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#NOWreaderschoice voting is open 


As our neighbourhood gets better and better, the list of Danforth East nominees for NOW Magazine‘s Readers Choice “Best of Toronto” gets longer and longer. 

So we’ve compiled a list for you of all the Danforth East nominees. Let us know if we’ve missed anyone. 

Note: There are lots of other east end favourites on the roster but we stuck with only those in our immediate area.

Huge thanks to our hardworking local business owners who make this neighbourhood a more walkable and vibrant place to live. 

Here are the nominees. Click here to get to the voting! 

Best Park – East Lynn Park

Best blogger – Danforth East Online

Best Car Service – Sunny’s Auto

Best consignment – Merrily Merrily

Best City Councillor – Janet Davis, Mary-Margaret McMahon, Paula Fletcher

Best library – S Walter Stewart

Best dentist – Dr Christina Binert & Associates

Best doctor – Dr Sian Wong

Best gym/fitness – Bomb, Legacy 

Best pet store – Wag, Canine Social

Best toy store – Silly Goose Kids

Best unique gift store – Len

Best vitamin store – Moberly

Best workout studio – Bomb, Legacy 

Best record store – Kops

Best African restaurant – Hirut, Rendez-vous

Best Bar – Sauce, Wren, Only

Best bulk food – Moberly

Best butcher – Royal Beef, Stock n Trade

Best caterer – East of York

Best cocktail bar – The Shore Leave, Sauce

Best delivery – Gerrard Pizza

Best farmers market – East Lynn Farmers Market

Best gastro-pub – The Borough, Local 1794

Best new restaurant – Forth Ave

Best organic food – Moberly

Best prix fixe – Melanie’s Bistro, The Borough

Best tapas – Relish

Best Thai – Thai Room

Best small theatre company – Coal Mine Theatre

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Get your market on

There was a lot of pride in the air last week as we gathered for a Pride-themed East Lynn Farmers’ Market, led by our community’s newest group DECA Pride. A big thank you to the group for leading this event and to all of the families who shared in the celebration.
This week promises to get you movin’, be it through dance, yoga, crafting, or sipping. Come on out and get your market on – here’s what’s in store for you:

Community booth:

Look for Ward 32 Spokes near the top of the market this week offering mini tune ups and cycling maps.

 

Children’s activity:

DESIGNnook is a year-round retail marketplace located at 2038 Danforth Avenue. They provide economical retail solutions to creative entrepreneurs who have a product to sell. We give 100% of the sale back to the vendor in exchange for a monthly rent. Their shop currently has 78 vendors showcasing their hand-crafted, or found treasure goods within their very own retail nook! They will be launching a second location at 1912 Danforth Avenue July 15th! Drop by the Community booth to wish them well with this endeavour and participate in a craft hosted by one of their vendors.

Also, Rob Joy, of the children’s musical duo Soli & Rob, and his puppet sidekick Sluggo will be sharing some guitar-strummin’, toe-tappin’ music to get the whole family groovin’.

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Wellness booth:

Fly Girl Fitness is celebrating its 10th year helping our community to live a healthy and holistic lifestyle. They offer group training and mindful movement classes along with private training to increase confidence, gain a mind body connection, and prevent disease. They will be offering a free Mom and Baby Yoga class at the market at 4:30 p.m. Come out to meet the staff, get information, or try a class!

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Winery of the week:

13th Street Winery is a boutique winery, set among 25 acres of estate vineyards, just outside St. Catharines. They specialize in hand-crafted sparkling wines, Pinot Noir, Gamay Noir, Chardonnay and Riesling. Co-owned by friends Doug and Karen Whitty, and John and June Mann, the vision for the winery was brought about by their shared appreciation for wine, food, and art, and a genuine heart for hospitality. Visit their booth to hear their story and taste their fine wines.
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Wednesdays are Senior’s Days at the Tool Library

Thanks to Tool Library Executive Director, Ryan Dyment for this post

Tool Library Seniors Day

The Toronto Tool Library is proud to announce our new FREE Senior’s Day Program every Wednesday from 9am-2pm at our location on 1803 Danforth Avenue. If you are a senior (or know someone who is), you can drop in and have access to a full woodshop complete with a table saw, jointer, planer, mitre saw, sander, drill press and did I mention over 1,000 hand and power tools? We also have champion handyman Rene Sorenson available to help you with all your questions.

