Saint John Was Always Worth Believing In
As TUCK proudly celebrates its first year of being a Gold Sponsor of AREA 506, I've been reflecting on why this festival means, and has meant, so much to us. It's about far more than the music. It’s an expression of support for everything that's happened along our waterfront over the past few decades and everything that's still to come.
So this isn’t simply about AREA 506. It's a story about Saint John, and why we've always believed in it.
Pictured above: Area 506, photographed by Dan Culberson.
I remember pushing my son's stroller and going to sit in Pugsley Park across from Water Street, right next to the harbour, in 1990. The aspirationally-named Pugsley Park consisted of maybe two or three benches (rotting wood if memory serves correctly) and a garbage can or two. Apart from that, there were large industrial freight sheds, parking lots, chain link fences, and countless restricted areas where you simply couldn't go.
Between Pugsley Park and Market Square (which was BOOMING at the time!) sat the Coast Guard compound, a cluster of low-rise brick and concrete buildings, more security fencing, and again, very little public access to the water.
Cruise tourism hadn't arrived. The Marco Polo Cruise Terminal didn't exist. Harbour Passage wasn't even in the ether. Fort La Tour was little more than a place name. If you wanted access to the waterfront, Market Square was pretty much your only option.
And yet, I absolutely LOVED Uptown Saint John.
We spent our summers at Festival by the Sea. We drank our faces off at Waterworks listening to live, big-hair bands. Along with so many others in Saint John's incredible arts community, we took full advantage of those old industrial sheds to put on art shows, exhibitions, performances, and festivals. We worked with what we had.
Looking back now, I think that's what Saint John has always done best. We've never waited for perfect. We just rolled up our sleeves and tried to make something beautiful.
Then, almost imperceptibly, the city began to change. Not because of one person or one project in particular, but because a generation of enthusiasts and entrepreneurs looked at Saint John and saw possibility where others saw only obstacles.
Every city has people who quietly change its direction. In my opinion, for Saint John, John Wallace was one of those people. His desire to reconnect the city to its harbour helped lay the groundwork for Harbour Passage and the now abundantly-accessible waterfront that so many of us now take for granted.
Somewhere along the way, the cruise ships arrived. Then came the Marco Polo Cruise Terminal. Suddenly there were people walking Water Street. At first, they were mostly visitors from other cities, but they reminded us what our waterfront could become.
The Coast Guard buildings eventually came down. The fences disappeared. Slowly but surely, the harbour stopped being something we looked at through barriers and became something we could finally experience.
At the same time, under Mayor Mel Norton's leadership, the idea of Saint John's Renaissance gathered real momentum. Confidence slowly returned. Investment followed. More and more people began choosing Saint John, not because they had to, but because they genuinely wanted to be here.
Then came another generation of dreamers.
Ray Gracewood, together with the Port of Saint John and an incredible network of partners, helped us imagine our waterfront in an entirely different way. AREA 506 wasn't simply a music festival. It transformed how we experienced the harbour. Boxcar, the Container Village, and the Gathering Place proved that empty lots and oh-so-appropriate shipping containers could become places filled with music, food, art, conversation, and community. They reminded us that a working port and a vibrant public waterfront could exist side by side.
But governments and public projects only tell part of the story. The real magic happened because entrepreneurs were willing to bet on Water Street long before success was guaranteed.
People like Ingrid Woodhouse, whose Bunkhaus hostel opened in 2018. Looking back, I honestly think if Bunkhaus opened today it would be full! Maybe the timing wasn't quite right, but the vision absolutely was. She saw a younger, more adventurous Saint John before many of the rest of us did and helped push the conversation forward.
Jennifer Irving lovingly restored one of Water Street's beautiful heritage buildings, creating a home for Paris Crew and later The Sewist. Another example of someone investing in history instead of walking away from it. The talented team at Brackish carefully restored another historic building, proving once again that our heritage buildings aren't liabilities. They are our greatest assets.
Steamers deserves enormous credit as well. Opening in 2017, they took a chance on what many people still considered the outskirts of Uptown. That took courage. Today it's almost impossible to imagine Water Street without it.
And now we look ahead to the opening of Mars Hotel Cocktail Lounge. Another beautiful restoration. Another bold investment. Another group of people choosing to believe in Uptown Saint John.
Today there is virtually nothing available to rent or lease on Water Street. Think about that for a second: the very street that once felt forgotten is now arguably the busiest street Uptown. Its patios are packed. Its sidewalks are full. Its heritage buildings are alive again.
And we're still not finished.
Fundy Quay feels like both the culmination of decades of dreaming and the beginning of a new one. It isn't simply another development. It represents generations of people refusing to give up on the idea that Saint John deserved a waterfront worthy of one of the world's great natural harbours. It reconnects our city with the water in ways that many of us could scarcely have imagined thirty or forty years ago.
When I look around today, I don't just see beautiful buildings. I see thousands of decisions made by people who believed: artists, business owners, architects, volunteers, developers, community leaders, restaurant owners, festival organizers, people who restored one building, opened one business, hosted one event, said ‘yes’ to big impossible ideas. So many believers, impossible to name them all.
Cities aren't transformed by one grand gesture. They're transformed by thousands of people quietly deciding that their home, their city, is worth investing in.
Sometimes we're so busy talking about what Saint John still needs that we forget to stop and appreciate how incredibly far we've already come.
I've had the privilege of watching that journey unfold for decades, and what fills me with optimism isn't the buildings, the trails, the festivals, or the developments. Rather, it’s the people.
And if nothing else, these last forty years have vividly demonstrated one thing to me at least: Saint John will always reward the faith its citizens place in it.
This is our “why” TUCK so passionately sponsors AREA 506. To every sponsor, volunteer, organizer, and partner who continues to believe in this festival and in our city, thank you. Ray, you remain my hero.
- Judith
