Drew Dilkens is promising to make Experience Windsor permanent if he’s re-elected, while also moving ahead with plans for a Chinatown gateway on University Avenue.
The city launched Experience Windsor this year with more than 50 free events and activities, including waterfront programming, neighbourhood events and activities at civic and cultural facilities.
Council approved $500,000 for the initiative, using money from a reserve funded by the four per cent Municipal Accommodation Tax (MAT) charged on hotel stays.
Dilkens says the response from the community supports keeping the initiative in place.
“Almost 45,000 people came out to the events that we held here and everything that I heard from residents, including all of the neighbourhood parks. I went to 9 out of the 10 events in neighbourhood parks. What I heard from all of the residents that they want to see that continue. We will find a way through the MAT tax to continue to fund that program,” Dilkens said.
Another campaign commitment would see the city move forward with a Chinatown gateway with Windsor’s west end being considered as the location.
He says the idea has been discussed with the Chinese-Canadian community since before the pandemic, and approximately $400,000 to $450,000 was allocated in the 2026 budget to begin supporting the project.
“We’re looking at University Avenue and one of the renewed construction areas of University Avenue to help create a place, to help create a community, and a destination that we actually think it’s not just about putting up a Chinese gateway, it’s about spurring economic activity in a particular area that we think could benefit from that type of boost,” Dilkens said.
Dilkens says local representatives are also involved in discussions on how the project should be designed.
He adds similar projects in other Canadian cities are informing Windsor’s approach.
“We’re working with the local leadership of the Chinese-Canadian community to help make sure we hit the mark. But it is actually an archway or gateway that goes over the road that you would be driving or walking under and it sets in motion. It definitely defines the place in many communities, it creates a Chinatown district,” Dilkens said.
At his campaign announcement Thursday, Dilkens also committed to more public art and heritage projects, changes to the Arts, Culture and Heritage Fund, further Transit Windsor investments, district initiatives in Walkerville and Sandwich, and improved tourism connections from the Gordie Howe International Bridge.