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Calling all Artists & Crafters in Toronto!

Here’s an update on one of the Pop-Up Shops from Tara S.

We are looking for artists and crafters to participate in our Pop-Up Shop project on the Danforth, between Coxwell and Woodbine.  As discussed previously,  there is an energetic and passionate group of people working on the Renew East Danforth project to fill empty storefronts and find long term tenants for the building owners.

For the holiday shopping month of December, we have 4 or 5 stores taking part, creating a festive, well advertised and celebrated event.  One of the stores will be holding an “indoor craft show“, a place for artists to show & sell their wares during the peak shopping season on the Danforth.

Table space rental: One weekend($75), all 5 weekends($325), weekdays($20/day) or the whole month($525).

Hours open to public:

  • Monday to Friday: 10am to 5pm
  • Saturday & Sunday: 9am to 6pm

If you are interested in renting a table, here are the details:

  • Artists must come one hour before store opening to set up products.
  • Tables are 8ft long. Without a table, the space is approximately 8 x 3 ft.  Cost of table rental is extra, price is dependent on the number of days you rent. Your own set-up is welcome as an alternative.
  • Artists are asked to submit by email:  5 photos of their work, with prices for those in pictures, retail/exhibition history, a short artist biography describing process of creation, price range of work, contact information, and any other relevant information. The submissions will be juried and payment will be required soon after that time.
  • Please email Tara for more details:  Please type “Pop-Up Craft Show” in the subject line.
  • Application deadline : Wednesday November 21!

Following the craft sales in December, we are searching for artists to share the rent one of the spaces as a co-op work and sales space. Any enquiries are welcome!

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Open Minds, Bond-alicious fundraiser, and Cozy Sundays

Introducing: Open Minds Toronto

Open Minds Toronto is a new group in the area, which is dedicated to “opening up spaces for community members to meet, play and learn together.”  While they build toward their longer-term goal of  opening a learning hub on the Danforth, they have partnered with some local businesses to ‘animate’ our community.  They have two exciting events in the coming weeks, and don’t forget to RSVP in order to reserve your seat.
‘Itch and Stitch
Friday, November 16, 7:00 – 9:00 p.m. 
Patisserie La Cigogne (Danforth and Monarch Park)
Cost: Pay What You Can
Bring your mending, sketching, knitting, embroidery, whatever…and join in for conversation on topical issues, while sipping and nibbling on the fine offerings of Patisserie La Cigogne, at the corner of Danforth and Monarch Park.  Joanne at La Cigogne has agreed to stay open an hour later than usual to accommodate the group. Click here to reserve a seat.
 
Making a Racket at the Rocket 
Thursday, November 22, 7:30 – 9:30 p.m. 
@ Red Rocket (1364 Danforth)
Cost: Pay What You Can

This will be a Spoken Word evening of readings, poetry and storytelling.  Poets, authors, storytellers and songwriters are welcome to register to present. There will be a featured author: Terri Favro, author of The Proxy Bride (and local Danforth resident).  Everyone is welcome to come out to the Red Rocket, 1364 Danforth (between Greenwood and Coxwell) as audience as well.  The Red Rocket is licensed to serve alcohol, and also has a nice selection of coffees and teas and nibbles. If you’re coming (either to present or to listen) definitely email them by clicking here so they can reserve a seat for you – they expect this to be popular!

All proceeds are to help develop the potential of Open Minds. If you want to know more, have ideas, or want to get involved, or want to keep updated about more events, visit their website: http://www.openmindstoronto.ca.
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East End Children’s Centre Fundraiser
November 17th, starting at 7:30p.m 
Mark your calendars for this exciting 007-themed fundraiser in support of East End Children’s Centre (includes the drop-ins at Kimbourne and Terry Fox) next Saturday, November 17.

BONDalicious…. From East York With Love

Please join us in celebrating 50 years of James Bond at our

21st Annual Fundraising Gala supporting East End Children’s Centre

A one-of-a-kind event that is guaranteed to leave you

Shaken, Not Stirred!

Saturday, November 17th at 7:30 pm

  •  7:30 pm  Champagne Reception
  • 8 pm  Enjoy delectable treats and creative cocktails as you peruse the Silent Auction tables and give our wheel a spin to win marvelous prizes!
  • 10 pm  Fabulous Live Auction in support of East End Children’s Centre

Guests are encouraged (but not at all required) to don their sparkles & sequins, dress as their favourite Bond Girl, Bond Villain or as 007 himself!

Please remember this is an adult-only event (babes-in-arms welcome)

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Cozy Sundays are Back!
Cozy Cafe, 2075 Danforth Ave, will be open on Sundays again beginning tomorrow.  The fabulous owners have finished their season at out-of-town Farmers’ Markets on the weekends, they are ready to serve up a scrumptious brunch, plus your favourite loaves, croissants and cinnamon buns, all weekend long!
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More Pop-Ups Coming To Danforth East

DECA’s extremely keen Renew East Danforth project is hosting another series of pop-up shops this December. All interested businesses, social and artistic enterprises are invited to submit an application to be considered for a one-month, free opportunity to create a pop-up shop on Danforth East from December 1st to December 31st. We will be accepting applications using the form at www.danfortheastcommunityassociation.com until Wednesday November 14th.

