Woodbine Beach is the largest of the four

beach A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc s ...

es in the Beaches in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

. Located along

Lake Shore Boulevard Lake Shore Boulevard (often incorrectly compounded as Lakeshore Boulevard) is a major arterial road running along more than half of the Lake Ontario waterfront in the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Prior to 1998, two segments of Lake Shore ...

at the foot of Woodbine Avenue, it is next to

Ashbridge's Bay Ashbridges Bay is a bay and park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located along Lake Shore Boulevard next to Woodbine Beach in the Beaches. The Martin Goodman Trail and boardwalk run through the park along the bay. The boardwalk runs from Ash ...

and Kew-Balmy Beach. Woodbine beach is the westernmost beach in the Beaches, and the series of beaches extend east until the

RC Harris Water Treatment Plant The R. C. Harris Water Treatment Plant in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, is both a crucial piece of infrastructure and an architecturally acclaimed historic building named after the longtime commissioner of Toronto's public works Roland Caldwell Harr ...

.Toronto beach profiles: Woodbine
Blog TO, 2012 The beach runs parallel to the boardwalk and the Martin Goodman Trail, and is part of Woodbine Beach Park.

History

The area around Woodbine Beach was once a cottage community in a similar style to the communities on the

Toronto Island The Toronto Islands are a chain of 15 small islands in Lake Ontario, south of mainland Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Comprising the only group of islands in the western part of Lake Ontario, the Toronto Islands are located just offshore from the ...

, today it is a popular beach. Until

was extended to Woodbine Avenue in the 1950s, Woodbine Beach was not a bathing beach, but rather a wooded area known as 'The Cut'. Woodbine Beach and neighbouring Ashbridge's Bay are a popular place to visit to see the fireworks for

Victoria Day Victoria Day (french: Fête de la Reine, lit=Celebration of the Queen) is a federal Canadian public holiday celebrated on the last Monday preceding May 25. Initially in honour of Queen Victoria's birthday, it has since been celebrated as the off ...

. There are over 90 volleyball courts, and various outdoor leisure activity rentals, such as bicycles, canoes, kayaks, and standup paddle boards. Next to the beach is the Donald D. Summerville Outdoor Olympic Pool, an outdoor elevated

Olympic-sized swimming pool An Olympic-size swimming pool conforms to regulated dimensions that are large enough for international competition. This type of swimming pool is used in the Olympic Games, where the race course is in length, typically referred to as "long cour ...

, overlooking the beach. Construction for the pool started in 1961, and it was designed to add temporary scaffolding for the spectator seats in the event Toronto was to ever host the

Olympics The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a vari ...

. The Martin Goodman Trail runs along the boardwalk.

Maintenance and water quality

Woodbine Beach and Kew-Balmy Beach are Blue Flag certified for cleanliness and are suitable for swimming,Toronto's Blue Flag Beaches
Retrieved 2010 July 19 with this distinction being awarded to Woodbine since 2005. The beach is maintained by

Toronto Parks, Forestry and Recreation Toronto Parks, Forestry & Recreation (PFR) is the division of Toronto's municipal government responsible for maintaining the municipal park system and natural spaces, regulation of and provision of urban forestry services, and the delivery of re ...

. Since 1990, the quality of the water and sand has improved dramatically. The water quality at the beach is tested daily, and is clean to swim on most days, including after storms.Toronto’s crown jewel needs polishing
Toronto Star, 2010, Francine Kopun In addition, the sand is machine groomed daily. Besides, the terrain is gentle to far offshore, and there is not much seaweed, which is ideal for swimming. However, water temperature can be highly unpredictable. While warm water around 20C can often be experienced from July to early September, occasionally water temperature can drop to the lower teens

celsius The degree Celsius is the unit of temperature on the Celsius scale (originally known as the centigrade scale outside Sweden), one of two temperature scales used in the International System of Units (SI), the other being the Kelvin scale. The d ...

for days, due to upward swirl of chilly deep-lake water known as

upwelling Upwelling is an physical oceanography, oceanographic phenomenon that involves wind-driven motion of dense, cooler, and usually nutrient-rich water from deep water towards the ocean surface. It replaces the warmer and usually nutrient-depleted ...

, which is driven by strong westerly wind (thus unrelated to air temperature).Upwelling and downwelling
Toronto and Region Conservation Authority

References

{{Parks and squares in Toronto Beaches of Toronto