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Danforth East Arts Fair – Bix Bakery’s artisanal ice cream

In our series of profiles leading up the Danforth East Arts Fair, Arts Fair volunteer, Mary C. provides a mouth-watering preview of food vendor, Bix Bakery. 
You wouldn’t want to put Christy Conte’s art on a pedestal or hang it on a wall. Not that it isn’t beautiful. But it would melt.
Conte sells delectable coconut milk ice cream and sundaes out of a cooler. Think exotic — blueberry basil, pear lemongrass, maple roasted banana and dark chocolate with candied bacon. And it’s all dairy-free.

A few years ago, after Conte was diagnosed as gluten and lactose intolerant, she left her high-powered corporate job and embarked on a career working with food. After apprenticing at St. John’s Bakery, she opened Bix Bakery, and is working out of the Hollywood Foods kitchen on Ossington Ave. She’s been selling her frozen wares across the city this summer — handing out tastes on Ossington and popping up at the Toronto Underground Market and Apple Tree Market. Now she’s headed our way.
 
Conte will be joining the Danforth East Arts Fair for the first time on Sept. 15 & 16. Her artisanal ice cream is three bucks per cup — or four bucks for three sundae toppings. We’re talking praline sauce, seasonal fruit, ginger cookie crumble or candied bacon. That’s a treat worth sharing, don’t you think?
For more artists’ profiles, contests, and up-to-the-minute Arts Fair info, click here to “like” us on Facebook!
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Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue?

Something Old

Tintypes are back!

If you came to last year’s Danforth East Arts Fair, you likely noticed a photographer hiding under the hood of an old-timey camera to take portraits of other patrons. That’s Horst Herget, and he was creating tintypes right in East Lynn Park, developing the images on tin in just a few minutes and recreating an ancient art form in the process. Perhaps you caught his recent “Face the Danforth” show at Crema.

We’ve been getting questions about whether he’s returning on September 15 & 16. Lucky for you, the answer is yes. If you’re interested in having Horst take your picture, click here to drop him a line in advance, or stop by his booth in the northwest corner of the park.
Prices range from $45 to $75. You can even get your image framed right there in the park after Horst develops it. Doesn’t that make gift giving easy?
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Something New
Have you noticed the store called Shoe Clearance on Danforth, just east of Monarch Park?
This is a clearance store associated with a shoe store with locations in Riverdale and the Beaches, with many prices discounted to far less than half the original. So our neighbourhood gets great quality shoes for adults, kids and babies at a fraction of the cost? Yay us! Open Tuesday to Saturday from 12 noon – 7 p.m.
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Something Borrowed
You’re invited to the next DECA Board Meeting
The next DECA Board meeting is on September 11, 2012 at 7:30 p.m. Are you a DECA member who would like to attend, or someone else with a reason to want to go? If so, we’d love to borrow you for an evening. We meet at a local licensed establishment, so think of it as a night out with neighbours rather than a “Board meeting” per se. If you would like more information, please email info@DanforthEastCommunityAssociation.com and someone will get back to you with more details.
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Something Blue
Did you stop receiving DECA Diaries to your email?
We’ve heard that some people stopped getting our blog posts right to their inbox. We think that this occurred when the emails stopped coming from Natasha’s email account, and switched over to decadiaries(at)gmail.com. If this happened to you, please check your spam filters and add our new email address to your safe list. You can click here to notify us if any problems persist.
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Police request assistance with attempted abduction investigation, Sammon/Greenwood area

From the Toronto Police:
Sex Crimes Unit
416-808-7474

The Toronto Police Service would like to make the public aware of an attempted abduction investigation.

It is reported that:

– on Wednesday, August 29, 2012 at 1:30 p.m., a 12-year-old girl left her home and went to a convenience store in the Sammon Avenue/Greenwood Avenue area

– while en route, she passed a parked white van with two men on board

– the male passenger exited the van and grabbed the girl’s arm

– the girl was able to escape the man’s grasp

– the man fled the scene

The male passenger is described as 30, brown, 5’8”, green eyes, white hair with a long white beard. He was last seen wearing a Taqiyah and robe.

The van is described as having rust on the rear-door hinges as well as over the wheel wells.

Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 416-808-7474, Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416-222-TIPS (8477), online at www.222tips.com, text TOR and your message to CRIMES (274637), or Leave A Tip on Facebook. Download the free Crime Stoppers Mobile App on iTunes, Google Play or Blackberry App World.

