Windsor Visuals presents a pictorial retrospective of 2009, and all things Windsor during the year! There are many photos from the past year, hit “read more” to see ‘em!
January: Roofing begins at the Low/Martin House in Walkerville. The house, once home to cabinet minister Paul Martin Sr., was purchased by Francesco Vella, owner of the Olde Walkerville Pharmacy.
January: Demolition begins at Prince of Wales Public School in west Windsor. Limestone elements will be saved and reused for the University of Windsor’s new Engineering Building, on the same site.
January: the rejuvination of Walkerville begins. The Olde Walkerville Pharmacy moves into a storefront on Wyandotte which occupies a block with such stores as Jones and Co, and Timeless Treasures.
January: Prince of Wales School is demolished.
January: The city is planning on funding renewal projects for certain areas in Windsor that are defined as ‘brownfield’ properties, or properties that have become vacant, and in many cases, are contaminated from past industrial use.
February: White, non-albino squirrels are apparently found in a few select locations in North America. In Exeter, ON, for example, white squirrels are all over the place.
Strangely, this little buddy, shot in Lakeshore, ON, is nowhere near Exeter. These squirrels with unique coats are the apparent result of a genetic mutation according to this wikipedia entry.
February: The University of Windsor’s Lancers Women’s basketball is ranked 2nd in the league, and has won 16-straight games. Pretty awesome that University Sports are helping to put Windsor on the map! Pictured is their home court, the St. Denis Centre Fieldhouse which is a pretty interesting place for a wide shot like this.
February: CJAM, the University of Windsor’s campus radio station, launches a campaign to seek “Protected” status by the CRTC, and a frequency change to 99.1FM.
February: The annual heart of lights on the Blue Cross / Blue Shield of Michigan building in downtown Detroit.. points its love toward Windsor!
February: Bubi’s has new economic meltdown hours!! This one has been up for a bit, took me a bit to photo it too.
FYI this is satire on Bubi’s part. They are known for their jokes.
February: An announcement is made that the Olympic Torch will pass through Windsor on December 23rd/24th 2009.
February: In red, toward the top of the photo, is the Box Office: sight of six shootings in recent years, that have helped to make Windsor’s downtown worse than it already is. Fortunately, Ontario’s AGCO has decided to cancel the liquor license at the Box Office, for good.
February: Phog Lounge has WON CBC Radio 3’s contest for the Number One Live Music Venue in Canada! Phog beat out 114 other live music clubs across Canada to take the number one spot. Congratulations to Tom Lucier and his business partner Frank Incitti for running an outstanding establishment. The music community in Windsor has been placed on the map for this awesome venue!
March: Ste. Anne church, in Tecumseh, is another religious architectural gem in the region that is facing hard times. A little over a year ago, the church’s steeple was removed after fears were revealed that it may come crashing down. For restoration work of the belltower to progress, three-million dollars is needed.
March: Transit Windsor, and the Mayor’s Youth Advisory Committee have put their heads together to offer $1 public transit fares for students during this year’s March break.
March: the Stanley Cup makes a visit to the WFCU Centre.
March: Over at the University of Windsor, progress is wrapping up on an impressive, multi-million-dollar expansion of the Faculty of Human Kinetics / St. Denis Centre building.
March: Windsor Visuals is turning 3 years old this week! On March 22nd, 2006, the blog was created as an LJ Community, and went live on March 28th. Now, three years, 324 entries, and 115 members with posting-access later; Windsor Visuals averages close to 500 visits a day from all over Windsor, Essex County and beyond.
March: The first Thursdays Live of the year, in Walkerville, got off to a great start this evening. With clear skies, warm air and a nice red sunset, a few dozen folks strolled Walkerville’s streets and were greeted with refreshments and good company at many of the area’s businesses.
March: Windsor participates in Earth Hour.
April: Veteran Cab goes on strike.
April: Firefighters battle a rash of blazes in the Glengarry-Marentette area of downtown Windsor. The properties, next to Caesars Windsor, are often used as casino parking lots as the buildings which occupy the sites burn, or are demolished.
April: Renderings are released for the upcoming Centre for Engineering Innovation at the University of Windsor.
April: City Council conducts a major review to redetermine political “wards” in Windsor.
April: the City of Windsor goes on strike.
April: Striking employees with the City of Windsor held a rally outside City Hall this evening, an hour before the city’s weekly council meeting. Sid Ryan, President of CUPE Ontario, attended and gave a rallying speech for the folks on the picket lines.
April: a tornado strikes Windsor at the corner of Langlois and Hanna streets.
