King of Kensington
Senior Member
There are some businesses just north of Queen, but they don't feel part of the Queen West scene at all. The area between Bloor and Dupont seems to be going more upscale in terms of business establishments.
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- Thread starter Alley Kat
- Start date
I would think zoning would not allow for conversion. Otherwise this area would have changed a long time ago.
urbandreamer
recession proof
I always imagine Bathurst as being Spadina Avenue c.1910. (Basically, 100 years behind.) So, just like 100 years ago on Spadina south of Queen, the strip had midrise warehouses go up, likewise, today, Bathurst south of Queen has "warehouses" (aka, condos) going up. Give it another 50 years, and those houses north of Queen on Bathurst could either have temporary storefronts added (like parts of Spadina) or even tear downs for midrises (like Spadina.)
W. K. Lis
Superstar
The zoning bylaws back in the 1910's was almost non-existent. One was able to build multi-use buildings (commercial, industrial, and residential) almost without asking permission. Today, one has to jump hoops, genuflect, and kiss rings to try to build the simplest building. Kensington Market would be impossible today.
However, the bylaws are now swinging back to allow multi-use buildings (commercial and residential, at least), which is what we want.
Glen
Senior Member
Conversion in Toronto are decidedly one way. Non residential to residential. IMO this is because Toronto has among the highest non residential property tax in the world.
You can see how this might effect such development here. I am pretty sure that Dukes has confirmed that they will not be returning to their old site, ever.
You can see how this might effect such development here. I am pretty sure that Dukes has confirmed that they will not be returning to their old site, ever.
CDL.TO
Moderator
This is how I see it. For downtown streets to see commercial gentrification gentrify you need two elements, synergy and momentum.
Synergy means that you need multiple commercial establishments together. Some retailers are able to get consumers to make a trip out of their neighbourhood specifically for the purpose of visiting that store; you might call such locations destination retailers. Destination retailers tend to be large in physical size. Small retailers need to locate together to create a destination and bring in enough consumers to be successful and create window/casual shopping. So unless you know that you’re going to be a destination retailer (such as Kromer), you would want to avoid Bathurst. Note that the little amount of retail that does exist on Bathurst is located very close to Queen or Bloor.
Momentum means recognizing the current status of a neighbourhood; successful, unsuccessful, or in the process of changing. So if there isn’t synergy yet, but a retailer believes that it’s coming, they might invest in an area which adds yet more to the momentum of the area.
Right now, Bathurst is missing both of these elements. Small retailers don’t have the ability to create either synergy or momentum all alone. Look at it through the eyes of a potential retailer – why would you take a chance on Bathurst? If you’re planning to be a high volume retailer, you need to spend extra and locate on Queen for the synergy. If you’re more of a leading-edge niche retailer, you’re more likely to consider Dundas for the momentum. Also, why spend tens of thousands on converting a residential unit to a commercial one? On Dundas there is a multitude of low-rent spaces, that are already designed for retail.
We may see gentrification spill onto Bathurst once opportunities on College, Queen, and Dundas have all been tapped.
Synergy means that you need multiple commercial establishments together. Some retailers are able to get consumers to make a trip out of their neighbourhood specifically for the purpose of visiting that store; you might call such locations destination retailers. Destination retailers tend to be large in physical size. Small retailers need to locate together to create a destination and bring in enough consumers to be successful and create window/casual shopping. So unless you know that you’re going to be a destination retailer (such as Kromer), you would want to avoid Bathurst. Note that the little amount of retail that does exist on Bathurst is located very close to Queen or Bloor.
Momentum means recognizing the current status of a neighbourhood; successful, unsuccessful, or in the process of changing. So if there isn’t synergy yet, but a retailer believes that it’s coming, they might invest in an area which adds yet more to the momentum of the area.
Right now, Bathurst is missing both of these elements. Small retailers don’t have the ability to create either synergy or momentum all alone. Look at it through the eyes of a potential retailer – why would you take a chance on Bathurst? If you’re planning to be a high volume retailer, you need to spend extra and locate on Queen for the synergy. If you’re more of a leading-edge niche retailer, you’re more likely to consider Dundas for the momentum. Also, why spend tens of thousands on converting a residential unit to a commercial one? On Dundas there is a multitude of low-rent spaces, that are already designed for retail.
