Barrie, Canada

Barrie, on Lake Simcoe, Ontario, Canada

Barrie, Ontario (2003 population 121,248, metropolitan population 168,492) is located on Kempenfelt Bay, an arm of Lake Simcoe in south-central Ontario, Canada. (Latitude: 44.3905, longitude: -79.6857) It is the county seat of Simcoe County.

The city was named in 1832 after Sir Robert Barrie, who was in charge of the naval forces in Canada and frequently had to portage from Lake Simcoe to Georgian Bay through the city.

The city's north and south ends are separated by a deep valley which contains the downtown area as well as Kempenfelt Bay.

Different neighbourhoods in Barrie include Letitia Heights, Painswick, Allandale, and Holly.

Barrie's waterfront is at the heart of its tourism industry, with events like the Kempenfest arts and crafts festival attracting more than 300,000 people. Sports and recreational activities, like skiing, baseball, hockey and boating attract people to Barrie in all four seasons of the year.

Barrie is home to the main campus of Georgian College,with 3,500 full-time and 10,000 part-time students. As a result, many of the bars and clubs in downtown Barrie are filled with students during the school year.

Barrie is also home to the Maclaren Art Centre, a small but important art gallery that supports the visual arts in Simcoe County. It inspired the "Art City" project, which has had many different large sculptures installed around the city. These can be found in parks and along the senic waterfront.

Several manufacturers are currently located in Barrie and Canadian Forces Base Borden is nearby. In recent years Barrie has become a popular place to live for people who commute to Toronto, which is approximately 100km south of Barrie, or (more often) to the northern suburbs of Toronto in York Region.

During World War II the Royal Canadian Navy named a Flower class corvette HMCS Barrie.

On 27 September 1977, in dense fog, a small plane hit the 300 meter tall CKVR tower, knocking CHAY FM and CKVR-TV off the air. All on the aircraft were killed, and the tower was destroyed. A new tower was erected and was operational within a year.

On May 31, 1985, an F4 tornado struck Barrie, demolishing many buildings and strewing debris all over the city. 8 people were killed by the tornado in Barrie.

On 12 June - 13 June 1987, a sculpture called Spirit Catcher by Ron Baird was moved to Barrie from Vancouver, British Columbia, where it had been exhibited as part of Expo '86. The sculpture was erected at the base of Maple Av, and still stands.

In January of 2004, Barrie made international news when its city police raided the former Molson Breweries site and found Canada's largest illegal marijuana grow operation.

Barrie's Park Place (formerly Molson Park) was chosen to host Live 8 Canada on July 2, 2005.

Demographics

The 2001 census agglomeration found that Barrie has 103,710 residents. The city grows at an average 5% a year as it attracts people from all over Ontario. It is currently one of Canada's fastest growing cities.

Racial Structure

• 94.6% White
• 1.3% Aboriginal
• 1.0% Black
• 0.8% Asian

Religious Groups

• 47.0% Protestant
• 27.9% Roman Catholic
• 3.4% other Christian
• 0.32% Jewish
• 0.3% Muslim
• 21.08% other, non-professing