April: Stars on Ice comes to the WFCU Centre for a figure skating performance.
May: construction of the East Windsor Cogeneration Centre is nearly complete. The new powerplant is situated near Drouillard Rd. and Riverside Drive.
May: it’s the 2009 Battle of the Hors D’Oeuvres! Pina Ciotoli from WindsorEats.com is a guest judge.
May: a combination of an Ontario-wide pesticide ban, and the City of Windsor workers being on strike, makes for mountains of dandelions in Windsor’s parks.
May: the Windsor Spitfires are Victorious, and win the J. Ross Robertson Cup at the WFCU Centre.
May: the annual Made in Windsor Craft Show takes place at Nancy Johns’ and Vincent Franzoi’s galleries in east Windsor.
May: the Arts Council Windsor & Region launches an Arts Guide.
May: Windsor’s annual birthday celebration on the waterfront is met with resistance by striking City of Windsor employees.
May: Art in the Park at Willistead Park in Walkerville may not go on due to long grass – a result of the City Strike. Citizens bring their lawnmowers to the park and clean it up just in time for the annual arts and crafts festival.
May: the Windsor Modern Urban Guide, a guide to Windsor businesses, is launched at NOI Restaurant on Erie St.
June: the Special Olympics head to Windsor in July.
June: Local cyclist Mike Beauchamp’s film, “The Cross Canada Project”, premieres at Phog Lounge.
June: the yearly celebration of good berries! Strawberry Fest in Lasalle.
June: Art in the Park takes place at Willistead Park.
June: the Red Bull Air Races return for a second year here in Windsor!
June: a campaign to keep Windsorites working by favouring local projects by local employees, Citizens for Jobs Now, kicks off in Windsor.
June: a new arts event kicks off in west Windsor. The Sandwich Revival Art Show!
June: the 2009 Target Fireworks on the riverfront.
June: the Google Streetview Car is spotted in Windsor! Images of the car from Windsor Visuals are featured in the Windsor Star.
July: Little flags placed on lawns seem to be a tradition here in Windsor. On the flipside, they say they are provided by “Clarica” Canada. Happy Canada Day!!
July: Back in June, Transit Windsor introduced six of eighteen of its New Flyer DE40LFR Hybrid Buses. The new buses are on the road, serving the Crosstown 2 and Transway 1A and 1C lines.
July: “Phog Phest”, the musical celebration for the winner of CBC Radio 3’s Searchlight contest to determine the Best Live Music Venue in Canada, is held.
July: The Taste of Erie Street Festival began tonight in Via Italia. The festival is part of the International Dragon Boats for the Cure fundraising weekend. A band played some awesome 70s pop tunes.
July: the Downtown Windsor Farmers Market is a great success.
July: Bluesfest International 2009 on Windsor’s Riverfront.
July: after 101 days, the City of Windsor strike is finally over!
July: After nearly five days back-at-it, the City of Windsor is visually returning to normal following a 101 day municipal strike. The lifeguards have returned to guarding, the clerks to processing files, the meter maids to issuing tickets, the daycares to looking after children… and city parks getting a much-needed trim.
August: One hundred seventy six years ago the British Empire passed a resolution ending slavery through the Empire, including Canada (British North America). On August 1st of each year, festivities take place worldwide to celebrate the end of British Empire slavery. In Windsor, Saturday’s Emancipation Day Parade travelled along Riverside Drive East.
August: Last week, Blackburn Radio Inc. erected a new transmission tower atop its Windsor studio on Wyandotte St. in Walkerville to make way for a new radio station at 95.9 FM.
August: The Made in Windsor Store – a new local shoppe on Ottawa St. featuring wares by Windsor artists and crafters – will has its opening day!
August: Randy Bachman and Burton Cummings graced the WFCU Centre with an outstanding performance of hits from the repertoires of The Guess Who and Bachman Turner Overdrive.
August: Construction is progressing nicely over at the site of the new Dr. David Suzuki Public School in Riverside.
August: Look out Tim Hortons and William’s Coffee Pub, there’s a new cafe on campus that will be opening shortly: Green Bean Cafe!
August: The Roman Catholic Diocese of London announced on Saturday that Assumption Church, neighbour to the Ambassador Bridge in West Windsor, will be fully restored to ensure it continues to serve as a functional parish, and quite importantly, as an architectural icon in Windsor / Essex County.
August: Firefest, a six stage obstacle course on which firefighters all over Canada compete, was held at Windsor’s riverfront festival plaza.