We may see gentrification spill onto Bathurst once opportunities on College, Queen, and Dundas have all been tapped.
Alley Kat
Active Member
Kensington Market Festival of Lights
http://www.redpepperspectaclearts.org/
http://torontoist.com/2008/12/urban_planner_december_21_2008.php
FESTIVAL: Kensington Market Festival of Lights brightens the longest night of the year with music, dance, theatre, and a parade. The parade is participatory, so bring something to make noise with—drums, pots and pans, bells, a loud voice—and a lantern. The parade ends with a celebratory fire at Bellevue Square Park. Intersection of Oxford and Augusta, 6 p.m., FREE.
SNOWED OUT AND BLOWED OUT ON DEC 21st
RESCHEDULED TO MARCH 21st, THE VERNAL EQUINOX, A CELEBRATION OF SPRING'S ARRIVAL
http://www.redpepperspectaclearts.org/
http://torontoist.com/2008/12/urban_planner_december_21_2008.php
FESTIVAL: Kensington Market Festival of Lights brightens the longest night of the year with music, dance, theatre, and a parade. The parade is participatory, so bring something to make noise with—drums, pots and pans, bells, a loud voice—and a lantern. The parade ends with a celebratory fire at Bellevue Square Park. Intersection of Oxford and Augusta, 6 p.m., FREE.
SNOWED OUT AND BLOWED OUT ON DEC 21st
RESCHEDULED TO MARCH 21st, THE VERNAL EQUINOX, A CELEBRATION OF SPRING'S ARRIVAL
Last edited:
Alley Kat
Active Member
http://www.eyeweekly.com/music/features/article/48704
Somewhere for all of us
A different kind of studio opens at 6 Nassau in Kensington Market
BY ALEX MOLOTKOW December 30, 2008 21:12
When culture is made, it doesn’t always leave a neat and tidy record of itself. This is especially true when it happens outside of a creative infrastructure — take the bands survived by anecdote alone, the online histories of legendary concert venues and the Bunchofuckingoofs logo written in cement outside this former punk space off Nassau Street. Here, the effort to bring Toronto’s self-made culture beyond the ephemeral continues: the location now belongs to musician James Anderson and producer/engineer Jeff McMurrich, who’ve worked tirelessly for the past two months to build the right creative space for their colleagues, musical and otherwise.
“It’s the missing link,†says Matt Smith (a.k.a. Nifty, formerly of Les Mouches), who has laboured “over a day, every day, without pay†(Anderson’s words) for a month to be involved with the project. A recording studio by definition, 6 Nassau will mediate between the conventional (often inaccessible) studio and the four-tracker’s bedroom — a space for projects that can’t be finessed in one’s apartment. Moreover, it’ll be a place for like minds to congregate. Performers hoping to collaborate can rent the space for the hell of it, and musicians galvanized by a show can drop by to test ideas rather than douse them with beer.
“I use the term sound studio because I don’t see it as a commercial recording studio. It would be great if there were other things done here,†says Anderson (The Creeping Nobodies, FemBots), who runs a small studio, the Observatry [sic], out of his Kensington Market basement. The Nassau location, a detached brick warehouse, has always stirred his acoustic instincts; when it went up for rent, he called McMurrich, whose roving studio The Sweatshop lost its latest home on St. Clair in February. “It is going to be a recording studio… [but] I want to do art things as well…. It opens up more potential for this to be considered more of a sound place, as opposed to a place where you spend money to record something.†The advent of home recording has rendered monolithic studios nearly irrelevant. Of course, self-production has aesthetic benefits of its own; the meek, who understand the benefits and limitations of the basement arts, might inherit the market.
“It’s more of an extension of everybody we know, and what they like,†McMurrich says. Even under construction, the space has been a venue and impromptu gallery: in November, Nifty played with Casiotone for the Painfully Alone, and artists/musicians Amy Bowles and Milosh Rodic presented their work on the studio’s yet-unpainted walls during a three-day exhibition.
Recently, several acts played an all-day release party for a cassette project. Planning has been word-of-mouth; five minutes after I arrive, Blocks Recording Club founder Steve Kado drops by to see what he refers to as “the talk of the town.†The studio will be available to musicians for a reasonable rate proportional to overhead costs (plus engineers’ fees, if needed), and the space will be used for curated events, more a community centre than a boozecan.
