Almost two years in the making, the public will have their first chance to explore the $50 million Meridian Centre in just a few days!

Construction began on the downtown site in December of 2012. Many will remember the booming sound of 355 steel piles, that weighed more than 850 tonnes, being hammered into the foundation. Now, in Fall 2014, this state-of-the-art facility is ready to open its doors and show off all of the hard work.

Doors will open on October 11 at 10 am, with the ribbon cutting ceremony starting at 10:30. Attendees are asked to enter using the Rankin Gate and to  bring a non-perishable food donation for Community Care of St. Catharines and Thorold. There will be free parking available in the Ontario Street and Carlisle Street garages, with accessible parking available in the Meridian Centre parking lot. There will also be a second set of tours on October 14 from 4 – 8 pm.

The rest of October will be an exciting time for the Meridian Centre as the Niagara IceDogs will be playing their first game there on October 16 at 7 pm. You can purchase tickets online here. They will also be hosting their inaugural concert featuring St. Catharines’ own Dallas Green of City and Colour on October 21. You can buy tickets for the concert here.

There will be a capacity of 6,000 for concerts and 4,500 for hockey games. The centre will be able to accommodate concerts, conventions, professional wrestling, family shows and more. There are also two pedestrian bridges located between James and Queen Street and also at William Street. Both bridges combined are worth an astounding $2 million and were donated by Tom Rankin of Ball-Rankin Construction.

Make sure to take a look at all of the awesome photos on the Meridian Centre’s Facebook page!