Farmers’ Market: An Apple a Day!

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The apples are starting to come out!  Be sure to pick up a basket this week.  They’re perfect for lunches!

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Did you see the orange cones at East Lynn Park this week?  The path is being widened!  The new concrete path will be 8 feet! I think we can all agree that with the amount of people, strollers and dogs at events like the farmers market, Danforth East Arts Fair and Pumpkin Walk that a new and wider path will be welcomed by everyone. A big thank you to the City Staff and Councillor Mary-Margaret McMahon for getting this much needed improvement done for our park.

Crafts with Mrs. Darling

Mrs. Darling (aka Melissa Peretti)  will be back at the market this week with another creative craft at 4:30 p.m.  If you’re already worried about where your little one’s creative and imagination outlet during the off season, you should look into her children’s arts and crafts classes being offered at Artisans at Work this fall.  Check the Mrs. Darling  website for all the details.

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Back to School Health Tips from ND Nana

Naturopathic Doctor Nana Jokura of Accept Wellness will be offering free tongue and pulse diagnosis and discussing ideas for back to school health. She will also be offering pay-what-you-can acupuncture (3:00-7:00 pm).

PlayFit with Beth from Career Fit Mom

Beth  will run a drop in PlayFit class starting at 4:30 p.m.  This is similar to the class she’ll be doing at oaks ‘n acorns starting next Saturday in case you wanted a free preview.  Here’s a description of the activity.

PlayFit for Parents & Tots is all about getting Fit and having Fun together by using GAMES & PLAY. Your tot’s will have a blast playing games, and hiding under the parachute – having no idea that all this fun is being generated by the lifts and squats of parents burning calories!  This class is designed to be a truly fun exercise program for you and your child, as well as improving your child’s developmental skills while expending some of that excess energy.

Beth will also be handing out FREE athletic gear from a well known retailer so please drop by for free sports bra and/or athletic shorts.

The East Lynn Farmers’ Market runs every Thursday from 3-7 p.m. between June 6 – October 17 at East Lynn Park, located on the south side of Danforth Ave, just west of Woodbine Ave. Stay up to date by visiting the new East Lynn Market Facebook page.

Development Update 2362-2388 Danforth

As you probably know, developers will be constructing an 8 bay coin operated car wash at 2362-2388 Danforth. Since this property is zoned “Mixed Commercial Residential”, a car wash is permitted without rezoning. However, they have applied for a variance to the rear set-back – the distance between the back property line and the building. If the variance is granted, the car wash building will be located at the back of the site and cars will enter and exit from the front of the building rather than driving behind it. If you have any concerns with this, you may attend the Committee of Adjustment on:

Wednesday September 11, 2013
1:00 p.m.
Committee Room 2, 2nd Floor
City Hall, 100 Queen St W

You can also send comments in writing to Jenny Stark, Senior Planner, jcstark@toronto.ca and copy Janet Davis at Councillor_Davis@toronto.ca.

Danforth East Arts Fair: Meet artist Eric Davy

It’s less than a week until the 2013 Danforth East Arts Fair (DEAF13) in East Lynn Park. There will be dozens of artists offering a range of artwork, gifts, crafts and clothing as well as food, live entertainment and other family fun. In this post, we learn a bit more about Eric Davy of Davy Glass. Davy and his collection of hand-blown colourful glassware were a fan favourite last year, winning the People’s Choice award. He speaks with DEAF13 organizer Shauna Rempel about his inspiration, where his art has taken him and what he thinks about beige.

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1. What is the best way for people to learn more about your work (besides coming to East Lynn Park this weekend)?

I prefer for people to learn more about my art through my website DavyGlass.ca as it gives the broadest scope of the work I make.

2. Please describe your work in 10 words or less.

Hand-blown classical shapes, featuring modern surface design.

3. How did you begin your creative journey? How did it evolve?

I began working with glass at 16, I dropped out (of high school) and apprenticed under Alfred Engerer, who steered me clear of trouble. Later I went to Sheridan College and now nobody asks about high school.

Since then I have worked with artists and in factories all over Canada.

