A ceremony to officially reopen Sarnia’s Centennial Park began under dark clouds Saturday but the sun broke through before the speeches ended.

Construction crews were still pouring concrete Friday in a courtyard at the front of the new stage, named the Suncor Agora, and a small crowd of spectators who braved the threatening weather for the official opening ceremonies at noon Saturday were asked not to used lawn chairs because the concrete needed time to cure.

The opening event, funded with a $70,000 grant from the province, marked the reopening of sections of the park closed four years ago after tests found lead, asbestos and other contaminates in the soil.

A severe weather warning was issued Saturday just before the ceremony and entertainment were scheduled to begin.

The cleanup and other work in the park is expected to cost more than $11.7 million, and remains unfinished. The unfinished work includes a new boat ramp where construction was been stalled.

“A lot of us have been waiting for this day for a long time,” Coun. Mike Kelch told the crowd.

“We’re here to celebrate the rebirth of our park on its 50th anniversary.”

The waterfront park opened during Canada’s centennial year on a former industrial site.

Kelch asked the crowd, “How many environmental regulations do you think existed in 1967?”

He added city residents should be proud that the newly renovated park complies with all of today’s environmental standards.

“And that’s a big deal for us now, and for our families in the future,” he said.

Kelch thanked his fellow members of city council for the “perseverance and commitment” to the project.

“I’ve always said do this once, do it right and do it safe,” Kelch said.

“And that’s what we’ve done.”

Donors, city hall staff and others involved in the project were acknowledged and thanked during several speeches before officials cut a ribbon to officially open the park.

Remedial work was carried out in stages in sections of the waterfront park closed to the public after a tar-like substance surfaced in 2012, leading to soil testing.

In the summer of 2015, fences came down at the former soccer field and toboggan hills after a first phase for work saw a layer of geotexile material installed and covered by a metre of clean sand and top soil.

Work then moved to a section that reopened this month and includes the former beach, playground and Dow People Place.

The Dow People Place has been redeveloped with a covered stage, washrooms and a concession area, and renamed the Suncor Agora, following a $250,000 sponsorship by the company.

The name is Greek for gathering place and was suggested by Marc Claveau, a shift supervisor at Suncor in Sarnia who attended Saturday’s opening ceremonies.

He said this is the second time he has successfully suggested the name for a community project.

The first time came years ago while he was attending a newly-built high school in Quebec where officials were looking for a name for a central public area.

“I started digging, and of course we didn’t have Google or anything like that, so books is what I used,” Claveau said.

“I came across this name and proposed it, and it made it,” he said.

“And now, it made it again.”

He came to Sarnia in 1974 and have been working at Suncor for 37 years.

“I love the park,” Claveau said.

Along with the Suncor Agora, reopened sections of the park include a new playground and garden donated by the Rotary Club of Bluewaterland. Also a VON Memorial Wall is open again, and a Footsteps to Courage memorial and Victims of Chemical Valley Memorial are both back in the park after being removed during the construction.

Sandra Kinart, with the Victims of Chemical Valley, attended Saturday’s ceremony but said other members of the group decided not to take part because of the city’s decision to keep contaminated soil on the site.

Storing the contaminated soil in a berm in the park, beneath a cap that includes a half metre of topsoil and a geo-textile barrier, avoided the multi-million-dollar cost of disposing of it off-site, according to the city.

“The hill behind the memorial is a constant reminder,” Kinart said.

Victims of Chemical Valley is a group of widows and family members who been lobbying for years to improve services for victims of industrial disease and to see hazardous materials, such as asbestos, banned.

Kinart said the group is planning a candlelight vigil in September to re-dedicate the memorial sculpture created for the group several years ago by Sarnia artist Shawn McKnight.

Sarnia Mayor Mike Bradley didn’t attend Saturday’s ceremony in the park.

He said he had already committed to attend the Aamjiwnaang First Nation Powwow being held at the same time.

“My belief is that the ceremony shouldn’t have taken place until the park was fully complete and everything was paid for,” Bradley said.

pmorden@postmedia.com