Month: May 2021

DECA is so excited to welcome back the East Lynn Park Farmers’ Market this Thursday, June 3 in the park! We have a total of 10 vendors, some old favourites and some welcome newcomers, selling veggies, fruit, bread, pastries, wine and beer!

To keep everyone safe and distanced, we will be setting up in a large area on the west side of the path, allowing in 24 customers at a time. Please bring your mask, your cloth bags, and your smile!

“Shop for your Neighbour” Initiative 
Last year, due to restrictions, East Lynn Farmers’ Market ran a volunteer driven, delivery model.This model was a big success and highlighted the fact that many of our neighbours would like to shop at the market but aren’t physically able to make it to the park each week.With the market back in the park this year, DECA wanted to create a way for those shopping in person to connect with those who need someone to shop for them. Starting next week – Visit East Lynn Park Farmers’ Market on Facebook every Monday where the “Shop for your Neighbour” Post will offer a space for those offering and needing help to post and connect with their neighbours each week!

“What’s In Season” Newsletter and Kids’ Activity

In an effort to promote our local business neighbours and share a take-home kids’ activity, we will be handing out a weekly newsletter featuring coupons from local businesses, market news, and a colouring sheet or other activity for the kiddos! If you are a local business, please email green@deca.to to find out more!

(*South of Danforth avenue)
Today DECA will hold a grass roots visioning exercise with the community at the launch of the second master planning phase of the SoDa Barns project at the TTC site at Danforth & Coxwell, to bring local knowledge to the discussion of programming both for long term and for interim uses.

We obviously have no official role at this time in this process, but as residents we understand our community and this is very much a community building exercise!
Join us and tell us your ideas for programming for the site and the SoDa Barns!  

Your Zoom link: https://zoom.us/j/99174274650?pwd=cTBiRDBSaXptbTlqaU5GdE5aS3lzUT09 

Meeting ID: 991 7427 4650 Passcode: 490311

Councillor Bradford and people from the stakeholders for the site and the various city departments will attend our meeting in a listening capacity. This meeting is for the community to speak and to help compile a list of services, programs and spaces which would create a vibrant community hub! This large project has the potential of having a dynamic impact on not only the immediate area but on the east end of the city! 
Under the continued leadership of CreateTO and DTAH Architects, public consultations will be part of the process for the second master planning stage of this project, aided by knowledgeable staff and consultants.  We look forward to hearing when.

See you later today!

* South of Danforth avenue 

The Danforth East Community Association (DECA) invites you to join us on Tuesday May 18th at 7:30 pm online for “Re-Imagine the Danforth: The SoDa Barns”. This grassroots visioning exercise for our community will generate a list of program suggestions for the buildings and spaces on the SoDa Barns site. This local knowledge will contribute to the creative discussion on this development and articulate a vision for our community!  

Following on from the successful DECA event “Imagine the Danforth” in 2014, we seek to again bring to the table a discussion of the significant economic, cultural and community deficits in our neighbourhood. 

As this development project enters the second phase under the continued leadership of CreateTO and DTAH Architects, we are inspired to re-visit the heritage of the Barns buildings on the site. 

The original building was constructed as a streetcar maintenance building in 1915. The skylights from this original structure remain today and it is the second oldest building in this part of Toronto. The building was expanded to become the main carhouse in 1921. (Wychwood Barns was built at this time) These vast, industrial structures have proved resilient since that time as they have adapted to the changes in their use. Today we again re-imagine their role in our community. 

The Masterplan approved by City Council in 2019 provides the structure for future development plans. The locations of interior and exterior public spaces and buildings for the three main site tenants, the Toronto Public Library expanded Coxwell Branch, The TPS Divisions 54 & 55 and Housing Now, as well as locations for additional new buildings, are mapped out in the Masterplan. The massing of these structures was also illustrated as part of the planning, as shown in the diagram below. 

DECA Visioning began the exercise of compiling suggestions for program uses on the site. Some suggestions on the list are as follows: 

– office space 

– a space/ stage for community meetings and live theatre performances & rehearsals 

– programmable public-event space both inside and outside, for the community and  revenue-generating events 

– arts & culture incubator 

–  light industry (jewelry, art production, food, fashion…) 

– community centre 

– skating rink 

– startup incubator and innovation hub 

– community gardens 

This event’s contributions will be distributed to those involved in this development. If you cannot attend, please email your suggestions to visioning@deca.to until May 25th 2021. Further information for participation in this event will be posted closer to the date. 

We look forward to Re-Imagining with you!  

DECA Green partnered with the Danforth Mosaic BIA to bring you four workshops in the month of April. Each session featured a presentation from our local experts, followed by a Q&A. Below are the summaries and recordings. Thank you to everyone who participated! It was wonderful to see such a great community turnout for each event.

Mend your Clothes to Reduce Textile Waste with FABRIC SPARK

Don’t replace…repair. Shirley shows us how to make repairs to well loved clothes, with a focus on items such as leggings and pant knees. You can also check out her presentation slides with all the techniques she covered.

Bicycle Readiness with THE CYCLEPATH

April 8 was our first workshop, where we learned essentials like rules of the road, how to safely lock up a bike, and how to fix a flat from Spencer at The Cyclepath. You can watch the workshop recording here:

Stocks and soups with  DICKIE’S COOKING SCHOOL

April 15 was our stocks workshop, where Lisa Dickie taught us everything we needed to know about how to make delicious food from veggie scraps. Check out Lisa’s blog for lots of great recipes! (Sorry that we don’t have a recording for this one.)

Sustainable Living and Gardening with THE RE PLACE

This Earth Day workshop showed us how to make an herb garden out of an old trunk and gave us a great tour of The Re.Place!

You can catch the recording here (minus a couple of minutes at the beginning–sorry for the tech difficulties!)