Kelly Edgar says he enthusiastically added his name to an online petition calling on the City of St. Catharines to honour Rush drummer Neil Peart.

The petition — launched on website change.org by St. Catharines resident Tony McLaughlin following reports of Peart's death last week — calls on the city to commemorate his ties to the community by erecting a plaque or statue of him at Lakeside Park — a place the celebrated lyricist immortalized in song.

As of Monday afternoon, the petition had garnered nearly 9,000 names.

"Neil spent a lot of his youth in Port Dalhousie as can be heard in the famous song he penned 'Lakeside Park,'" McLaughlin wrote in the petition, calling such an initiative "an amazing tribute."

Edgar, a St. Catharines regional councillor, said a bronze statue of Peart would be a fitting tribute to one of the most famous people ever to have called St. Catharines home.

"Why wouldn't we do that?" Edgar asked.

"To the best of my knowledge, St. Catharines has produced no one of the calibre of Neil Peart. We produced a genius out of St. Catharines."

Peart, with fellow Rush band members Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson, are members of Canada's Walk of Fame, Canadian Music Hall of Fame, Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Order of Canada.

He died on Jan. 7 of brain cancer at the age of 67.

"Let's say the statue would have him standing there at the entrance to Lakeside Park," Edgar said. "He'd have his (drum)sticks in his back pocket, and have him leaning against a sign that has the lyrics to Lakeside Park on it, with his name at the bottom.

"How awesome would that be?"

Considering the worldwide popularity of Rush, he said the statue likely wouldn't need tax dollars to pay for it.

"You could have a GoFundMe page. I'm sure that would attract donations from all around the world."

The petition itself has already garnered thousands of dollars in donations.

St. Catharines realtor and Rush fan Jerry Hendriks has committed $1,000 toward the project.

"I just think it's an important thing to do for our community. Things like that really bring the community together," Hendriks said.

"The guy was the king of drumming. He was probably the best drummer in the world."

Hendriks said he made his pledge hoping to inspire others to pitch in.

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A Peart statue, Edgar said, would lure tourists.

"It would definitely attract people who would want to come and see this," he said. "People loved him. Maybe I'm a little bit over enthusiastic about it, but I think it would be great for the city."

Although Peart was born in Hamilton, Edgar said it was during his time living in St. Catharines as a teenager that Peart "formed his opinions on life and dreamt his dreams."

During that time in the early 1970s, Edgar shared cigarettes behind Lakeport Secondary School with the tall, gangly young man who used to wear a pea coat, an old Beatles cap and corduroys that were a bit too small for him.

"Neil didn't really hang out with anybody. He was sort of a loner," Edgar recalled. "He was kind of geeky, but just a nice guy. We weren't drinking buddies or anything like that, but we were friends. I look back and I'm happy that I knew him."

Edgar said Peart was "one of the few people I know who was a dreamer but was able to live out his dreams."

Allan.Benner@niagaradailies.com

905-225-1629 | @abenner1

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