As Smith notes, this is a terrible time to start a business. But a location like this would be turned into condos in a healthier economy; as it stands, the studio has a five-year lease. McMurrich and Anderson have financed the project out of pocket, and neither regrets it: though the area is booming artistically, creative spaces are dwindling. “We’ve responded to a demand.… We’re not getting into this as a form of charity. This is something we can do, and this is the space where we can do it well,†Smith says. The goal is to get by, but not to get rich.
The studio’s operators comprise a representative sample of the scene they’re working on behalf of: McMurrich is the professional, having spent years recording local musicians (the Constantines, Picastro and The Hidden Cameras, to name a few); Anderson is the consummate artist and ambassador to the neighbourhood; and Smith is the tech geek with a knack for experimentation. The latter two are members of Blocks Recording Club, whose DIY ethos has slowly evolved as its releases gain in sales. The notion of conceiving, recording and packaging a record in one living room retains its charm, but with a wider array of musicians and a relatively new critical focus on the city, the cooperative model needs refinement.
The concept behind 6 Nassau is better community production. “The records I make, most of them are selling 500 to 1,000 [copies]… but the people who are listening to those records are also making records,†says McMurrich. “I want to make records that are being listened to by peers and musicians, people who appreciate music as something in their lives… and that begets work.†Smith agrees: “A band is [asked], ‘Who are your favourite musicians?’ and they’re like, ‘Well, my friends.’ Someone will respond, ‘Oh, it’s this incestuous, inclusive community’ but it’s actually not the case at all…. It’s like people who want to buy local groceries. There’s this ethic and popular change of opinion about it, you can wax poetic, [but] it’ just a really simple model — buy local because that makes sense.†Building a one-stop community space eliminates the need to outsource. In a way, the grassroots approach has never made more sense.
Somewhere for all of us
A different kind of studio opens at 6 Nassau in Kensington Market
BY ALEX MOLOTKOW December 30, 2008 21:12
When culture is made, it doesn’t always leave a neat and tidy record of itself. This is especially true when it happens outside of a creative infrastructure — take the bands survived by anecdote alone, the online histories of legendary concert venues and the Bunchofuckingoofs logo written in cement outside this former punk space off Nassau Street. Here, the effort to bring Toronto’s self-made culture beyond the ephemeral continues: the location now belongs to musician James Anderson and producer/engineer Jeff McMurrich, who’ve worked tirelessly for the past two months to build the right creative space for their colleagues, musical and otherwise.
“It’s the missing link,†says Matt Smith (a.k.a. Nifty, formerly of Les Mouches), who has laboured “over a day, every day, without pay†(Anderson’s words) for a month to be involved with the project. A recording studio by definition, 6 Nassau will mediate between the conventional (often inaccessible) studio and the four-tracker’s bedroom — a space for projects that can’t be finessed in one’s apartment. Moreover, it’ll be a place for like minds to congregate. Performers hoping to collaborate can rent the space for the hell of it, and musicians galvanized by a show can drop by to test ideas rather than douse them with beer.
“I use the term sound studio because I don’t see it as a commercial recording studio. It would be great if there were other things done here,†says Anderson (The Creeping Nobodies, FemBots), who runs a small studio, the Observatry [sic], out of his Kensington Market basement. The Nassau location, a detached brick warehouse, has always stirred his acoustic instincts; when it went up for rent, he called McMurrich, whose roving studio The Sweatshop lost its latest home on St. Clair in February. “It is going to be a recording studio… [but] I want to do art things as well…. It opens up more potential for this to be considered more of a sound place, as opposed to a place where you spend money to record something.†The advent of home recording has rendered monolithic studios nearly irrelevant. Of course, self-production has aesthetic benefits of its own; the meek, who understand the benefits and limitations of the basement arts, might inherit the market.
“It’s more of an extension of everybody we know, and what they like,†McMurrich says. Even under construction, the space has been a venue and impromptu gallery: in November, Nifty played with Casiotone for the Painfully Alone, and artists/musicians Amy Bowles and Milosh Rodic presented their work on the studio’s yet-unpainted walls during a three-day exhibition.