Constable Tony Vella, Corporate Communications, for Detective Constable Shannon Warcop, Sex Crimes Unit

http://www.torontopolice.on.ca/newsreleases/release.php?id=24385

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‘Restaurant Takeover’ takes over Danforth’s Golden Pizza

A keen DECA Board Member (okay fine, it was me) was strolling along the Danforth today and noticed some TV-types taping black plastic over the windows of Golden Pizza, near Danforth and Oak Park Avenues . The sign in the window said “Closed for Restaurant Takeover”.  So I did what anyone would do – I took a picture!

Click here for Huffington Post’s article about this new show, Restaurant Takeover, and you will get a sense of what our neighbourhood is in for.  It sounds like by next week, we might have a new Danforth Gem on our hands!  Stay tuned.

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At the Market this week: Green thumbs of little ones

This week at the East Lynn Farmers’ Market!

Garden Jane: 

Garden Jane will be on hand to teach kids how to make compost tea and red wriggler homes for worm composting.  For more information on what this dynamic garden educator does, check out her website.

A family affair… 

Like many of the farmers who bring their produce to East Lynn Park each week, Larry Short of Sun Ray Orchards comes from a long line of farmers. He now runs the Beamsville farm that his great-grandfather ran and lives a farmhouse built in 1830 with his wife Tammy and their five children. You can’t miss them, just look for the tent filled with red heads.

Larry is always interested new and challenging ways to keep youth interested in farming. That’s why he involves all five of his children in the farming operations – whether it be picking the tomatoes, helping produce the baked goods and jams, or coming to help sell at the market; and, it seems to be working.  Larry says that his children are already excited to see what they can plant on their own next year.

So if you’re looking for some berries, peaches, watermelon, pies, jams, cider, or even a little parenting advice on keeping children interested in farming, check out Sun Ray Orchards.

Come see us! 

If you haven’t stopped by the DECA tent lately, you should.  You can find out about our upcoming DECA events, including the Arts Fair, Applemania and Harvestfest.  You can also pick up one of the colourful DECA t-shirts that we have for sale. If you live in the DECA borders, please consider getting or renewing a membership for $10 per household. We’re your neighbours, so you can even come and just say “hi”!

DECA’s borders are Monarch Park Ave to Mortimer/Lumsden to Main St down to the train tracks. To learn more about DECA please visit our website.

The East Lynn Farmer’s Market runs every Thursday from 3-7 p.m. between June-October at East Lynn Park, located on the south side of Danforth Ave, just west of Woodbine Ave.

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Danforth East Arts Fair: Joan Jamieson of Norrie and Hank

In our series of artist profiles leading up the Danforth East Arts Fair, writer Shauna Rempel introduces us to Joan Jamieson of kid-friendly Norrie and Hank.

Jamieson spent 30 years as an elementary school teacher, so she has a good sense of what children like. The local artist also been sewing for 50 years and that experience is easy to see with Norrie and Hank, the imaginary friends behind a line of clothing, playthings and accessories for kids that puts new and repurposed fabric to good use.

In a unique twist, Jamieson chooses trims and embellishments from the trunk full of fabric she inherited from her mother, who was an avid quilter. “I combine these treasures with repurposed clothing, linens and other notions to create things that are comfortable for kids to wear and fun for them to play with.”

Baby boots fashioned from a lambswool sweater, felted to be extra soft and washable

For the Danforth East Arts Fair, Jamieson is focusing on three types of items. First, she’s making accessories for young children including soft fleece-lined baby boots, hats and mittens. Jamieson’s second focus is on fun, functional clothing that will grow with the kids, such as dresses that can later be worn as tunics. “I like to make things that can last several years,” Jamieson says. She’s also making playthings such as vintage-style hand kites. Included in this third category are a trio of playmats intended for preschool and school aged children to use while playing with toys. The playmats are designed to fold up into a messenger bag with a pocket so kids can tote their treasures with them. Take note, DECA fans, one mat is decorated with Toronto landmarks, including a representation of the East Lynn Farmers’ Market!

A pirate jacket that isn’t just a costume. It’s a functional jacket made from men’s pants and fully lined with what used to be a plaid flannel shirt.

The best part about Norrie and Hank? Most of Jamieson’s items are partly made with repurposed fabric so you can teach your kids about recycling while kitting them out with unique and fashionable items!

Joan Jamieson’s wares, which range in price from $10 to $100, will be for sale at the Danforth East Arts Fair in East Lynn Park on Sept. 15 & 16, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

For more information, visit www.deca-arts.ca or check out Facebook or Twitter.