I live in Ontario, Canada. In 1967, when I was 10, Canada celebrated it’s 100th birthday. It was a huge year-long celebration that included a huge national exhibition in Montreal called Expo ’67. Each province had a pavilion there and had their own song. Our song was called “Ontari-ari-ario”. I’m not sure if that was the official name but that part was repeated several times throughout the song. I know, because I’m sure my class sang it a thousand times that year. 

I just read an article in the newspaper about the re-structuring and expansion of one of my favourite places, Ontario Place. It was a fun park at the foot of Toronto, on the shores of Lake Ontario. It looked very futuristic because it had a huge globe called the cinesphere that housed a circular theatre where they showed documentaries on Canada. They duct taped a camera onto a helicopter to film parts of the show and I remember getting queasy watching us soar over Northern Canada, the film was so realistic. As a young adult, the attraction was the Forum, where they had live bands. The outdoor patios were a a drawing card too. There was a water park, bumper boats and a huge children’s play area with really cool things for kids to do like a kids’ version of zip-lining, many rope structures and swinging bridges to cross. 

Over the years, declining visitors caused it to close down but there are new plans for a bigger, more natural park to open next year. They’ve built a forest and have added more greenspace. They had replaced the Forum with a bigger concert venue called the Ampitheatre a few years ago, so I’m sure the concerts will resume. You can read all about the history and plans here. I can’t wait to see the new and improved Ontario Place.
🎶”A place to stand, A place to grow, Ontari-ari-arioooooooo”🎶