Those wanting to visit Windsor's Legacy Beacon and Streetcar No. 351 will only have a few days left to do so.
Legacy Beacon and the Streetcar will be closed as of October 26 to the public for the winter.
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, the city's Manager of Culture, says that while attendance at the site has been great since it opened that they will undergo a seasonal closure.
The $10.3-million Legacy Beacon is named after former mayor Michael D. Hurst, and the restored Streetcar is a historic streetcar that was built in 1918 in Cincinnati, Ohio, and later purchased by the Sandwich, Windsor, and Amherstburg Railway.
Staadegaard says residents still have a few days to visit the site.
"Our last public hours are on Sunday, October 26, but you can still see the Streetcar outside of that time. You can contact Museum Windsor and you can book a group tour which is really great, so if you have family or friends that are coming down, call Museum Windsor and if you have a group of around 15 people you can come on out and actually get a private tour."
She says over 27,000 people have visited the site since it opened six months ago.
"Unfortunately we do have a winter season in our area of Windsor-Essex, I know that it doesn't snow much, but it does get quite cold and with that we do see a drop in attendance, and so the reasoning of why we'd be closed for that season time."
Ward 3 city councillor Renaldo Agostino says it is a seasonal amenity.
"I wouldn't want to be, for example, the food vendor out there in January, February, March, December. It's going to get cold, it's going to get dangerous in some ways down there, and there's a lot of maintenance that goes into that type of area when you're having those operations...and liability. And then of course, it's a slow season for that attraction."
Agostino says the seasonal operation makes sense from a financial and logistical standpoint.
"If we're paying staff and people to be down there in the midst of winter when there's no visitors, I think that's a bad investment for the city. So, I think the calculation is right, and I think we see how it goes this year... no question about it. And it also creates momentum for next year when it opens. That facility is beautiful, it's not going anywhere, and I think sometimes you need to miss something a little bit before it opens again."
Windsor resident Bill Montague says this was a waste of taxpayer money.
"Something that's going to be open for a few months, a couple months of the year, and spending $10-million, and $15-million on an ice rink, that's $25-million. That's a lot of money, that's the taxpayers that have to pay for all this nonsense. That to me is what it is - nonsense - pure and simple, it's nonsense."
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.
Legacy Beacon is open Tuesday to Sunday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
-with files from CTV Windsor's Chris Campbell