Three years ago I began my own business and doing shows, gathering gallery representation along the way. I am now the featured glass blower at the Venetian Hotel and Casino in Macao, China twice a year for two months and the resident glass blower at the Red Barns and Artists Play Ground for three.

4. What inspires you?

I take much of my inspiration from the feelings that certain times of day, in certain settings can conjure — in a word, nature.

5. How is your work different from that of other artists in your field?

I embrace a certain amount of chaos, my work is loud and aggressive. I feel we live in a beige world and we need more accents.

6. Finally, what are you most looking forward to at the Danforth East Arts Fair?

Winning the viewers’ choice competition a second year in a row.

E.J. (Eric) Davy of Davy Glass at work while an artist in residence at the Venetian resort in Macau, China.
E.J. (Eric) Davy of Davy Glass at work while an artist in residence at the Venetian resort in Macau, China.

To learn more about the Danforth East Arts Fair, visit deca-arts.ca/, follow us on Twitter (@Deca_Arts) or find us on Facebook.

This September, Show Our Locals Some Love

September Shop Local Campaign

Have you seen those beautiful Shop Local posters in store windows lately? Our fabulous Pop-up Shop Project co-ordinators, Tina and Gay, put together the campaign to celebrate our local businesses and remind you to show them some love this September. Details are up on our website. We’ve also started collecting pics of local September features and specials on Pinterest (excuse the orientation–we’ll figure out how to rotate those suckers soon).

Tina explains what it’s all about and gives some reasons why shopping local is important:

If you’re an avid follower of this blog then chances are you already support the local businesses. But did you know research shows that a dollar spent at a locally owned store is usually spent 6 to 15 before it leaves the community? By contrast, a dollar spent at a national chain store results in 80% of that dollar leaving the neighbourhood immediately (cited from Northwest Earth Institute for Sustainable Living.) It’s gotta feel good to know that your hard-earned money is staying within the community several times over when you shop locally!

Throughout the month of September, keep your eyes open for the Shop Local posters throughout the ‘hood. These posters will highlight new products, services, and maybe even a deal or two from the local businesses. And here’s what you can do: spread the word! Snap a photo of a poster and post it on your preferred social media site (but don’t forget to include the name of the store it’s from!)  Word of mouth really is the best way to share all the great things our neighbourhood has to offer.

And if you needed more reasons to shop locally, read on for 10 benefits of shopping locally.

1. JOB AND WAGES

Locally owned businesses create jobs in the neighbourhood and, in some sectors, provide better wages and benefits than chains do.

2. COMPETITION

A marketplace of many small businesses is the best way to ensure innovation and low prices over the long term.

3. PRODUCT DIVERSITY

A multitude of neighbourhood-based small businesses, each selecting products based on their knowledge of the needs of their local customers, not on the decision of some distant executive and a national sales plan, guarantees a much broader range of product choices.

4. PROTECT LOCAL CHARACTER AND PROSPERITY

Danforth East offers an eclectic mix of shops — some with a long tradition in the area, some brand new.  By choosing to support locally owned businesses, you help maintain our diversity and distinctive

flavour.

5. KEEPING DOLLARS IN THE LOCAL ECONOMY

Dollars spent in locally owned businesses have three times the impact on your community as dollars spent at national chains. When shopping locally, you simultaneously create jobs, fund more city services through property tax, invest in neighbourhood improvement and promote community development.

6. COMMUNITY WELL-BEING

Locally owned businesses build strong neighbourhoods by sustaining communities, linking neighbours, and by contributing more to local causes.

7. LOCAL DECISION MAKING

When the businesses in an area are locally owned, the important decisions are made locally, by people who live in the community and who will feel the impacts of those decisions.

8. PUBLIC BENEFITS AND COSTS

Local stores along main streets require comparatively little infrastructure and make more efficient use of public services relative to big-box stores and strip malls.

9. ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Entrepreneurship fuels North America’s economic innovation and prosperity, and serves as a key means for families to move out of lowwage jobs and into the middle class.

10. ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY

Local stores help to sustain vibrant, compact, walkable neighbourhoods, which in turn are essential to reducing sprawl, automobile use, habitat loss, and air and water pollution.

Adapted and reprinted with permission of Stacy Mitchell, The Institute for Local Self-Reliance and StayLocal.org.

