Temporary Closure of Royal Botanical Gardens due to COVID-19 Dec 26

Home Announcements Temporary Closure of Royal Botanical Gardens due to COVID-19 Dec 26
December 22, 2020

As the number of COVID-19 cases rise in Ontario, public health officials and the Province of Ontario have moved southern Ontario into Shutdown mode effective 12:01 a.m., Saturday, December 26.

In response to this direction and following the guidance of Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health and local public health services, Royal Botanical Gardens will be temporarily closed to the public as of Saturday, December 26. This includes all buildings and garden areas, including amenities, rentals, programs, and events. As per the usual holiday hours, RBG is closed December 24 at 3 p.m. and December 25.

Rock Garden is currently closed as Hamilton region moved into the Grey Zone on December 21.

The last evening of Winter Wonders at Hendrie Park will be Wednesday, December 23. The remaining scheduled dates (Dec. 27-30, Jan 2, 3) will be cancelled.

RBG visitors and program registrants that have already purchased tickets to in-person events or programs during this timeframe will receive a full refund. This includes the Winter Wonders experience. Ticket holders and program registrants will be contacted via email regarding their refund.

All pickup orders for the Greenhouse Café must be picked up by 5pm, December 23. All pickup orders for RBGs Gift Shop must be picked up by 5pm, December 23.

RBG trails and trailhead parking, including the Arboretum will remain open. Washroom facilities will not be available. Some trails are closed due to weather impacts. Visit rbg.ca/onthetrails for up-to-date information.

The safety of our visitors, staff and volunteers is of the utmost importance to Royal Botanical Gardens. We will continue to update the public with any pertinent information as we receive further guidance from public health officials regarding the duration of this closure beyond January 23, 2021.  For updates, please visit www.rbg.ca

We apologize for the inconvenience caused by this temporary closure and we look forward to re-opening and seeing our visitors and members once again when it is safe to do so.

FAQs for RBG Members

If RBG is closed, is my membership being extended?

RBG’s buildings and gardens are closed but our Arboretum and most of our 27 km of nature trails are open.  All member parking passes that are current are still valid for the trail head parking lots.  For up-to-date trail information, please visit: https://www.rbg.ca/gardens-trails/by-attraction/trails/

I am enrolled in the auto-renew program for my membership. My membership renews in January, will you be renewing it?

We will be processing all auto-renewals for January memberships after the January 23 shutdown.

Was my membership extended due to the complete closure of RBG in the spring of 2020?

If you were an active member in March 2020 when the lockdown began, your membership has been extended for 3 months.  We did not issue new cards or parking passes, so your actual expiry date is what’s on your card or pass plus 3 months. Example: if your original expiry was in December 2020, your membership is now valid until March 2021.  We have also standardized all expiry dates to be the end of the month.

If I purchase or renew a membership online what will I use as a parking pass?

When buying online you will receive an email confirmation of your membership purchase.  Please print this confirmation email and place it in the window of your car to get your free parking.

Our virtual gates are open!

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