Centennial Park

Centennial Park — 213 hectares built for a country’s hundredth birthday, and rebuilt for its next century

Etobicoke’s Centennial Park was a dairy farm until the Borough opened it in 1967 as its gift to Canada’s centennial year. What it became is the closest thing Toronto has to a full-scale outdoor sports campus: 213 hectares, roughly 1.5 million visits a year, an Olympic-legacy pool building, a stadium, two indoor ice pads, a BMX track built for the Pan American Games, a free tropical conservatory and a golf course, all inside one boundary. And it is not finished. More than 75 million dollars of City-approved capital is going into the park through 2028, and the first two large pieces opened on 29 May 2026 — one of them a pitch that FIFA rated five stars and used as Toronto’s official training site for the 2026 World Cup.

Highlights

• Centennial Park Conservatory — designed and built in 1969 and formally opened by Etobicoke’s Mayor Horton on 21 March 1970. Three linked greenhouses covering about 12,000 square feet hold more than 200 kinds of plants: a tropical house, an arid house of cacti and succulents, and a show house whose display changes with the season. Admission is free and it opens daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
• The new sports hubs — opened 29 May 2026. The West Sports Hub added four baseball diamonds, eight beach volleyball courts and twelve pickleball courts; the East Sports Hub added three soccer pitches, a multi-use field, a premium training field and a fieldhouse with change rooms, plus year-round washrooms and upgraded pathways.
• The FIFA World Cup training pitch — the regulation pitch in the East Sports Hub served as Toronto’s official venue-specific training site for the 2026 tournament and was one of only five locations to earn a five-star rating across all World Cup 2026 venues. FIFA held operational control through the tournament, after which the facilities pass to the City for public use.
• Pan Am BMX Centre — the legacy track from the 2015 Pan American Games, free and open to the public from dawn to dusk between May and November, weather permitting, with four straightaways, three banked turns and ramps up to eight metres.
• Etobicoke Olympium and Rob Ford Stadium — the Olympium, built in 1975, holds two pools and a gymnasium; the 3,500-seat stadium, formerly Centennial Park Stadium, has an eight-lane track and hosts athletics, soccer and kabaddi.
• The 23-basket disc golf course — free to play, one of the largest public courses in the city, and a reminder that not everything here needs a booking.

What you’ll find

The park is big enough that most visitors only ever use one corner of it. A perimeter pathway roughly 3.2 kilometres long ties the pieces together, and the recent works added lighting, washrooms and connections that make walking between them practical rather than theoretical.

• Centennial Park Arena — two indoor ice pads running the hockey and skating season, plus the Olympium’s pools and gym on the park’s northern side.
• Golf — a golf course occupying about 120 acres of the park, with a driving range and mini-golf alongside it, all within the same grounds as the sports fields.
• Elmcrest Creek — naturalized as part of the current works, with 80,000 trees and shrubs planted along it, turning a piece of managed drainage back into habitat.
• The switchback trail — a graded path climbing the park’s high ground, incorporating Indigenous placemaking, and the best short walk in the park for anyone who wants elevation without a hike.
• Fitness and picnics — 18 outdoor fitness stations along the pathways, and eight picnic areas bookable from May to September for larger groups.
• What is coming — a cricket pitch, an enhanced playground and splash pad opening in the autumn of 2026, and a skate trail with an updated chalet as the master plan runs through 2028.

Things to do — and who it’s for

• Organized sport, at almost any level — between the diamonds, pitches, courts, track and stadium, this is where a large share of west-end league play actually happens; bookings go through the City permit system.
• Casual players who did not plan ahead — disc golf, BMX, pickleball, beach volleyball and the pathways are drop-in by nature, which is unusual for a facility of this scale.
• Families — the conservatory is free, warm and takes twenty minutes; the Olympium’s pools run year-round; and the new playground and splash pad arriving in the autumn of 2026 fill the gap the park has had for small children.
• Plant people and winter escapees — three greenhouses of tropical and desert collections, free, in the middle of a Toronto January, is one of the best-value hours in the city.
• Walkers and runners — the 3.2-kilometre perimeter loop plus the switchback trail gives a measured circuit with real variety, lit and surfaced after the recent upgrades.
• Cyclists and BMX riders — the Pan Am track is a genuine competition-grade facility open to the public, which is rare; helmets and sense required.

Getting there & practical

The park sits in central Etobicoke, in the Eringate–Centennial–West Deane area with Markland Wood to its south. By transit, the 48 bus connects the park’s edge with Kipling station on Line 2 Bloor–Danforth, and the 50 bus connects with Islington station on the same line; both are straightforward transfers, and the park’s size means it is worth checking which entrance is nearest to the facility you actually want. Driving is easy by Toronto standards: parking throughout the park is free, with separate lots serving the conservatory, the arena, the Olympium, the stadium and the sports hubs. Entry to the park and to the conservatory is free. Paid or scheduled items are separate and follow City of Toronto rules — swims and programs at the Olympium, ice time at the arena, golf and the driving range, field and court permits, and the bookable picnic areas from May to September. The conservatory opens daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; the BMX centre runs dawn to dusk from May to November; the grounds and pathways are open year-round. Allow an hour if you have come for the greenhouses alone, half a day if you are combining a walk, the disc golf course and a swim. Expect active construction in places: the master plan is mid-implementation, with a cricket pitch, a playground and splash pad, and a skate trail and chalet still to come between the autumn of 2026 and 2028.

