Cornies: Put the ‘bank’ back in Springbank with river views

Article content

For 66 years, Storybook Gardens has been one of London’s premier attractions, especially for children and their families. Located on the eastern side of Springbank Park, it is inseparable from the 71-hectare (175-acre) green space in which it sits.

While Storybook already has a long history, Springbank’s is twice as long.

City council began purchasing land surrounding its waterworks facility east of Byron in the late 1800s. Travel between London and the park via steamboat became popular until the sinking of the Victoria, in 1881, at a cost of hundreds of lives.

Article content

The tragedy dampened enthusiasm for the park – but only temporarily. In 1896, the London Street Railway extended service to Springbank, while other modes of travel included horse-drawn carriages and buses.

By the early 1900s, the park was booming again. There were tennis courts, bowling lawns, picnic and camping areas, a dance hall and other amusements.

When it opened in 1958, Storybook Gardens instantly became the crown jewel, not only among Springbank’s amenities, but also within the city’s park system. During more than six decades, Storybook survived floods, fires, windstorms and vandals, not to mention an escaped sea lion named Slippery and the publicity stunts that followed.

Storybook had to adapt to changing times, too. The nursery-rhyme structures, fairy-tale themes and animal enclosures that had been its calling cards in the 1960s and ’70s had tired by century’s end. So, Storybook was reimagined as a year-round facility with a winter skating trail, installations that featured more active play, and an end to the small zoo.

Diana Rowe was hired as a supervisor there in 2013, just after the departure of the animals. In 2019, on the eve of the pandemic, she became Storybook’s manager. She can attest to the facility’s intergenerational appeal, as patrons from its early days return bringing their descendants, partly as an activity with their grandchildren, but partly as a slow stride through the warm pool of nostalgia.

Article content

(She knows at least one family that has been shooting group photos at the park beside Humpty Dumpty annually for more than 50 years.)

Now, Rowe is trying to formulate a collective vision. She and her staff are gathering public opinion about how Storybook should change during the next decade through creation of a master plan.

Staff gathered informal input from visitors twice during the month of August. But the best way for Londoners and others to express their views is with an online feedback form that takes no more than 10 minutes to complete. (Searching “Storybook Gardens master plan” online is the easiest way to find it.)

Rowe is hoping for about 1,000 responses by the time the survey closes at the end of September. So far, she’s got about 250.

A few themes already have begun to emerge. Visitors want installations that relate to a more diverse range of cultural and ethnic stories. They want new features and attractions, but not at the expense of classic experiences, such as the miniature train ride.

“A lot of people want the park to remain community based and not become an expensive park to visit,” Rowe says. “They want it to stay affordable, they want it to be accessible.”

Article content

Around 130,000 visitors passed through the big white castle at Storybook’s entrance last year. That’s about average, now that the outdoor skate trail has provided a reason for patrons to attend during the winter. Weather is a big factor. Annual attendance has reached as high as 150,000.

Springbank Park, meanwhile, already is halfway through the mandate that touches on its development. The current parks and recreation master plan, adopted by city council just ahead of the pandemic, will expire in 2028. While the plan is intended to paint broad strokes, it includes only a few specific references to Springbank and certainly provides no ambitious plans for improvements.

A few years ago, the Back to the River project, steered by London Community Foundation, pushed citizens to reconsider the importance of the Thames River to the city’s history, culture and vibrancy. Eventually, the enterprising plan was spiked as too costly.

At Springbank Park, as at other city venues, naturalization has become the watchword. Though the grounds are carefully tended, these days, a visitor might miss the presence of the Thames entirely – so overgrown has its banks become due to the trendy notion to let nature take its course.

Article content

It’s ridiculous. At our best-known park, as elsewhere, we’ve turned our backs on the river that holds and sustains us. The city’s parks department should carve out some sightlines at a few strategic points, at least.

There’s no divorcing Storybook from the generous and inviting park that surrounds it. As Springbank Park goes, so goes Storybook. Londoners should seize opportunities to have their say about both.

Larry Cornies is a London-based journalist.

cornies@gmail.com

Article content