What to See in Brampton - Top Sights and Attractions

Arena in Brampton, Ontario. The CAA Centre is a 5,000-seat multi-purpose arena in Brampton, Ontario, Canada. It was built in 1998, and officially opened the same year on October 7. Its main arena was home to the Brampton Battalion of the Ontario Hockey League, the Brampton Beast of the ECHL, and the Brampton Excelsiors lacrosse teams.

In the main arena the seats are purple, with private suites located around the top of seating area. The club seats are on the penalty box side of the arena. There is a video scoreboard that was added for the Brampton Beast's inaugural season. The concourse is horseshoe-shaped.

The main arena is part of larger community complex that includes three smaller ice pads and outdoor softball diamonds. It is located at 7575 Kennedy Road, on the south side of the city, between Steeles Avenue and Highway 407.

The arena also annually hosts the Canadian International Kabaddi tournament, also called the Canada Kabaddi World Cup.^[3]

Theatre in Brampton, Ontario. The Rose is a municipally-owned theatre located in downtown Brampton, Ontario. Originally Rose Theatre Brampton, a series of public events throughout September 2006 culminated in a grand opening on 29 September featuring Diana Krall. The theatre includes a main performance hall with seating for 880, and a smaller multi-purpose hall with seating for 130–160, depending on configuration

It was built as "a cultural and tourist destination that will attract significant new business to surrounding restaurants, shops and services". City planners projected that the facilities would generate $2.7 million in economic activity in its first year of operation, and grow to $19.8 million by the fifth year. This is predicted to attract more than 55,000 visitors annually who will spend about $275,000 on before and after-show entertainment, creating close to 300 permanent jobs.

The Rose is home to the Rose Theatre Summer Series. The Series is a summer stock theatre festival which includes various theatrical pieces. The shows are in three different venues: The Main Stage, Studio Two and Garden Square.^[5]

Artificial lake in Ontario, Canada. Professor's Lake is a 65-acre spring-fed artificial lake located in Brampton, Ontario, Canada. Beginning in 1918, the area where the lake currently exists was used as a sand and gravel facility supplying construction aggregate for construction projects in the northwest area of the Greater Toronto Area. In total, the facility produced approximately 20 million tones of sand and gravel. It reopened as a quarry from 1954 to 1973. By the early 70s the site, now operated by Standard Aggregates Ltd. had run out of sand and gravel. For several years it was used as a sand and gravel processing and storage facility as Standard Aggregates shipped in raw material from other aggregate deposits in the area. Later In the 70s Standard Aggregates eventually closed the operation and moved all of the equipment to their other operations around Southern Ontario. They then rehabilitated the site with the intention that it would eventually be used for residential housing. Standard Aggregates was awarded "The Bronze Plaque Award" for the rehabilitation by the Ontario Stone, Sand & Gravel Association for the quality of the rehabilitation. That plaque is mounted on a boulder outside the current Recreation center next to the parking lot.

Since the sand and gravel facility operated below the natural water table the site had a system of pumps to prevent flooding. This is very common for pits and quarries which frequently extract their aggregate at levels below the natural water table. Contrary to urban myths, the site did not strike water and suddenly flood. Nor was any equipment left at the bottom of the quarry. Standard Aggregates merely removed their pumps once the rehabilitation was completed and approved by the Ontario government in compliance with the Ontario Aggregate Resources Act. Once the pumps were removed it took a number of months for the site to completely fill with water. Once the entire area was rehabilitated, Standard Aggregates put the property up for sale. The property changed hands several times before being purchased by the giant German based developer Lendhorf Corp. and its residential development arm AMEX. Several development proposals were considered and amended before the Brampton City Council agreed to a final proposal from AMEX. The final proposal covered the area currently bounded by Bramalea Rd. Bovaird Dr. Torbram Rd. and North Park Drive. It was at this time that the area acquired its name, Professor's Lake. Dr. Hans Abromeit, the President of AMEX had a PhD and had been a German professor of economics earlier in his career. He was referred to as the "Professor" by staff at AMEX. The development was a pet project for Dr. Abromeit at the time and staff around the office casually referred to the development as "the Professor's Lake" and the name eventually stuck.

Several prominent Ontario developers (Greenpark Homes, Lakeview Homes & Bramalea Ltd.) purchased tracts of land from AMEX, and by the early 80s houses quickly sprung up in what is known as the "P" section of Brampton. Most of the housing was completed by the late 90s. The lake is now used extensively for paddle boarding, kayaking, windsurfing, fishing and canoeing. Professor's Lake Recreation Centre is located on the northeastern side of the lake just off North Park Drive. The Recreation Centre has a beach for swimming as well as a waterslide. There is a boathouse that offers paddle boat, kayak, paddle board and canoe rentals. There are also three volleyball courts at the far end of the beach.

The immediate residential neighbourhood surrounding the lake is also widely referred to as Professor's Lake. Residential homes and a small park border the westerly side of the lake. A paved 2 kilometre promenade borders much of the north and north east sections of the lake and residential homes border the walkway. The lake continues to be spring fed and drains into the Brampton underground water control system at the northeast end of the lake.

In August 1998 the lake was temporarily closed after a local fisherman caught a rogue piranha in the lake. The origins of the piranha remain unclear. but after divers did a full survey of the lake and didn't find any more piranha it was concluded that someone had released their pet piranha into the lake. Piranha are a tropical fish and it could not have survived a Canadian winter when the lake froze over. The city does stock the lake with a variety of fish from time to time.^[10]