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Oh, and we also have free coffee and snacks from our friends at Viking Bakery!

So spread the word about our new Senior’s Program or drop by yourself, we’d love to see you there! For more information please visit: http://torontotoollibrary.com/seniorsday/. This program is generously funded by the New Horizons for Seniors Program.

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Not a senior? No worries! We still have our weekly FREE Community Night every Wednesday from 7-10pm for all ages. Come in to get some advice or test drive our woodshop, laser-cutter or 3D printers. All are welcome!

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TT4T: The Champions!

Did you get into our table tennis action in throughout June? Here’s a roundup of all the fun–and the champs–from guest blogger Marco Campana.

After a highly competitive table tennis tournament spanning the entire DECA neighbourhood and beyond, we’re happy to tell you about our community champions!
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Everyone! :-)

We’re even more happy to report that we raised $1400 for DECA’s Young Leaders Scholarship! Scadding Court Community Centre will also contribute toward  a $2000 to this year’s scholarship recipient, Chantelle Johnson.

We couldn’t have run a successful tournament/fundraiser without such amazing community support. Thirty-six teams signed up to play, many of you made donations online at the games, elected officials participated in mini-tourney (see below) and local businesses signed up and challenged others on social media! Hollandaise even sold fresh juice and donated the proceeds to our fund. 

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Our best expectations were entirely exceeded thanks to this wonderful neighbourhood.

In addition, we had so many local businesses make in-kind donations for which we are so grateful:  

Thirty-six teams had a blast vying for the title “Community Ping Pong Champion.” Three were crowned.

Competitive league champions
Glebemount’s Got Game!

competitive winners
Photo by Stephen Cassie

Rec league champions
Spin This!

rec winners
Photo by Stephen Cassie

And, the Spirit champions!
We Can Pickle That

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Chantelle joined us to congratulate and hand out trophies and prizes to our winners.

chantelle
Photo by Stephen Cassie

Thank you everyone for your amazing support, we’re in awe of this fantastic and generous community! We’ll definitely be doing this again next year.

Until then, keep practicing on a ping pong table in a park near you, Danforth East! 

Thanks to Stephen Caissie for so many beautiful photos!

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Canada Day in the ‘hood

A few Canada Day events to tell you about, but first thing’s first. You need to know what’s happening at wonderful Stephenson Park.

DECA is proud to help sponsor the Friends of Stephenson Park (FOSP) 3rd Annual Canada Day Celebration! If you want to know why you should attend, keep reading.

We asked FOSP founder, Peter Woodcock about his work to bring people together around Stephenson Park. Here is what he told us:

When we moved here 6 years ago, Stephenson Park seemed kind of sad and forgotten, and a bit of a hot spot for some undesirable behaviour. Just over 3 years ago, I decided to organize a park group in an attempt to get the neighbours to start coming out and using the park. A group of us brainstormed for ideas of what we could do with no budget.

Our first event was a picnic in the park in 2014. It was Canada Day and Pride weekend, so we decided to celebrate both with donated watermelons from Sobey’s, a huge slab cake from Costco and little Canada & Rainbow flags adorning the entire fence around the park. Kids played in the pool and we had music by neighbour and artist extraordinaire Tak Bui. What more could we want?

The park is slowly becoming more vibrant and more loved. We have music nights, yoga most Saturdays, an amazing ice rink, community clean ups, new trees and organized tree watering.

