A busy time for Windsor's Legacy Beacon this summer.
The city states that over 19,000 people have visited the Legacy Beacon and Streetcar No. 351 in the first three months of operation.
The area opened along Riverside Drive at the foot of Caron Avenue at the end of April and features the streetcar, a pavilion, a 10,000-square-foot patio with full food and bar service, and washrooms.
Michelle Staadegaard, Manager of Culture with the City of Windsor, says now that school is out many families have been coming by to visit the site - with many providing positive feedback on the location.
The 50-foot-long, 24,000-pound streetcar was restored by RM Automotive in Chatham-Kent and is the focal point of a display honouring the city's transportation past.
Staadegaard says it's great to see how many people are visiting the site.
"We're seeing a lot of people that are visiting the Windsor-Essex area coming and stumbling upon the Legacy Beacon and the streetcar, and really enjoying the outside patio, and really enjoying the exhibition. And then there's a lot of people that have brought family and friends to the location as well because they've come and then they've come back with their family and friends as well."
She says visitors can get a tour of the streetcar and learn its history.
"You can come and enjoy the exhibition and actually walk on the streetcar. There's some really great features that are part of the streetcar and the fact that you can actually push one of the buttons on the inside and you can hear it ding. They'll be staff on site that will be able to give you a tour of the space if you're looking for that option."
She says they're hearing a lot of positive feedback.
"A lot of people are saying 'this is what we've been waiting for, we've been waiting for somewhere along our riverfront to be able to sit and enjoy, and also to be able to really get to understand our history as it relates to the streetcar'. It's really, really fun for us to celebrate that, and something that people didn't realize that we could celebrate within the City of Windsor with us being one of the first streetcar operators within Canada and North America as well."
Staff at the site keep track of attendance and ask that those who visit fill out a guest book documenting where they're visiting from, why they attended, and how they heard about Legacy Beacon.
Staadegaard says majority of those who fill out the guest book have been from Windsor and Essex County.
The $10.3-million Legacy Beacon is named after former mayor Michael D. Hurst.
The restored Streetcar No. 351 is a historic streetcar that was built in 1918 in Cincinnati, Ohio, and later purchased by the Sandwich, Windsor, and Amherstburg Railway.