A little disappointing.
That’s how Gary Kaschak, the Ward 8 city councillor in Windsor, is feeling after hearing about this year’s attendance numbers for the restored Streetcar No. 351 along the city’s riverfront.
As AM800 news reported Wednesday morning, just under 10,000 visitors toured the streetcar during the 2026 season compared to over 27,000 visitors who passed through the site for its launch year in 2025.
Kaschak, who voted in favour of the streetcar, says there is always a drop in attendance from year one to year two.
“I’m a little disappointed that the numbers were down that much,” says Kaschak. “I know I visited it again myself this summer with some friends that were in from out of town, and they were just raving about it, so maybe getting more people there, maybe a little better marketing campaign here upcoming in 2027, is something we like to look at as a new city council.”
He says he wants to talk to representatives from Tourism Windsor Essex and Pelee Island to see how the site was marketed this year.
“It’s something that we’ll look at,” he says. “We’re going to form some new boards and committees here moving forward. I’d actually like to be on the tourism board here moving forward for the next four-year term. So certainly something that I’m keen on, and I’m going to look at ways to improve those numbers.”
Kaschak says the city might have to look at the hours of operation.
“I know our hours are a little bit contentious there that we may not just the right hours of opening there; it might be discouraging some people, and I know some people that did go there a couple times and it was actually closed,” says Kaschak. “So we’re losing out on those attendance numbers just because of maybe an adjustment that needs to be made in hours.”
The streetcar was open to the public this year from May 1 to October 31.
The $10.3 million Michael D. Hurst Legacy Park along Riverside Drive at the foot of Caron Avenue, which includes the streetcar, opened in April 2025.
The beacon is home to the restored Streetcar No. 351, which was built in 1918 in Cincinnati, Ohio, and later purchased by the Sandwich, Windsor, and Amherstburg Railway.
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, as Windsor was the first city in Canada to have an electric streetcar in 1886.
Along with the streetcar building, the site also has a pavilion, a 10,000-square-foot patio with full food and bar service, and washrooms.