August: Yes, the University of Windsor has tunnels. No, you can’t go in them! Service tunnel digging begins for the new Centre for Engineering Innovation.
August: The two-day Airshow in Windsor was a jet-blast!
August: It’s Art by the River in Amherstburg at Fort Malden!
August: John Campbell Public School on Tecumseh Rd. is undergoing a massive $10.4 million dollar interior renovation. The school, originally built in the late 1920’s, has been completely demolished from the inside — up to its exterior walls.
September: More and more orange pylons and barrels seem to be popping up daily in Windsor. Major road reconstruction projects are unfolding, and dozens of streets are turning into traffic nightmares.
September: Fifty-one years after the first race, the annual Tour di Via Italia took to the streets around Windsor’s “Little Italy” on Sunday, bringing in thousands of spectators and hundreds of racers from around North America.
September: The 7th annual Fahrenheit Festival of Fire, presented by Artcite, blazingly lit the sky in front of thousands of spectators at the LaSalle Vollmer Complex.
September: The new Walkerville Business Lofts were officially opened with grand party.
September: Russell Peters, Toronto-born and well regarded Canadian comedian took to the stage — and cracked up the crowd — at the WFCU Centre
September: Pelissier St. just off of Wyandotte — often dubbed Windsor’s Wild West — is again the talk of the town after Windsor’s 5th murder of 2009 occurred over the weekend.
October: After Monday night’s shutdown and signoff of CJAM 91.5 FM, the University of Windsor’s campus radio station, the real work began on installing a new antenna and reconfigured transmitter the roof of Laurier Hall.
October: Thanks to a contest conceived by Windsor Star reporter and The Scene author, Dalson Chen, Windsor now has an iconic t-shirt! Created by local graphic designer, Shane Potvin, the Windsor Wear t-shirts’ design is nourished by a central symbolic theme for the rose city, called the “Momentum Rose”.
October: The Wiggles, the popular children’s musical group from Australia, were in town on Wednesday for a sold-out, kid-tastic show at the WFCU Centre.
October: Zombies brought all of their zombie friends to Ouellette Avenue, Friday night, for Windsor’s annual Zombie Walk.
October: The traffic nightmare that is the intersection of Howard Avenue and those pesky CP Rail tracks, will soon be put to rest: in eighteen months!
November: Windsor Firefighters served up dishes of sweet, hot, and fiery chili at this year’s Chilifest, held earlier today at the old downtown Windsor armouries.
November: Jamison Laboratories donated $150,000 to the City of Windsor for the planting of up to six-hundred trees in the Dougall Gateway area.
November: The University of Windsor’s Humanities Research Group, under the direction of Dr. Stephen Pender, brought in an amazing expert on new media (the internet, blogging and social media) and urban advocacy for a lecture at the Freed Orman Centre in Windsor.
November: The Ambassador Bridge — the busiest border crossing in North America — turns 80 years old on November 11th 2009.
November: Popular Walkerville establishment, The Kildare House, closed its doors and ended an era of good times, celtic entertainment and great eats over the weekend.
November: Russia’s top junior hockey players faced the best and the brightest in the Ontario Hockey League at the WFCU Centre, Monday night.
November: Blue kilometre markers have sprung up along Windsor’s riverfront.
The markers bear the inscription “Battagello Riverwalk” and are named after former city councillor Roy Battagello .
December: The Canadian Pacific Railway’s Holiday Train visited Windsor’s CP rail yard on Thursday night. Hundreds and hundreds of children, parents and family members gathered to hear carols, deposit food bank donations and check out the lighted train.
December: Santa Claus and his reindeer ho-ho-ho’d into town on Saturday night during the 44th Annual Santa Claus Parade.
December: The cast of the CTV TV-show, So You Think You Can Dance Canada, sexied-up the stage at the WFCU Centre as part of their Top 10 Tour, Tuesday night.
December: The sound of country, and the presence of some local celebrities made for an amazing night at the WFCU Centre on Friday.
Country singer Johnny Reid was on hand to kick off Windsor’s newest radio station, “Windsor’s FM 95.9” along with former AM800 personality Melanie Deveau and previous A-Channel morning host, Houida Kassem.
December: Google Inc. has released a 3D version of Detroit on its popular Google Earth program, and with Detroit, comes Windsor!
Utilizing tools from Google SketchUp, 3D modelers have ‘rendered’ many of downtown Windsor’s buildings, along with the University, and parts of Walkerville.
December: Merry Christmas from Windsor Visuals.
And a happy new year, Windsor!! Thanks for reading and making 2009 great!!
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