Recently, several acts played an all-day release party for a cassette project. Planning has been word-of-mouth; five minutes after I arrive, Blocks Recording Club founder Steve Kado drops by to see what he refers to as “the talk of the town.†The studio will be available to musicians for a reasonable rate proportional to overhead costs (plus engineers’ fees, if needed), and the space will be used for curated events, more a community centre than a boozecan.
As Smith notes, this is a terrible time to start a business. But a location like this would be turned into condos in a healthier economy; as it stands, the studio has a five-year lease. McMurrich and Anderson have financed the project out of pocket, and neither regrets it: though the area is booming artistically, creative spaces are dwindling. “We’ve responded to a demand.… We’re not getting into this as a form of charity. This is something we can do, and this is the space where we can do it well,†Smith says. The goal is to get by, but not to get rich.
The studio’s operators comprise a representative sample of the scene they’re working on behalf of: McMurrich is the professional, having spent years recording local musicians (the Constantines, Picastro and The Hidden Cameras, to name a few); Anderson is the consummate artist and ambassador to the neighbourhood; and Smith is the tech geek with a knack for experimentation. The latter two are members of Blocks Recording Club, whose DIY ethos has slowly evolved as its releases gain in sales. The notion of conceiving, recording and packaging a record in one living room retains its charm, but with a wider array of musicians and a relatively new critical focus on the city, the cooperative model needs refinement.
The concept behind 6 Nassau is better community production. “The records I make, most of them are selling 500 to 1,000 [copies]… but the people who are listening to those records are also making records,†says McMurrich. “I want to make records that are being listened to by peers and musicians, people who appreciate music as something in their lives… and that begets work.†Smith agrees: “A band is [asked], ‘Who are your favourite musicians?’ and they’re like, ‘Well, my friends.’ Someone will respond, ‘Oh, it’s this incestuous, inclusive community’ but it’s actually not the case at all…. It’s like people who want to buy local groceries. There’s this ethic and popular change of opinion about it, you can wax poetic, [but] it’ just a really simple model — buy local because that makes sense.†Building a one-stop community space eliminates the need to outsource. In a way, the grassroots approach has never made more sense.
Alley Kat
Active Member
http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/560494
CANNABIS CENTRAL
Law or no, these joints are smokin' in the city
Marijuana activist Matt Mernagh likes to show off Toronto's cannabis community, which he considers one of its untapped tourist attractions
Jan 01, 2009 04:30 AM
PAOLA LORIGGIO
STAFF REPORTER
When police raided the Kindred Café Nov. 20 for allegedly trafficking marijuana, it shone a spotlight on one of the city's biggest open secrets.
There are places where you can smoke weed with relative impunity, provided you don't make a scene.
With a couple of well-known pot cafés and a smattering of private smokers' clubs – not to mention a thriving network of bong shops and hemp stores – Toronto's marijuana scene rivals Vancouver's, according to some herb aficionados.
Most of the action centres on "Yongesterdam," a strip of Yonge St. near Wellesley St. nicknamed after pot-friendly Amsterdam.
Each summer, pot activist Matt Mernagh leads a weekly tour of the area's cannabis community, showing off what he considers one of the city's untapped tourist attractions.
The tour starts at Vapor Central, a vaporizer store and "tester lounge," then on to various seed and hemp stores. If the group feels particularly energetic, Mernagh says, they'll hit the Hot Box Café in Kensington Market, famous for its backyard "potio."
The café is among a handful of establishments in the city that allow customers to smoke weed, though owner Abi Roach stresses they don't sell it in any form.
Another is the Kindred, on Breadalbane St., which reopened days after its owner, Dominic Cramer, turned himself in to police on Nov. 24. Cramer is scheduled to appear in court Jan. 13.
Both the Hot Box and the Kindred regulate pot smoking on the premises, limiting it to adults in specific areas. But despite the Kindred's official mission to host medicinal marijuana use, neither venue requires customers to show their government-issued licences.
Which makes it technically illegal, as indicated in the cafés and on their websites. So how come they still exist?
Police rely heavily on complaints, so if no one complains about a particular spot, it may never be discovered, said Det. Sgt. Paul MacIntyre of the Toronto Police drug squad.
Once officers become aware of such a place, they have to investigate – and arrest anyone found to possess marijuana, he said. But that doesn't mean the venue will close.
"If the people who own the business aren't involved in the sale or distribution of drugs, they won't be charged," MacIntyre said. At the homey three-year-old Kindred, business has fallen by about a third since the raid, said spokesperson Chad Cooke.