When to visit

Spring reopens the outdoor half of the park: the BMX track comes back in May, the disc golf course dries out, the diamonds and pitches start their season, and the conservatory’s show house turns over to its spring display. Summer is the park at full capacity — league play across the new hubs most evenings, beach volleyball and pickleball courts in constant use, picnic areas booked out on weekends, and the greenhouses offering the only genuinely cool room on the site. Autumn is the best walking season here: the perimeter loop and the switchback trail run through mature planting, the newly naturalized creek corridor is at its most interesting, the BMX season runs to November, and the show house switches to its autumn display. Winter requires an honest note. The park’s ski and snowboard hill, built decades ago over a former landfill, no longer operates: the City announced its closure in November 2022, citing declining use following the pandemic and mechanical problems with the lifts, and Earl Bales Park is now the city’s only municipal ski centre. What winter here does offer is the two indoor ice pads at the arena, the Olympium pools, the free conservatory as a warm hour on a cold day, and — under the master plan, later in the current build-out — a skate trail with an updated chalet to replace the winter draw the hill used to provide.

Good to know

Before 1967 this was the Hirons dairy farm. The Borough of Etobicoke opened the park in Canada’s centennial year and gave it the name to match; the remainder of the farm was sold for residential development in 1968, which is why housing presses right up to the park’s edges. Parts of the site were built over a former landfill, including the hill that carried the ski runs. The conservatory came two years after the park itself: designed and constructed in 1969 and formally opened by Etobicoke’s Mayor Horton on 21 March 1970. The park’s competitive history is longer than most visitors assume — it was one of two venue sites for the 1976 Summer Paralympics, the Etobicoke Olympium opened in 1975, and in 2015 the park hosted BMX cycling for the Pan American Games, with the track kept afterward as a public legacy facility. Not everything survived: the go-kart operation closed in 2023 under the master plan, and the ski and snowboard centre closed in November 2022. The current chapter is the largest since 1967. City Council approved more than 75 million dollars in capital investment through 2028, and on 29 May 2026 the West and East Sports Hubs opened together with enhanced pathways, year-round washrooms and the naturalization of Elmcrest Creek, where 80,000 trees and shrubs were planted. The East Hub’s regulation pitch and fieldhouse were built to serve as Toronto’s official venue-specific training site for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, and the site was one of only five to be rated five stars across all World Cup 2026 venues; the arrangement returned the facilities to the City after the tournament. Mayor Olivia Chow described the ambition plainly at the opening, saying the park would become one of the largest and most significant outdoor recreation destinations in Canada. Still to come before the plan completes: a cricket pitch, an enhanced playground and splash pad in the autumn of 2026, and a skate trail with an updated chalet.

Visitor tips

• Pick your entrance before you arrive. At 213 hectares with separate free lots for the conservatory, arena, Olympium, stadium and sports hubs, parking at the wrong end can add a fifteen-minute walk you did not plan for.
• The conservatory is the park’s best bad-weather answer and it is free — three greenhouses, roughly twenty minutes to walk through properly, open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. all year.
• Do not come expecting to ski. The hill has been closed since November 2022 and there is no plan to reopen it; the winter replacement in the master plan is a skate trail, not a lift.

Questions & answers

Is there still skiing and snowboarding at Centennial Park? No. The City announced the closure of skiing and snowboarding here in November 2022, citing declining use after the pandemic and mechanical problems with the lifts. Earl Bales Park is now Toronto’s only municipal ski and snowboard centre. The master plan replaces the winter draw with a skate trail and an updated chalet.

Is the park free, and is the conservatory free? Both are free, and so is parking throughout the park. Charges apply only to programmed facilities: swims and classes at the Etobicoke Olympium, ice time at the arena, golf and the driving range, permits for fields, courts and organized events, and the bookable picnic areas between May and September.

What are the conservatory’s hours and what is inside? It opens daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Three connected greenhouses covering about 12,000 square feet hold more than 200 kinds of plants — a tropical house, an arid house of cacti and succulents, and a show house whose seasonal display changes several times a year.

How do I get there by TTC? The 48 bus links the park with Kipling station on Line 2 Bloor–Danforth, and the 50 bus links it with Islington station on the same line. Given the park’s size, check which entrance is closest to the facility you want before you set out.

What actually opened in 2026? On 29 May 2026 the City opened the West Sports Hub — four baseball diamonds, eight beach volleyball courts and twelve pickleball courts — and the East Sports Hub, with three soccer pitches, a multi-use field, a premium training field and a fieldhouse, alongside upgraded pathways, year-round washrooms and the naturalized Elmcrest Creek corridor planted with 80,000 trees and shrubs.

Was this really a World Cup site? It was a training site, not a match venue. The regulation pitch in the East Sports Hub was Toronto’s official venue-specific training facility for the 2026 FIFA World Cup and one of only five locations rated five stars across all World Cup 2026 venues. FIFA retained operational control through the tournament, after which the facilities transferred to the City for public use.

Can anyone use the BMX track? Yes. The Pan Am BMX Centre, built for the 2015 Pan American Games, is free and open to the public from dawn to dusk between May and November, weather permitting. It has four straightaways, three banked turns and ramps up to eight metres, so it rewards skill and punishes carelessness — wear a helmet.

Is there anything for small children? Yes, and there is about to be more. The Olympium’s pools run year-round, the conservatory is an easy twenty minutes indoors, and an enhanced playground and a splash pad were scheduled to open in the autumn of 2026 as part of the master plan.

How long should I allow, and is construction a problem? An hour is enough for the conservatory alone; half a day covers a perimeter walk, disc golf and a swim. The master plan is still being implemented through 2028, so expect fenced work areas and occasional path detours as the cricket pitch, playground, splash pad and skate trail are delivered.