Earl Bales Park, Public park in North York, Toronto, Canada
Earl Bales Park is a 51-hectare (130-acre) public park in North York, Toronto, named after Robert Earl Bales, reeve of North York Township from 1934 to 1940. The West Don River runs through it, and the grounds hold forested trails, a 3.2-hectare stormwater pond, the North York Ski Centre on slopes formed by the Don River valley edge, the Barry Zukerman Amphitheatre, a community centre and the Canadian Society for Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial.
The land was originally a family farm and became the York Downs Golf and Country Club in 1922. It later opened to the public in 1975 and has since become an important recreational space for the community.
Raoul Wallenberg Road, the park's only named road, links Bathurst Street to the Earl Bales Community Centre parking lot and honours the Swedish diplomat who saved Jews in Budapest. The Canadian Society for Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Site stands in the park, and the Spirit of Bravery statue is also on the grounds.
Raoul Wallenberg Road links Bathurst Street to the parking lot at the Earl Bales Community Centre, and an unnamed road continues from it to the ski hill parking lots. Forest trails run through the park, and the West Don River crosses it. The ski centre sits near Bathurst Street and Sheppard Avenue.
The ski hill is a natural formation at the edge of the Don River, served by one quad chair and a rope tow over three intermediate slopes and one beginner slope. After Centennial Park closed in 2022, it remained the only alpine skiing centre within Toronto's boundaries. A retired double chair still stands unused after repeated failures in 2011 and 2012.
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