Bracebridge council has agreed to a 10-year lease with the Muskoka Paddle Club and Muskoka Rowing Club to use Kelvin Grove Park.
In a report to the town’s General Committee and approved by council on March 13, Scott Clayton, manager of operations says the previous, separate agreements expired in Dec. 2023.
The new deals will end on Dec. 31, 2034 and cost the clubs $1 a year in rent.
Also, the clubs will handle all building maintenance and repair-related expenses. The Rowing Club will also have to help maintain the floating dock, including installing and removing it.
Clayton details the interesting history of the park in his report.
It was purchased by Mungo Park McKay in 1902 with the idea it would be home to the Muskoka Foundry, which was his new business idea. However, 15 years later, he decided to move to a larger building on a nearby street that would later become known as Entrance Dr.
The Foundry has remained at that location ever nice.
McKay sold the property to the Bracebridge Motor League in 1924. They developed it into a gathering and camping area, including multiple kitchens housed in stone buildings. Clayton says one of the buildings is still standing in the park.
The town bought the property in 1935.
“A condition of the sale to the town, was that the park be known as Kelvin Grove Park, after a park by the same name, Kelvingrove Park, located on the River Kelvin in McKay’s childhood home of Glasgow, Scotland,” explains Clayton.
The Muskoka Paddle Club is a not-for-profit organization that has been operating since 2015 while the Muskoka Rowing Club was founded in 1988 by teachers to support the area’s rowing teams.