September Shop Local PosterEvent Alert: Jim Diers

Speaking of building vibrant communities, make sure you save the date for the evening of September 17. We’ve got an inspiring speaker you won’t want to miss. More details in DECA Diaries to come soon…

Local Film Fest Starts Tomorrow! Please share

The First Annual Danforth Independent Photo and Film Festival begins tomorrow, September 6, 2013 and will continue for the month of September at Artisans at Work, 2071 Danforth Avenue.  The opening coincides with Artisans’ usual “First Friday” event, which is always a fun-filled event that falls on the first Friday of every month.  Come and check it out!  For more information about the film and photography festival and First Fridays, please visit http://www.artisans-at-work.com/

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We hear that tomorrow’s First Friday will include live music from The Sidewalkers from 7:00 p.m., along with a licensed bar & food by TKO’s Sports Pub. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and the fun will go until 10:00 p.m. – all are welcome!

As part of the festival, on September 19 this wonderful screening + wine & cheese will be taking place – mark your calendars!

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The focus of James Buffin’s work as a documentary filmmaker is disaster/recovery, both personal and natural. Celebrating 25 years as a working professional, Buffin will be sharing and discussing these selected works and works in progress, filmed in North America, South America, Polynesia and Asia:

Jingle Dress: about witnessing Jules Koostachin’s five-year healing journey to dance at a pow wow for the first time, in honour of healing from her mother’s Residential School traumas.
Chasing With Heart: how the world of Eddy Weiss, dark horse Nebraska storm chaser, gets turned inside out after the national weather service denies the existence of a tornado that nearly takes his own home and family.
Paradise Tsunami: documenting the resilience of the people of Samoa following the devastating 2009 tsunami that erased an entire region and hobbled the economic engine of this tiny South Pacific nation.
Dead End: Alive!: a personal story about how, 35 years after experiencing childhood sexual abuse, one man brings all his talents to bear in transforming and recovering from a previously invisible trauma.
Two bodies of Buffin’s photographic work will also be on display and open for discussion: Mashrimani, taken during a Guyanese festival celebrating the end of a cycle of accomplishment and Flowers, an exploration of beauty.
James Buffin is an East York filmmaker, photojournalist and social activist. In addition to having his work screened on CBC and published in POV Magazine and The Globe and Mail online, Buffin speaks publicly at events and conferences such as a recent Federal Justice Round Table on Crime, a Federal Ombudsman for Victims of Crime Conference and The Gatehouse Conference.

Farmers’ Market: Silly Fun and Cycle Chats

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Did you know that the East Lynn Park Farmers’ Market is a certified local market – meaning everything that is sold at the market is actually made by the farmers who are selling to you? DECA partners with Farmers’ Markets Ontario to bring the farmers to our community each week so we can buy the real deal! Hope you’ve been enjoying the fruits of their labour so far this season and continue to support them as we head into this prime harvest season!

The photo contest is still on! Send your best picture that captures the essence of the market to events(at)danfortheastcommunityassociation.com. We’ll repost all the submissions in a few weeks and ask for your help to vote for a winner!

Songs, Stories and Circle Time with Silly Goose Kids

Our pals from Silly Goose Kids will be at the market at 4:30 pm. Talented mother-daughter duo Erika and Sally will run a storytelling session for the wee ones to enjoy! Plus songs and circle time. Check out the poster below for all the details.

Bike Tune-Ups with 32 Spokes

Members of 32 Spokes will be available at the market week for bicycle maintenance, advice, route planning, bike advocacy discussions and general bike-centric chats! They’ll have spare parts and some new tools to play with, along with our friends from Cycle Solutions who will be helping with more technical repairs free of charge.

Fall is the perfect season for bike riding, when the temperatures are not too sweltering nor too cold, so pop along and say hello and they’ll help you keep your ride running smoothly as long into the year as possible!

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The East Lynn Farmers’ Market runs every Thursday from 3-7 p.m. between June 6 – October 17 at East Lynn Park, located on the south side of Danforth Ave, just west of Woodbine Ave. Stay up to date by visiting the new East Lynn Market Facebook page.