Fate of 'The Barn' may soon be sealed

It hosted hockey games since 1925 but the last official game at 'The Barn' was played 10 years ago by the Windsor Lancers men’s team.

Since then the fate of Windsor Arena has been the source of much debate and several proposals. The discussion and wrangling may be coming to an end soon.

“We have been working diligently for quite some time on putting together a real strong solution for the Windsor Arena site,” said Mayor Drew Dilkens who hinted a future project would provide a need in the community and be reminiscent of the venerable site.

“We can't make any announcement yet but things are coming along and I hope in the relatively near future we'll have more to talk about that particular site.”

The owners of Butcher Engineering would like to get involved if possible.

“We're definitely interested. Hope the city keeps us in mind,”; said Greg Spencer.

The company is celebrating 80 years and four generations of business by giving away tickets to Friday's regular season finale between the Windsor Express and Sudbury Five at the WFCU Centre.

Butcher Engineering has ties to the barn. The founder of the business, Bill Butcher, bought Windsor Arena in 1946 and owned it for about 10 years making it the only privately owned arena in Canada at the time.

An elite basketball player, Bill Butcher is in the Windsor-Essex County Sports Hall of Fame

“Captain of the winning team, Windsor Alumni, that won in '28 -- so we'd like to celebrate all that and thought the tie in between the company and basketball was a great thing.”

Free tickets are available for Friday’s game. 

It’s a legacy the family would like to see continue. Spencer has an affinity for the restoration of historic and old buildings. He was part of a group hoping to turn Windsor Arena into a community hub but the expression of interest was turned down by the city in 2021.

Spencer says he'd like to explore the possibility of buying Windsor Arena once again or be part of an investor’s package.

“It's rich in family history. Rich in Windsor history,” he said. “We're interested in it, very much so.”