And here we are, 3 years later, getting ready for our 3rd Annual Canada Day Celebration, which is getting bigger and better each year. This year we will be having more food and music, and an early evening bonfire with marshmallows. We will be selling corn on the cob and having an old-timey lemonade stand to raise funds for permits and other activities throughout the year. And of course, we’ll still have the Costco slab cake!

Stephenson Park is a pretty darn amazing park, and I am so happy when I hear someone say how much it has changed. Kids laughing and playing is an amazing return on investment. No man is an island or a park. All the success comes down to all the people in our neighbourhood that come to Stephenson Park.

Peter and Joey after Saturday morning yoga in the park. Photo credit: Mary-Margaret McMahon

Other Free Canada Day events

East York Canada Day Parade & Festival at Stan Wadlow, including fireworks! 
Note: they are also looking for volunteers.

Danforth Mosaic BIA – The Danny Loves Music Canada Day concert at East Lynn Park from 6-9pm, Julian Taylor Band (beer, wine & food can be purchased on site)

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Get ready for a laneway crawl!

Thanks to Gay Stephenson for this guest post

Get ready for a Laneway Crawl

Are you familiar with a pub crawl? Not sure about a ‘Laneway Crawl’? Well, you’re in for a treat! This summer DECA, East End Arts and The Laneway Project are joining forces to bring you the first ever east end laneway crawl.

Laneway Crawl = Pop-up Festival

What the heck is it? A laneway crawl is a pop-up festival that redefines how we think of, experience and use our city’s laneways. Plans are underway to activate our laneway with all kinds of fun activities including things like art workshops, music jams, pickup sports, games, garage/wall mural painting, pop-up greening and more. We’re also looking for organizations who’d like to be part of the festival. Read on for more info!

Mark your calendars for the afternoon of Sunday, August 28th from 1:00 – 5:00pm and join us in the laneway between Strathmore and Danforth, from Woodbine to Woodmount.

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Photo credit Katrina Afonso

Naming our laneway

Inviting people out would be so much easier if our laneway had its own name. So, on August 28th, we’ll ask you for name suggestions – then work together with Councillor Janet Davis to officially name our lane. Bring us your ideas! All participants’ names will be entered in a draw and one lucky person will win a prize!

Want to join in?!

Share your ideas

What activities would like to see? We’d love to hear your ideas! Send us a tweet, post on FB or email us at renew@DECA.to.

Host an Activity

Are you part of a sports club, dance studio or other business / organization that may want to host an activity as part of the crawl festivities? Please send us an email.

Join our organizing team or volunteer at the event

Are you a community keener who loves the sound of this and wants to join our organizing team or volunteer during the event? We want to hear from you! Or just come join us on Wednesday, July 6th from 7:30-9:30pm for our first organizing meeting, at Time Capsule Board Game Cafe, 2183 Danforth Avenue.

Lend us your garage or driveway for the day!

Do you back onto this laneway, either because you live on the south side of Strathmore or you live or work on the north side of Danforth between Woodmount and Woodbine? We’d love to chat with you about using your driveway or garage during the laneway crawl or to hear your ideas about how to participate. Please email us at renew@DECA.to.

Request a new mural

Are you experiencing “tagging” or graffiti on your fences, garage doors or building walls? If you live or work on this laneway, we may be able to paint you a new mural. Just send us a note so we can chat about the possibilities. Murals are one of the best ways to prevent future graffiti and help to beautify our lanes.

Events like this one will help us transform our laneways into vital, vibrant parts of our neighbourhood’s public realm. You can read more about the amazing 2016 Laneway Crawl Series or check out this article in the Globe & Mail. We are very grateful for the advocacy work being done by the Laneway Project and for all their support to make this crawl happen!

If you have any questions or ideas or if you would like to volunteer for the event, please email Gay Stephenson at renew@deca.to.

 

Murals can transform graffiti from this………………………………… to this.

Graffiti-to-mural