Barrie Information: Tickets, Venues, Events and More

The city of ‘Barrie’ is the 35th largest municipality in Canada. Located on the Lake Simcoe, also known as Kempenfelt Bay, this city is situated in the central portion of Southern Ontario. This municipality remains politically separate even though it is a part of the Simcoe County.

The deep valley along the Kempenfelt Bay separates its northern and southern ends. Both highways 11 and 400 interchanges at the northern end of Barrie that is a gateway to northern Ontario resort destination. This city is home to an excellent art gallery, the MacLaren Art Centre that propagates visual arts in Simcoe County and motivates the ‘Art City’ project of Barrie.

This city was once a small group of houses plus warehouses at the foot of the Nine Mile Portage from Kempenfeldt Bay to Fort Willow at its inception. It was named after Sir Robert Barrie in 1833. It had its first underground railroad in 1800. The railroad became a boon for many American slaves to come to Barrie. A F4 tornado struck Barrie on May 31, 1985 during the Barrie Tornado Outbreak. It was in news in 2004 when former Molson brewery was raided by the police that found the largest illegal cannabis operating in Canada.

The Park Place of Barrie was the venue of the Live 8 Canada on July 2, 2005. This concert was a mega success that contributed in converting the concert area into a commercial district. The stage, buildings and trees on the site were destroyed since the construction of Park Place commercial district.

Located in the central portion of Southern Ontario and accessible via Highways 90, 400, 27, 11, 401, the Highway 407 Express Toll Route and the neighbouring Toronto, Barrie has the Pearson International Airport in Toronto, which is an hour’s drive. With its 128,430 inhabitants, Barrie and surrounding area has 177,061 residents. This city attracts people from Ontario. It is the fastest growing Census Metropolitan area and growing city of Canada.