Its main floor, where marijuana smoking is not permitted, was empty early on a recent Friday evening. So was its stylish second-floor private room, appointed with flat-screen TVs, DVDs and vaporizers.
On its tented rooftop third floor, where smokers can congregate for a fee of $5 – $2.50 for people with medical exemptions – three patrons sat quietly on the folding chairs Cooke bought after the police took the café's furniture. "We're not quite as busy as we were before," he said. "I'm sure some people are a little apprehensive about coming, not knowing exactly what the climate's going to be or if the police are going to come back."
Lawyer Alan Young, who represents Cramer and the Kindred, says police often turn a blind eye when it comes to recreational tokers.
"The sole reason these cafés can operate with some degree of impunity is that marijuana possession is one of the lowest priorities with police," Young said.
Though federal law doesn't specify where licensed users can and can't light up, they receive an information package warning them not to smoke in a public place or expose others to second-hand smoke, Heath Canada spokesperson Philippe Laroche said in an email.
But there's little health inspectors can do, since the province's smoking ban applies only to tobacco products, said Rob Colvin, spokesperson for Toronto Public Health.
Mernagh says tourists are often shocked and amazed to see others openly flouting marijuana laws inside a coffee shop or store.
"People like us because we're so out of the cannabis closet."
CANNABIS CENTRAL
Law or no, these joints are smokin' in the city
Marijuana activist Matt Mernagh likes to show off Toronto's cannabis community, which he considers one of its untapped tourist attractions
Jan 01, 2009 04:30 AM
PAOLA LORIGGIO
STAFF REPORTER
When police raided the Kindred Café Nov. 20 for allegedly trafficking marijuana, it shone a spotlight on one of the city's biggest open secrets.
There are places where you can smoke weed with relative impunity, provided you don't make a scene.
With a couple of well-known pot cafés and a smattering of private smokers' clubs – not to mention a thriving network of bong shops and hemp stores – Toronto's marijuana scene rivals Vancouver's, according to some herb aficionados.
Most of the action centres on "Yongesterdam," a strip of Yonge St. near Wellesley St. nicknamed after pot-friendly Amsterdam.
Each summer, pot activist Matt Mernagh leads a weekly tour of the area's cannabis community, showing off what he considers one of the city's untapped tourist attractions.
The tour starts at Vapor Central, a vaporizer store and "tester lounge," then on to various seed and hemp stores. If the group feels particularly energetic, Mernagh says, they'll hit the Hot Box Café in Kensington Market, famous for its backyard "potio."
The café is among a handful of establishments in the city that allow customers to smoke weed, though owner Abi Roach stresses they don't sell it in any form.
Another is the Kindred, on Breadalbane St., which reopened days after its owner, Dominic Cramer, turned himself in to police on Nov. 24. Cramer is scheduled to appear in court Jan. 13.
Both the Hot Box and the Kindred regulate pot smoking on the premises, limiting it to adults in specific areas. But despite the Kindred's official mission to host medicinal marijuana use, neither venue requires customers to show their government-issued licences.
Which makes it technically illegal, as indicated in the cafés and on their websites. So how come they still exist?
Police rely heavily on complaints, so if no one complains about a particular spot, it may never be discovered, said Det. Sgt. Paul MacIntyre of the Toronto Police drug squad.
Once officers become aware of such a place, they have to investigate – and arrest anyone found to possess marijuana, he said. But that doesn't mean the venue will close.
"If the people who own the business aren't involved in the sale or distribution of drugs, they won't be charged," MacIntyre said. At the homey three-year-old Kindred, business has fallen by about a third since the raid, said spokesperson Chad Cooke.
Its main floor, where marijuana smoking is not permitted, was empty early on a recent Friday evening. So was its stylish second-floor private room, appointed with flat-screen TVs, DVDs and vaporizers.
On its tented rooftop third floor, where smokers can congregate for a fee of $5 – $2.50 for people with medical exemptions – three patrons sat quietly on the folding chairs Cooke bought after the police took the café's furniture. "We're not quite as busy as we were before," he said. "I'm sure some people are a little apprehensive about coming, not knowing exactly what the climate's going to be or if the police are going to come back."
