed. Another councillor asked council to look at a new building first, noting the current grandstand “is quite large, but not a lot of people sit in it. A lot of people bring their own chairs and they sit near the dugouts.”
Councillor Steve Wookey said council was “fairly divided” on what to do. “We all want something to happen. We’re just not quite together on what that might be.” He asked the City Treasurer, Adam Boylan, for advice. Boylan suggested council take the question to the budget, because choosing the most expensive option means “you’re not going to be doing something else.”
Wookey then moved to strike the direction to go ahead with the cheaper repair and send the matter to the 2027 budget deliberations instead, seconded by Councillor Gary Clarke. Before that vote, Councillor Lori Baldwin-Sands, who chaired the meeting, spoke about what the old ballpark means to the city. “This is about baseball for me,” she said, adding that she does not want to see “any significance taken away from Emslie Field.”
The amendment carried, and so did the amended motion, moved by Herbert and seconded by Clarke. Council received the report for information and referred the decision to the budget.
In July, LocVox reported that council’s 2026 budget had switched from a full repair to a $600,000 “redesigned, modernized” replacement. Then, in August, St. Thomas Minor Baseball came to council offering money toward the work if the old structure was saved, and staff came back recommending repair.
The grandstand, rebuilt in 1938 after a 1936 fire, has been closed to the public since November 2025. One councillor suggested the new council might be the one to discuss it, “in fairness to those people because they’re going to have to live with the new budget as well.” That council, led by Mayor-elect Jeff Kohler, takes office on November 15th. As of November 4th, the City had not posted a date for the 2027 budget deliberations.
Earlier coverage: The Emslie Field Grandstand at Pinafore Park Is Set to Be Replaced, Not Repaired
Sources: City of St. Thomas Report PR-27-26, Emslie Grandstand Donations and Construction Update, November 2, 2026, Minutes of the November 2, 2026 council meeting, City of St. Thomas video of the November 2, 2026 council meeting
By Anthony Zruna · About the LocVox Newsroom
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