City of Brantford Council unanimously supported bringing back “Toonie Tuesday” public swims during their Committee of the Whole – Operations meeting on Tuesday, April 7, 2026.
The resolution, brought forward by Councillor Dan McCreary, instructed staff to re-implement Toonie Tuesday at both the Wayne Gretzky Sports Centre and the Woodman Park Pool.
The resolution stated that prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Toonie Tuesdays were a long-standing City program that made public swimming more affordable and accessible for everyone in the community for more than 20 years.
It also instructed staff to investigate and implement sponsorship opportunities with local businesses to provide free swimming at Woodman Pool on Friday evenings as part of youth and kids programming.
“We’re looking at this as an opportunity to encourage healthy exercise and get kids off their devices,” said Kimberley Wyskiel, Brantford’s Director of Parks and Recreation. “Currently, we haven’t had a lot of uptake, especially at Woodman Pool, so we’re trying to encourage people to come out and try it for a toonie. [In the past] the youth were really good at coming in and handing in a toonie, but now that the price was raised, the uptake just isn’t there.”
McCreary, said the program will help people get more exercise, will utilize the City’s swimming facilities, and will provide affordable recreation for both children and adults, encouraging his fellow councillors to support the item.
Councillor Richard Carpenter said that he would be voting in favour of the resolution and that Woodman Pool is “just a wonderful facility to have in the community, so I’m happy to support this.”
Councillor Mandy Samwell stated that she was also very pleased to see the item come forward.
“It’s going to mean a lot to the families in our community,” she said. “I’m looking forward to seeing what staff come up with to make sure that there’s free youth swimming [on Friday evenings] as well, because that’s going to add some improved access, and improve health and wellbeing so I’m really excited about that.”
Both Councillors Rose Sicoli and Gino Caputo also shared similar sentiments.
“I think this is a great initiative and it’s great to bring back something that was very successful in the past,” said Caputo. “I’m also excited to see the results that’s going to come from a sponsorship program. …I think it’s a huge opportunity that we have going forward.”
The City, with assistance from the federal and provincial governments, spent a large amount of money renovating Woodman Pool, Mayor Kevin Davis said the number of people visiting the facility hasn’t been as high since the pandemic.
“So hopefully this will get people, families and kids, in the summer, especially during those heat waves, into the habit of going to Woodman Pool and enjoying what we have there, and what’s been done to really make that a fantastic swim facility,” said Davis.
Before the vote, McCreary added that reinstating Toonie Tuesday is an example of the City working towards better optimizing two of its facilities.
“This is a really good step to try and increase that optimization, to try and get more people through the doors and bring in a little extra revenue, but also, a lot more recreation for community members,” he said.
The vote to support the resolution was then carried unanimously, and the item will return to Council for final approval on Tuesday, April 28.
Kimberly De Jong’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.The funding allows her to report rural and agricultural stories from Blandford-Blenheim and Brant County. Reach her at kimberly.dejong@brantbeacon.ca.