Lawyer Alan Young, who represents Cramer and the Kindred, says police often turn a blind eye when it comes to recreational tokers.
"The sole reason these cafés can operate with some degree of impunity is that marijuana possession is one of the lowest priorities with police," Young said.
Though federal law doesn't specify where licensed users can and can't light up, they receive an information package warning them not to smoke in a public place or expose others to second-hand smoke, Heath Canada spokesperson Philippe Laroche said in an email.
But there's little health inspectors can do, since the province's smoking ban applies only to tobacco products, said Rob Colvin, spokesperson for Toronto Public Health.
Mernagh says tourists are often shocked and amazed to see others openly flouting marijuana laws inside a coffee shop or store.
"People like us because we're so out of the cannabis closet."
Alley Kat
Active Member
http://www.tsn.ca/blogs/jay_onrait/?id=263288
Josh Howard would arrive in Toronto, take one read of our relaxed marijuana possession laws and head straight to Roach-O-Rama in Kensington Market never to be heard from again.
Josh Howard would arrive in Toronto, take one read of our relaxed marijuana possession laws and head straight to Roach-O-Rama in Kensington Market never to be heard from again.
urbandreamer
recession proof
I wonder how much longer Pennylick's will stay in business?
http://www.blogto.com/cafes/pennylicks
(Always appears to be empty.)
A pity, because other than Ararat's coffee on Avenue Rd north of Lawrence, Pennylick's has the smoothest, best coffee in town! (Better than Manic Coffee, but like Manic, they use a Clover.
)
http://www.blogto.com/cafes/pennylicks
(Always appears to be empty.)
A pity, because other than Ararat's coffee on Avenue Rd north of Lawrence, Pennylick's has the smoothest, best coffee in town! (Better than Manic Coffee, but like Manic, they use a Clover.
)
Alley Kat
Active Member
Still not the Rosedale Library
http://business.theglobeandmail.com...WBBooksblog20090206184744/WBStory/WBBooksblog
Kensington Market has been an entry point for waves of immigration -- Jewish, Portuguese, Jamaican, Vietnamese, El Salvadorian, which creates an amazing climate that is unique, maybe in the world, and we want to be a part of it...
This neighbourhood has become the most comfortable area in the city for artists, writers and musicians and their fans to live and to encounter each other in an accidental fashion...
http://business.theglobeandmail.com...WBBooksblog20090206184744/WBStory/WBBooksblog
Kensington Market has been an entry point for waves of immigration -- Jewish, Portuguese, Jamaican, Vietnamese, El Salvadorian, which creates an amazing climate that is unique, maybe in the world, and we want to be a part of it...
This neighbourhood has become the most comfortable area in the city for artists, writers and musicians and their fans to live and to encounter each other in an accidental fashion...
Last edited:
Alley Kat
Active Member
Quantum of Solstice
http://torontoist.com/2009/03/quantum_of_solstice.php
Quantum of Solstice
At approximately 5:45 p.m. on December 21st, 2008, Torontoist received a phone call from Boy Reporter. "The parade's been cancelled." "What?" "It's been cancelled. Because of the wind."
A quick trip to the Red Pepper Spectacle Arts website bore this out; the 20th Annual Kensington Market Festival of Lights, aka the crazy solstice parade, had been called off: "Due to high winds, we regret that tonight's parade has been canceled. Giant puppets, parade lanterns, shadow screens and a 16' tall fire sculpture are a risky endeavour in these conditions. At this time it is our intention to reprise the event on Saturday March 21st - the spring "
We immediately marked the new date on our calendar, but on March 8th a lengthy letter appeared in our Facebook inbox: "It was a shock this past December 21st when, for the first time ever, we had to cancel the Festival of Lights due to several consecutive days of pure, deep winter weather....We were so stunned by the prospect of not beckoning the sun with fire and drums, that we immediately rescheduled the event to March 21st.
"Since that time, Red Pepper - like so many others, has been affected by the tightening economy in the form of several cancelled or postponed winter contracts....When we cancelled on Dec. 21, we didn’t actually save any money - all the staging, sound, permits, materials, equipment, vehicles, torches and most importantly the large project staff who create the event had already been paid for. The drastic drop in anticipated revenue over in these past three months has made it impossible for us to recreate the festival at this time..."