What is a pop-up shop?
Pop-up shops are temporary stores that pop-up for anywhere from a few days to a few months in empty storefronts. Landlords lend their space to enterprises for a short time free-of-charge and the impact is win-win. The enterprise gets the opportunity to try the space and the neighbourhood to see if it is a viable location to start something more permanent and the landlord gets their space cleaned, painted and staged for potential renters to consider it for future use.

Who needs to be involved in making a pop-up a success?
The key ingredients to a pop-up success are:

  • A landlord willing to lend their space for a month or more, free-of-charge
  • A business, artistic or social enterprise that wants to use the space and has a plan draw lots of foot traffic
  • A group of volunteers willing to help clean, paint and prep the space.

How can it benefit the community?
Pop-ups have proven wildly successful at revitalizing empty, lagging or struggling commercial areas. Stories from cities and towns across Australia, the United States, Canada, and the U.K. all demonstrate that pop-ups have the potential to take an area that has limited to no foot traffic, abandoned storefronts, and no competition for renting space and turn them into vibrant and successful commercial areas. More rented storefronts means more foot traffic, less vandalism and safer streets.

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Art Show, Neighbourhood Toy Store Day and a few other notes

Art Show & Sale

If you have an art lover on your holiday shopping list, or maybe you just need to get out of your house and away from all the Halloween Candy, consider visiting the 4th Annual Open Rhodes Art Show & Sale this weekend.  Rhodes Avenue is 1 block west of Coxwell Avenue on the south side of Danforth. Follow the purple “Open Rhodes” signs from 1:00 – 7:00 p.m. this Saturday and Sunday, November 10 & 11.

Click here for more info.

Celebrate ‘Neighbourhood Toy Store Day’ @ Silly Goose Kids!  

(note: one-day discount, prizes and lots of fun for the whole family…and TOYS!)

(P.S. – Check the inserts in your Mirror paper next Thursday, November 15, for the first-ever Silly Goose Kids CATALOGUE!)

Can there ever be too much pumpkin love?

We missed a few thank yous the other day when we published our Pumpkin Parade roundup post.  Here are a couple more, because can you ever have too much love?

Thank you to Ward 32 Councillor Mary-Margaret McMahon and her office staff – yay Laurie! – who helped to promote the Parade and waive the permit fee.  We also want to acknowledge that the City’s Solid Waste Department stepped in to provide bins for the pumpkins, and then they hauled them away at no cost.

Last but certainly not least, a belated thank you out to our own volunteer extraordinaire, Tak Bui, who designed the awesome Pumpkin Parade poster.

Phew.  That feels so much better.

What happened to the weekly pop-up shop?

As you know, DECA’s latest off-shoot, Renew East Danforth, has been quietly gaining momentum over the past few months. After a successful two-week pop-up pilot project, expect more popping up yet to come!  Stay tuned.

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DECA Cocktail Party/AGM and Pumpkin Parade round-up

Your invited to the DECA Cocktail Party/AGM (Yes, our AGM is a cocktail party – we’re THOSE people) on Monday, November 12 – see below:

While we like to focus on the cocktail party aspect of the evening, the AGM part does require a teeny tiny sliver of time in order to get our new Board elected.  Unless an unexpected coup takes place, the business portion of the evening shouldn’t take longer than 10 minutes or so.  For real!

The AGM is also a great chance for you to register/renew your DECA membership. For the low, low price of $10 per household, you can feel like a good citizen, and you will be filled with pride when we take your $10 and turn it into pop-up shops, the annual Arts Fair, the weekly Farmers’ Market, kids’ stuff sale, pub crawls, and so much more. Plus, you get to vote at our AGM and you can throw your clout all around town, for 365 glorious days. If you can’t make it next week, you can pay via PayPal be clicking on ‘subscribe’ at the bottom of our membership page.  Alternatively, you can drop off cash or a cheque at 48 Glebemount Avenue.

Once again, our boarders are Main St to Mortimer/Lumsden to Monarch Park, down to the train tracks.

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Pumpkin Parade Round-up

A message from our Chief Pumpkineer, Heather Bean.  DECA can’t thank you enough, Heather, for inspiring and organizing our most magical event of the year!

It was a bit drizzly and a bit windy, but his year’s pumpkin parade was still a delight. Kids big and small racing around the park in the dark; parents telling their little ones, “We can’t take pictures of ALL of them!”; couples wandering through, oohing and aahing; later, little clutches of teens pointing out their favourites. We had classic triangle-eyed pumpkins, scary pumpkins, a pumpkin snowman, Angry Birds and Dora the Explorer, Frankenweenie, John Lennon, and an enormous pumpkin, mercifully placed right next to the compost bin. (Thanks!) A special shout-out to Miss Curran’s Grade Ones and Twos, for their pumpkin-studded pumpkin.
A big thank you to our board members, especially Anita, Sheri and Shelley, for giving advice, handling pre-parade logistics and postering the town.
And especially, thank you to our Pumpkin Parade volunteers! Johanne Von Zuben has lit our pumpkins for two of the past three walks, cheerfully braving the cold. Our cleanup crew included Steve Wickens, Jeff Colley, Kathleen Peak and her mighty wagon, and Paul Haines and his cleanup crew of Matt, Jevon and Phil. We had that bin filled in record time.
See you again next year!