The village almost came out its “pink balls”

Was an era, not so distant, when the gay village of Montreal was the place of all the festivities.

It was not quite a golden age: the neighborhood has always been rock and rolleven in his best years. I would rather speak of a “pink age”, in the same colors as the famous plastic garlands created by the landscape architect Claude Cormier.

Was after summer, from 2011 to 2019, its “pink balls” zigzagged 5.5 meters above rue Sainte-Catherine Est, over more than a kilometer. This artificial canopy, which has become multicolored along the way, turned the village to the almost magical place every time.

The residents of the sector were proud of it, the merchants loved it, and the visitors asked again.

It’s simple: Cormier’s work had become a business card from the metropolis, in the same way as the Olympic stadium or Mont Royal.

What was to be the case of a single summer will have lasted nine. The balls gave real momentum to the neighborhood. Then they were removed in 2019 at the request of the artist.

The Village Commercial Development Company (SDC) has tried to replace them with another such significant, without success. The rest is not cheerful: the pandemic struck, the problems of drug addiction and roaming have exacerbated, with the result that we can see today.

A district between two waters, undermined by insecurity.

Several sources confirmed it to me: the pink balls could have returned.

Discussions took place between the City of Montreal and CCXA, the landscape architecture firm founded by Claude Cormier, who died in 2023.

But the talks have never succeeded.

The news on this file has filtered out in recent weeks. Almost a state secret. Depending on what I understand, the city was biting a permanent, not seasonal installation. The “balls” could have hindered the growth of the trees that will soon be planted, I am also told.

The administration of Valérie Plante turned to another company, Civiliti, to create new animation in the sector. The concept chosen is “inspired” from Cormier’s work, while offering “something different”, to quote the mayor.

It will be a “light ceiling”, made up of around 30,000 bulbs. It will remain suspended all year round between rue Berri and avenue Papineau, which cover most of the village. The extinguished globes will produce a “mirror” effect during the day, and they will change color at night.

I find it difficult to forge an opinion from the very preliminary images broadcast on Friday.

I perceive an obvious tribute to Cormier’s work, while sharing the fears of certain architects to whom I spoke, who fear a “Las Vegas effect”. I also question myself on the consumption of electricity of this patent and the risks of visual pollution for those who live on rue Sainte-Catherine.

You will have to see when it is all installed-it is not for tomorrow or the day after tomorrow.

But this is only one of the changes to come in the village. Almost a detail, compared to the big announcement of the day: rue Sainte-Catherine is becoming pedestrian year-round, for about a kilometer, we learned on Friday¹.

The city must renovate all the dilapidated underground infrastructure of the artery, and it will take advantage of it to transform the experience at the street level. In addition to pedestrianization, 225 trees will be planted, 125 seats will be created and 250 parking lots will be withdrawn.

The floor will not be paid, but covered with terrazzo slabs. Very pretty, but that worries me about the repairs to come, as soon as there is a need to open the street to do road works.

Will the artery resemble a short-sized shortfare five years after the end of the work as we saw in some similar cases? Will there be additional costs?

And will the animation promise all year round in the street materialize? It will be essential, to prevent the Sainte-Cath ‘to turn into an icy desert-or into an open refuge-during the cold season.

Mayor Plante was eager to make this announcement, she did not hide it. The local merchants, even more.

They did not claim a complete pedestrianization, but they wanted something to happen, finally.

To summarize their words: almost anything would be better than Sainte-Catherine is in its current state.

There were many Friday at the city’s press conference and they all rejoiced at this project, which is expected to get away from 2026 to 2030 at the cost of $ 200 million. ShouldI repeat.

Valérie Plante says that her administration has “learned” from her mistakes made with the western portion of Sainte-Catherine. She had imposed the permanent pedestrianization of two large crossroads, without really consulting the 5,000 local merchants.

They have shouted in scandal – with reason – and a form of dialogue seems to have spilled from this fiasco, in the last months ².

In the case of the village, the mayor spoke of a large “consensus” obtained thanks to the numerous consultations made for three years. There was one, it is true, like this online survey and this door-to-door with 450 residents. Respondents were mainly favorable to annual pedestrianization.

We can doubt the method, and the word consensus is strong. But at least it is far from being unilateral as in the case of Sainte-Catherine Ouest.

Traders appreciate the compromises found thanks to the discussions. For example: delivery will remain permitted every morning on pedestrian street, which is essential to supply the many bars and restaurants.

The village is currently experiencing its best summer for years. Customers respond present, even if distress remains visible everywhere, as illustrated by some disorganized “crieux” during the plant’s speech.

There is the real hope of an economic renewal, with the planned construction of thousands of new housing in the neighborhood.

Whatever the color of the balls suspended above rue Sainte-Catherine-and that of the party which will run Montreal next fall-, the revival of the village will be intrinsically linked to that of the whole metropolis.

1. Read the article “rue Saint-Catherine is becoming pedestrian year-round”

2. Read the “Trusted Break” column between the plant administration and the traders ”