Rush’s Neil Peart to be memorialized with bronze statues in his hometown

Neil Peart’s hometown of St. Catharines, Ontario, has commissioned an artist to create two bronze statues in honor of the late Rush drummer. The statues will be placed alongside the Neil Peart Pavilion in the city’s Lakeside Park, which inspired the Rush song of the same name.

Artist Morgan MacDonald has been tapped by the City of St. Catharines’ Neil Peart Commemorative Task Force to create the statues. The larger-than-life sculptures will be connected by a pathway lined with experiential and interpretive features that give insight into Peart’s legacy. The drummer died of an aggressive form of brain cancer on January 7, 2020.

One of the sculptures, which will stand about 12 feet tall, depicts Peart as a young artist and poet in the 1970s, holding a book and drumsticks. The other will show an older Peart, holding a piece of his drum kit and offering his drumsticks to passersby. Some of Peart’s old and damaged cymbals will be melted down and incorporated into the statues.

The creation of the statues is contingent on the task force raising $1 million. Donations toward that goal can now be made at stcatharines.ca/neilpeart. The sooner the million bucks is raised, the sooner the statues will be made and installed.