Located at the foot of Lower Jarvis Street adjacent to the Redpath Sugar Factory, the square metre 2 acre park is the first public space visitors see as they travel along Queens Quay from the central waterfront. The park features three distinct components: an urban beach; a plaza space; and a tree-lined promenade running diagonally through the park. The beach allows visitors to while away the afternoon as they read, play in the sand or watch boats on the lake.
A dynamic water feature embedded in a granite maple leaf beside the beach makes cooling off fun for adults and children. A large candy-striped granite rock outcropping and three grass mounds give the public unique vantage points for larger events and the spaces between the mounds result in a natural performance space for smaller events.
Between the plaza and the beach, people can stroll through the park along a promenade featuring granite and tumbled concrete cobblestones in a maple leaf mosaic pattern. Canada's Sugar Beach promenade and plaza have been designed to be fully accessible to people with disabilities. In an effort to improve accessibility to the beach, Waterfront Toronto has added a boardwalk, level with the sand to some of the park's signature pink beach umbrellas and Muskoka chairs.
The rocks, which feature candy-coloured stripes made of a flexible and durable thermoplastic, add to the whimsical feel of the park. The granite was then sliced into 1. Much like putting together a jigsaw puzzle, crews used a tonne crane to assemble the rock outcropping piece by piece on site.
The granite outcropping at the beach is over six metres long and wide, and about one metre high. The second rock outcropping at the plaza is more than double the size of the rock at the beach. These signature granite outcroppings will be used as informal seating, play and gathering spaces.
