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Dogs, Clean-Ups and Frisbee – our parks rock!

Is there ever any end to the cool things that go on in our local parks?

Clean ups for Earth Day this Saturday!

Merril Park Dog Association Spring Clean!
Saturday, April 20, 2013 10:00 a.m. – noon in Merril Park
Check out their blog to learn more about them!

Councillor McMahon’s Annual Spring Clean-Up – Danforth East
with DECA and the Danforth Mosaic BIA and Councillor Davis!
Saturday, April 20, 2013
2:00 p.m. onward (until it’s clean!)
Meet at East Lynn Park, bring gloves

Councillor Davis’ Clean Up Day
Too many events to list in and around our area, including our join event starting at East Lynn Park at 2:00 p.m. – here is the link to her website: http://www.councillordavis.com/action-centre/1356

Ultimate Frisbee at Stephenson Park! (Main & Danforth Aves)

A word from a local business we just heard from:

Our business is called REC Athletics, we organize and facilitate adult recreational level sports leagues. We are starting out our 2013 season with an Ultimate Frisbee league, operating on Wednesday nights @ Stephenson Park. The spring season will commence on May 15, 2013 running until end of June, with a skills workshop, and scrimmage being held on May 5, 2013. Our summer season will begin early July, running through until the end of August. We are also working with the city on some plans to include a fall season that would operate through September and October.


Registrations are happening quickly, but we still have several spots remaining for both team, and individual registrants. People can visit our website (www.recatheltics.com) for more information or to register! We will be launching a new website June 1st, this will better serve our customers and our business with a more efficient registration and payment system. Also people are encouraged to visit and “Like” our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/RecAthletics) to remain updated with all the happenings REC Athletics!

DECA is on Twitter @DECADiaries – help us get to 300 followers! Tell your friends!
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A Weeks Worth of Ways to Get Out of the House

Spring is chalking up to be a busy time for Danforth East!  In addition to the activities listed in a previous post, there’s also a transit expansion and funding discussions, a spoken word celebration via Open Minds and Red Rocket and an education session on encouraging young readers.  Take your pick!

#CodeRedTO Transition Meeting – Tomorrow

CodeRed Toronto

Open Minds: Makin’ a Racket at the Rocket – Friday

Preview of “Microsoft Word - Racket_poster_Apr,_May,_June[1].docx”

Something for the Young Readers – Wednesday

Earl Haig - Reading

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BIG Ideas @ DECA Pop-UP Meeting

We were thrilled to welcome more than 40 enthusiastic people on the blustery evening of March 27th at Artisans at Work:

  • Meet others interested in revitalizing Danforth East
  • Become familiar with the pop-up shop project successes and challenges
  • Learn about pop-up project models around the world
  • Plan the next phase of this project!

The crowd included residents, local business owners, landlords, community organizations, potential pop-up tenants and other supporters of the project. If you missed it, check out the PowerPoint presentation online for photos, to learn more about project successes/challenges and to find out about the models in use around the world.

The Models

Participants discussed three models being used with success around the world to implement pop-up projects and added one more of their own creation. Then everyone voted on the model they felt would be most effective in this neighbourhood. The model that won by an overwhelming majority was the ongoing, incremental increase model:

  • Up to 6 months of month-long rolling leases (or until the space is leased)
  • Tenants pay landlord a fixed amount to cover costs/utilities
  • Each month, tenants increase their rental payments by increments, until they are paying full rent

During the brainstorming, a suggestion was made to base incremental rent increases on a percentage of a tenant’s retail sales. This system provides the possibility of additional growing rent to the landlord and is fair to the tenant (their rent increases as their sales increase). DECA has been experimenting successfully with a similar model and now has direction to finalize the details. Next steps: the Landlord Working Group (see below) can begin asking more landlords to get on board and the new tenant application can be posted on the website by April 30th.

Three Working Groups

Three groups have formed to help make this a success. If you are interested in being a part of this exciting project, please consider signing up to participate in one of the following working groups.

What’s your passion?

  • Recruiting Landlords Working Group – contact Gay
  • Recruiting Tenants Working Group – contact TBA (maybe you?)
  • Planning and Promoting a Big Launch Event – contact Tina

There’s lots to do over the next three months! The landlord group is looking at ways to entice more of the 16-18 landlords with empty storefronts to get on board. The tenant group is working out ways to recruit the best tenants, as well as the application and interview process. The big launch event group is brainstorming ideas, making preparations, selecting a name for the event, considering affordability and potential partners in June. Join in by emailing the group co-ordinator; they’ll fill you in and invite you to the next meeting. Expect working groups to meet about once every two weeks over the next three months.

Wanna be part of a cleaning/painting crew? There will be lots of opportunities to volunteer coming up as we recruit more landlords! Stay tuned.

Interested in a retail pop-up shop opportunity? The new tenant application will be posted to the website by April 30th.

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East Lynn Farmers’ Market: Want to contribute?

Can you believe it? There is less than two months to to before the opening of the East Lynn Park Farmers’ Market!  While the first day of the market will be June 6th, we will hold the official Grand Opening Celebration on June 13th.  Mark your calendars and stay tuned for more details.

But… what we can tell you is to expect to have all the face painting fun and crafting with Mrs. Darling like in previous years.  Plus exciting plans are coming together that include a fresh approach to the festivals and more prepared food so you can grab dinner and do your shopping at the same time!

If you’re looking to get involved this year, here are a few ways you can help out:

  • Musicians: I think we can all agree that having live music each week significantly adds to the community vibe that exists at our market.  We’re looking for talented musicians who like help create that atmosphere by entertaining market-goers with their musical talents.   There is a modest stipend ($25) available and musicians are encouraged to open their cases for donations.
  • Cooks: Did you know that someone from our neighbourhood cooks a full dinner meal for the farmers each week?  Pretty cool, eh? We have yet to hear of another community doing this for their farmers.  If you have culinary skills to share, we’d love to have you.  There is a $20 stipend available to help defray the cost.
  • DECA Table Volunteers: Can’t play music? Can’t cook? Want to help but are short on time? No problem!  Can you sit in a chair and smile?  We’re looking for volunteers to sit at the DECA info table for one of two shifts per Thursday? (There is also some set-up or take-down involved)  Help answer questions about DECA and the market.  Don’t worry, we’ll give you all the answers!

If you have other ideas on becoming involved please don’t hesitate to connect with us by emailing Shelley . We’d  love to hear from you! Or perhaps you are or know a local business that would like to sponsor an event? We’d really love to hear from you!

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Support our schools!

April is literacy month! (Note to self, spell-check this post before publishing it.)

Earl Haig Public School is having a used book sale on April 20, from 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 noon.  They are also seeking book donations – read the poster for all the details!

earlHaigLiteracyMonth

And while we’re talking about Earls…Earl Beatty Public School has a date for their Fun Fair – so mark your calendars – May 25th!!

This year, the 9th annual Earl Beatty Public School Fun Fair will be held on May 25th from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The event is a partnership between the school, the Earl Beatty Community Centre and Beatty Buddies. It is a day of family fun including a ball hockey tournament, inflatable games, face painting, kids raffles, a ­­­barbeque and a bake sale. It is our hope that we will build on the success of last year and raise even more funds to help bring much-needed resources into our children’s classrooms and playground. We hope to see you at this fun-filled day!