New numbers show a sharp drop in visitors to Streetcar No. 351 in the 2026 season compared to its opening year in 2025. According to the City of Windsor’s Culture Department, the historic attraction on Windsor’s waterfront saw 9,746 visitors between May 1 to Oct. 31, compared to 27,000 visitors last year. “It seems like once people have seen it, they’ve seen it,” said Darren Myron, a longtime downtown Windsor resident who frequents the riverfront weekly. “It’s a great place to come down to. You can walk, take a bike, the artwork, just the Detroit skyline itself is nice to see itself.” Sitting in his vehicle parked next to the $10.3 million Michael D. Hurst Legacy Park at the foot of Caron Avenue, where the streetcar is located inside, Myron admits he’s never gone inside to visit the 50-foot-long, 24,000-pound historic streetcar that was built in 1918 in Cincinnati, Ohio, and later purchased by the Sandwich, Windsor, and Amherstburg Railway. “It’s not just about walking in to take a tour of thre streetcar. I think that it’s unfair to look at that number and judge it by that,” said Renaldo Agostino, Ward 3 Windsor city councillor. “It’s a destination point on our riverfront. I was there for an event this summer with the city, where there were thousands and thousands of people there.” In addition to the streetcar building, the area features a 10,000-square-foot patio with full food and bar service and washrooms. “You’re always going to have an initial success when you open up a new attraction. But now you have to add additional things and I’m sure that’s what’s going to happen in the future,” he added. “It’s about the space. It’s about the people that go down there. It’s about the riverfront. It’s about adding additional amenities.”
