Rush close the $1 million Neil Peart memorial fund in St. Catharines
Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson handed over $785,000 from Rush's Fifty Something tour VIP packages on August 13, 2026, completing a $1,000,000 campaign for a Neil Peart memorial at Lakeside Park in St. Catharines, Ontario. Sabian is melting some of Peart's retired cymbals into the bronze, and the memorial is expected to open in late 2027.
By Riffiter
The fund for a Neil Peart memorial at Lakeside Park in St. Catharines, Ontario, is closed at $1,000,000. Rush's Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson handed the Neil Peart Commemorative Task Force a final $785,000 on August 13, 2026, after the last of four Toronto shows at Scotiabank Arena. The city announced the finished campaign on September 24. The memorial is expected to open in late 2027.
Where the money came from
The $785,000 came from VIP-package proceeds on Fifty Something, Rush's first tour in 11 years and the first without Peart, with Anika Nilles on drums. An earlier, smaller contribution came from Lee's 2023 book tour. The campaign itself opened on September 12, 2024, at the park, on what would have been Peart's 72nd birthday.
"Neil was an extraordinary lyricist and Canadian poet, and his connection to St. Catharines remains deeply significant," said Meg Symsyk, who chairs the task force. The announcement carried no quote from Lee or Lifeson.
His cymbals, in the bronze
The sculptor is Morgan MacDonald of the Newfoundland Bronze Foundry, picked by the task force in November 2022. Sabian is donating some of his damaged and retired cymbals to be melted down into the bronze. The design shown in 2022 had two figures of Peart at different ages; nobody has confirmed since whether that is the final form.
The park in the song
Peart grew up in St. Catharines. As a teenager he spent two summers working the midway at Lakeside Park in Port Dalhousie. "When I was 14 and 15, I worked summers at Lakeside Park as a barker," he said. He ran the Bubble Game ("catch a bubble, prize every time") until he got fired.
The job turned into a song. "Lakeside Park" is on Caress of Steel, Rush's third album, released in 1975.
What is there now
After Peart died of glioblastoma on January 7, 2020, aged 67, the park's pavilion was renamed the Neil Peart Pavilion that June. Fans left their own marker too: a round metal plaque reading "RIP NEIL" over crossed drumsticks, screwed to a tree in the park.
Commemorative panels for the site are on sale until the campaign's official close on October 15.
The news landed in the same weeks as "Neil Peart: No One's Disciple", a documentary by Sam Dunn and Scot McFadyen. It premiered at TIFF on September 16, with Lee, Lifeson and Nilles on the red carpet.