The Burlington Downtown Business Association is celebrating 40 years of memories!

From November 15 – December 15th, 2020 we invited all residents and business owners to join us for a walk down memory lane for a chance to make even more memories with one of 3 grand-prize overnight visits to our beautiful downtown core. View full contest here.

Stephen’s Memory

On Saturday May 2, 1992, my life eternally changed (for the better) when I would come to meet my future bride!  As she lived in Burlington, and I in Hamilton, we quickly assessed our dating options, and chose Burlington’s downtown core for its beauty, variety, and undeniable charm.

There are so many other life events to consider: the enchanting walks we took along the lakeside while courting, finishing in third place in my first Ugly Christmas Sweater Stroll, the birth of our children, their Christenings / First Communions at St. Mary’s Church on Pearl, with large family parties that followed at Paradiso’s or Water Street Cooker.  With over 28 years of memories to choose from I will single out our wedding which occurred at the same church.

On an absolutely wonderful and warm Saturday afternoon in the summer of 1999, we exchanged our vows and pledged our forevers.  Our wedding drew many first-time visitors to Burlington, and more specifically to our church, and all I could hear after the obvious compliments of my bride and the beautiful service was how stunning the church is, how charming the downtown core is, and then “and look at all of this available parking!”

We celebrated our first kiss, and then went to the beautiful Spencer Smith Park for bridal party photos.  Those photos are quite picturesque, capturing our waterfront, the gazebo, and hold special meaning to us to this day.   Only very recently would I come to appreciate this would be the last time I would be photographed together with my father only.   Shortly after our marriage we were blessed with our first born, and all of my focus would be to capture photos of her with my parents, all the while re-envisioning my youth.

I cannot imagine living in a different city, and our downtown core (with its retail diversity, services companies, concerts and events, culinary choices…), is what propels #BurlOn to be repeatedly recognized as Canada’s #1 sized mid-city in which to live!