Awwww. Crap. But then something called the "Spring Equinox Outdoor Circus Jam!" sprouted up on Facebook, sounding like a smaller-scale version of the parade, albeit stationary and limited to Bellevue Square Park. We clicked "attending." Then a day later: "After [Red Pepper's March 21st parade] was canceled, a few of us thought it might be fun to get together in the park in Kensington and just have a small equinox gathering, without any bonfires," said a Facebook message from the latter event's admin. "That, too, is having to be canceled, due to the organizers' no longer being available on Saturday."
Oh, well. Like Kramer's and Newman's rival Millennium events, the date was a bit off in the first place: the 2009 vernal equinox occurs at 7:44 a.m. today. Happy spring!
http://torontoist.com/2009/03/quantum_of_solstice.php
Quantum of Solstice
At approximately 5:45 p.m. on December 21st, 2008, Torontoist received a phone call from Boy Reporter. "The parade's been cancelled." "What?" "It's been cancelled. Because of the wind."
A quick trip to the Red Pepper Spectacle Arts website bore this out; the 20th Annual Kensington Market Festival of Lights, aka the crazy solstice parade, had been called off: "Due to high winds, we regret that tonight's parade has been canceled. Giant puppets, parade lanterns, shadow screens and a 16' tall fire sculpture are a risky endeavour in these conditions. At this time it is our intention to reprise the event on Saturday March 21st - the spring "
We immediately marked the new date on our calendar, but on March 8th a lengthy letter appeared in our Facebook inbox: "It was a shock this past December 21st when, for the first time ever, we had to cancel the Festival of Lights due to several consecutive days of pure, deep winter weather....We were so stunned by the prospect of not beckoning the sun with fire and drums, that we immediately rescheduled the event to March 21st.
"Since that time, Red Pepper - like so many others, has been affected by the tightening economy in the form of several cancelled or postponed winter contracts....When we cancelled on Dec. 21, we didn’t actually save any money - all the staging, sound, permits, materials, equipment, vehicles, torches and most importantly the large project staff who create the event had already been paid for. The drastic drop in anticipated revenue over in these past three months has made it impossible for us to recreate the festival at this time..."
Awwww. Crap. But then something called the "Spring Equinox Outdoor Circus Jam!" sprouted up on Facebook, sounding like a smaller-scale version of the parade, albeit stationary and limited to Bellevue Square Park. We clicked "attending." Then a day later: "After [Red Pepper's March 21st parade] was canceled, a few of us thought it might be fun to get together in the park in Kensington and just have a small equinox gathering, without any bonfires," said a Facebook message from the latter event's admin. "That, too, is having to be canceled, due to the organizers' no longer being available on Saturday."
Oh, well. Like Kramer's and Newman's rival Millennium events, the date was a bit off in the first place: the 2009 vernal equinox occurs at 7:44 a.m. today. Happy spring!
Alley Kat
Active Member
http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/605966
Tour spices up cultural palates
KENSINGTON (May 2): Kensington encompasses Bathurst St. east to Spadina Ave., and College St. south to Dundas.
Eateries reflect the international flavour of the neighbourhood, with Portuguese, French, Middle Eastern, Mexican, Italian, Spanish and even vegetarian fare.
Colourful culinary guide explores city's delicious, diverse neighbourhoods
Tour spices up cultural palates
KENSINGTON (May 2): Kensington encompasses Bathurst St. east to Spadina Ave., and College St. south to Dundas.
Eateries reflect the international flavour of the neighbourhood, with Portuguese, French, Middle Eastern, Mexican, Italian, Spanish and even vegetarian fare.
Colourful culinary guide explores city's delicious, diverse neighbourhoods
Automation Gallery
Superstar
Nothing to be Scared Of - The Plight of Kensington Market
The city is changing and the plight of small businesses is a major symptom of those changes. Wal-Mart and other large corporations have done immeasurable damage to independent shops, and now one of Toronto's favourite neighbourhoods is in danger.
http://www.tasteto.com/2009/03/27/nothing-to-be-scared-of-the-plight-of-kensington-market/
The city is changing and the plight of small businesses is a major symptom of those changes. Wal-Mart and other large corporations have done immeasurable damage to independent shops, and now one of Toronto's favourite neighbourhoods is in danger.
http://www.tasteto.com/2009/03/27/nothing-to-be-scared-of-the-plight-of-kensington-market/