Following the unexpected announcement of La Ronde’s sale, Héritage Montréal notes the opportunity this represents to provide this emblematic site with the long-awaited investments needed to ensure its preservation, accessibility and adaptive reuse. We therefore expect the new owner to make clear commitments and demonstrate a genuine willingness to collaborate in order to ensure La Ronde’s proper enhancement, and we hope to meet with them as soon as possible on this matter.
For the metropolis, La Ronde is more than a simple amusement park managed remotely and in isolation. A major legacy of Expo 67, it forms part of Île Sainte-Hélène, part of which has been designated a heritage site by the Ville de Montréal, as well as of Parc Jean-Drapeau. Created in 1874, the park is governed by a 2020–2030 master plan for conservation, planning and development resulting from extensive public consultations. These heritage and planning concerns also apply to La Ronde.
For lack of a genuine overall vision since its controversial transfer by the City to Six Flags 25 years ago, several significant components of La Ronde have been lost, altered or neglected. This is true of La Pitoune and La Spirale, as well as the poor condition of the Garden of Stars and other installations dating back to Expo 67. Héritage Montréal had already raised the alarm over the fate of the carousel Le Galopant; created in Belgium in 1885 and brought to Montreal for Expo 67 after a stay in New York, Le Galopant is one of the oldest carousels in the world, yet its future, despite major restoration work carried out by Six Flags following our warning, remains uncertain.
This change in ownership should be an opportunity to better recognize La Ronde’s heritage value, protect its significant features, and guide its future within a vision consistent with the broader Parc Jean-Drapeau site.