Grand opening for downtown Oshawa public square Thursday

Veterans Square in the heart of downtown Oshawa will be getting its moment Thursday when Oshawa’s newest public square hosts its grand opening.

The new square located at the intersection of Bond St. E. and Simcoe St. N. is a unique focal point of downtown and will host community celebrations, events and concerts, bringing vitality and excitement into the city centre.

The new square at the northeast corner of Simcoe Street and Bond Street will be called Veterans’ Square to pay tribute to Oshawa’s deep connection to Canada’s military history and proximity to the Colonel R.S. McLaughlin Armoury.

The name, approved by city council last fall, also honours the service – both past and present – of local veterans.

The innovative urban space is set to become a vibrant hub for community celebrations and events in the heart of downtown and a new focal point for community events, with the goal of transforming the former parking lot into a vibrant public oriented-pedestrian space.

Construction on the nearly $2.5 million project began in spring 2025 and included demolition and removals, site preparation and site servicing, hardscape, plantings, site furniture and lighting installation, with Hawkins Contracting Services of Stouffville, with a resume that includes more than three dozen similar in scope projects in the GTA over the past dozen years, winning the contract for the work.

Council chose Veterans’ Square over two other staff options – Heritage Square and Celebration Square – as well as a suggestion to name it ‘McCrohan Music Park’ to honour a family that has played a huge role in the city’s music history.

Other suggestions received from the public included Skae’s Corners, Centennial Square and Adam White Park.

Workers put finishing touches on Veterans Square

The square – high on the wish list since the city expropriated the empty parking lot in the summer of 2022 – will serve as a flexible community gathering place capable of hosting concerts, markets, civic ceremonies and cultural programming, with its location close to venues like the BOND|ST Event Centre, the Regent and Biltmore theatres and the Col. R.S. McLaughlin Armoury, allowing it to stake its claim as the “cultural and ceremonial heart” of Oshawa.

The urban square will be home to:

• new sidewalks and streetscape furnishings along with new boulevard trees on Simcoe Street
• a large shade structure above a new performance/sitting platform
• perimeter concrete seat walls with integrated bench tops, circular bench seating and accessibility seating
• four large planting beds with ornamental flowering shrubs, pollinator perennial planting beds, conifer and deciduous shade trees

The four branches of the military – army, navy, air force and coast guard – will be commemorated at each of the gardens that will be in the park at Veterans’ Square.

The installation of the sculpture ‘Kaleidoscope’ by Nicholas Crombach will also be on display.

The official opening of the square will be held on Thursday at 2:30 p.m. with entertainment, a ribbon-cutting ceremony and more.

Kaleidoscope sculpture by Nicholas Crombach