Mike Barrett photo
Lake Wilcox
- Aurora Sports Dome
- Dave and Buster's, Vaughan
- Jackson's Point Harbour, Georgina
- Markham Museum and Historic Village
- Markham Theatre for Performing Arts
- Toogood Pond, Unionville
- Wellington Gallery, Aurora
- Zooz Indoor Playground, Aurora
- Markham Skate Park
- Varley Art Gallery, Unionville
- Miller Avenue Off-Leash Dog Park, Markham
- Applewood Farm Winery, Stouffville
- Aurora Opera Company
- Markham Little Theatre
- Art of the Matter, Aurora
- Timber Creek Golf, Stouffville
- Elman W. Campbell Museum, Newmarket
- Of Rock and Chalk, Newmarket
- Whitchurch-Stouffville Museum
- Bare Oaks Naturist Park, Sharon
- Motus O Dance Theatre, Stouffville
- Latcham Gallery, Stouffville
- Willow Springs Winery, Stouffville
- Magic Hill, Stouffville
- York-Durham Heritage Railway, Stouffville
- Richmond Hill Live Steamers
- David Dunlap Observatory, Richmond Hill
- The Wave Pool, Richmond Hill
- Aurora Community Arboretum
- Markham Farmer's Market
- Markham Farmer's Market
- Attractions York Region
- Sharon Temple
- Sibbald Point Provincial Park, Georgina
- Canadian Soccer Hall of Fame, Vaughan
- King Township Museum, King City
- Heintzman House, Thornhill
- Markham Heritage Estates
- Puck's Farm, Schomberg
- The Ghost Canal, Newmarket
- Red Barn Theatre, Jackson's Point
- Dickson Hill Cemetery, Markham
- Reptilia Reptile Zoo, Vaughan
- Georgina Pioneer Village and Archives, Keswick
- Georgina Arts Centre and Gallery, Sutton
- Georgina Military Museum, Keswick
- Stephen Leacock Theatre of Performing Arts, Keswick
- Newmarket Theatre
- Flipside Skateboard Park, Aurora
- Theatre Aurora
- Canada's Wonderland, Maple
- Marylake Monastery, King City
- Nascar SpeedPark, Vaughan
- Kipling Gallery, Woodbridge
- Stouffville Country Market
- Curtain Club Theatre, Richmond Hill
- Opera York
- Newmarket Main Street Farmers' Market
- Kortright Centre for Conservation, Vaughan
- McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinburg
- Kingcrafts Visual Arts Guild, King City
- Polo for Heart, Richmond Hill
- York Regional Forest
- The Holland Marsh
- Nokiidaa Trail System
- The Ponds of Lemonville
- Butterflies and Blooms Butterfly Conservatory, Baldwin
- Hillary House, Aurora
- Nanabush Trails, Georgina Island
- St. George's Anglican Church, Jackson's Point
- Eaglewood Resort and Nature Park, Pefferlaw
- Kingfest Music Festival
- Koffler Scientific Reserve, Joker's Hill
- Burd's Family Fishing, Whitchurch-Stouffville
Attractions
Found in the beautiful northern part of Richmond Hill, Lake Wilcox is both a thriving local attraction and a sensitive ecosystem.
The Town of Richmond Hill balances environmentalism with entertainment in Lake Wilcox, used for swimming, fishing, and water sports, while supporting many complex and fragile biological communities.
Covering nearly 56 hectares, the lake is perfect for canoeing and windsurfing. Sports such as water skiing are less popular -- motorboats are prohibited from exceeding speeds of 9km per hour. Motorboats are, in fact, discouraged altogether due to their greater ecological impact.
Classes at Lake Wilcox Public School, the community's elementary school near the lakeside, often make use of the lake and its surrounding watershed area for science classes and the like.
Lake Wilcox is a great place of learning for visitors of all ages. Supporting animals from painted turtles to muskrats to great horned owls, Lake Wilcox is a shining example of how humans may learn to live in relative harmony with nature.
In 1997, the Town of Richmond Hill completed a Remediation Strategy to help the lake recover from pollution and other damaging factors, and the results have been more than encouraging. In addition, the town purchased property surrounding the lake in order to protect it from destruction by developers.
The town's conservation efforts range from the simple to the truly high-tech, such as a two-year project in which oxygen was mixed into the bottom waters of the lake. Other upcoming projects include the installation of a system to remove excess phosphorous from the lake, through a process called hypolimnetic withdrawal. This will help prevent algae blooms and excess underwater vegetation, but the town still looks to residents to reduce the amount of phosphorous draining into the lake in the form of lawn fertilizers, soap, and pet waste.
It is the cooperation of local residents that makes Lake Wilcox such a beautiful natural feature. Residents are asked to naturalize their shoreline homes and cottages, following the guidance of Richmond Hill's Parks, Recreation and Culture Department.
Through planting native vegetation and avoiding planting invasive plant species such as Purple Loosestrife and Scotch Pine, the Lake Wilcox shoreline has not only been beautified, it has also been protected from erosion and has become a place both humans and wildlife can call home.
The Lake Wilcox watershed is located between Bayview Avenue and Yonge Street in Richmond Hill. For more information, contact the Parks Department at (905)771-8870 or visit www.richmondhill.ca.