The late Neil Peart grew up in the St. Catharines, Ontario community of Port Dalhousie, the lakefront home of Lakeside Park which inspired the lyrics to the 1975 Rush song of the same name. Last year the St. Catharines City Council, with the full support of the community, voted to name the newly rebuilt pavilion at Lakeside Park the Neil Peart Pavilion at Lakeside Park in honor of the hometown icon who passed away last January. The Council also established the Neil Peart Commemorative Task Force, with the objective to commission a public work of art commemorating Peart's life and legacy. Yesterday the city officially began welcoming artists to submit requests for pre-qualification via the city's website, and will be accepting submissions through March 29th. From the press release:

... "The Neil Peart memorial is an important project in our community as it celebrates the life of an amazing musician, lyricist and author who called St. Catharines his hometown during his formative years," explains Mayor Walter Sendzik. "I am looking forward to seeing the vision artists have for the memorial, which will complement the Neil Peart Pavilion at Lakeside Park, as it will be a beacon for Rush fans to visit our community for years to come to celebrate and reflect on Neil Peart's amazing contribution to his craft." ... "This initiative has had the overwhelming support of the community with more than 25,000 people signing an online petition to honour Peart with a memorial in Port Dalhousie," said Manager of Business Planning and Strategic Services Eric Lamothe. "It is, therefore, something we at the City are very proud to support." ... "As a committee we're excited to finally be reaching out to artists," said Neil Peart Memorial Task Force Chair David DeRocco. "There's great anticipation to see what kind of creative and original ideas artists submit for this project. Neil set the bar incomparably high when it came to his own art, so we expect to receive some very inspired suggestions for what no doubt will become a mecca for his fans around the world." The artwork will be funded via a public fundraising campaign, which is set to launch in February at www.EngageSTC.ca/Neil-Peart. ...

More information will be released in the coming weeks via stcatharines.ca.