Montebello Park

drip

Enjoy this beautiful green space nestled downtown, perfect for a picnic, a game of catch or to enjoy the summer breeze or fall colours.

Named Monte Bello – meaning beautiful mountain – this park sits on land once owned by the Merritt family. Purchased by the city in 1887, Montebello Park became the first city park in the community.

The City of St. Catharines hired renowned landscape architect Frederick Law Olmstead (of New York City’s Central Park) to create the design for this 6.5 acre park in the heart of the downtown.

 

The park pavilion was built over the foundation of a former and unfinished Merritt home in 1888 and a bandstand was built in 1905. The famous rose garden was added in 1913 and is the city’s largest rose collection.

Each year the region celebrates the fall harvest with Canada’s oldest and largest wine festival, the Niagara Grape and Wine Festival, with Montebello Park playing host to 50,000 guests enjoying local wine, food and entertainment.