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Earl Beatty Community Centre Slated To Close

Consider this my declaration of bias. I live near Earl Beatty Community Centre and use it frequently with my two boys. I’m against its closure and am working with a group of parents to make as much noise as possible to save it.  (P.S. the logo below was designed by 13-year old  Gareth who is on the team to help save the community centre.)
The Earl Beatty Community Centre will be closed outside of school hours if the City of Toronto’s proposed 2012 budget passes. That means no more ball hockey, ballet, karate, kindergym, crafty kids, babysitting courses, T-Ball, yoga, Zumba and more.
This community centre, just north and east of Coxwell runs six days a week and is an important neighbourhood play spot in an area with very little recreation space. Most of the programs are full and have waiting lists. Closing a gymnasium in a city desperate for recreation spaces makes no sense at all. The pool is not slated for closure – yet.Let City Hall know this budget cut is not acceptable. Here’s how to get involved:
  • Come to the PLAY DAY at CITY HALL. This Friday, Dec. 9, Earl Beatty Community Centre is taking over Nathan Phillips Square at 11 a.m. Wear your Earl Beatty shirt, bring your stick, ballet shoes or yoga mat and join us as we take the fight to City Hall!
  • Send a note, letter or video on what the Earl Beatty Community Centre means to you. We’ll share it online and in person. E-mail us at saveearlbeatty@gmail.com
  • Watch for more details, join the Facebook page and follow us on Twitter at: saveearlbeatty.tumblr.com (click follow at the top right corner to follow along)
  • Tell your neighbours!
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Danforth Gems – Circus Coffee

I’ve been meaning to write about Circus Coffee for a while now.  I stopped in the other day and it’s a great little spot.  Lucky for me – and for you – Jordan Whitehouse at The Grid wrote about it for us. It’s at 7 Woodmount, beside Carter’s Ice Cream, kitty corner from East Lynn Park.

Woodmount Avenue is a little side street with young oaks running off the northeast corner of East Lynn Park. Although the sun is already falling over the street on this late fall day, an antique toy circus ring in the window of Circus Coffee House (7 Woodmount) is still lit up with afternoon rays. Inside the month-old espresso bar, owner Ron Duffy stands behind his late-’70s Gaggia coffee machine.  More….

 

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Danforth Gems – Silly Goose Kids

With the abundance of children in Danforth East, it’s a wonder it took until this fall for the strip’s first toy store to open. It’s been a similarly long journey for Silly Goose Kids’ owners — Tracey Jacobs and Shamie Ramgoolam have several decades of experience between them in the Toronto toy world. Opening their own outfit is the culmination of several years of dreaming and and one big reno of a store that had sat empty for several years.

 

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The two know their target market — the space is wide and stroller-friendly and a back-of-store play area aims to be a gathering place for parents and kids, complete with change table and chairs for storytelling. “Everyone who walks in a gets a big smile on their face,” says Shamie. “They’re excited to have a store like this in the ‘hood.”

First-time parents bracing themselves for the plastic-clogged, primary-coloured stores of their youth will be pleasantly surprised — Silly Goose has an eye for quality and design, with an emphasis on classic, non-battery-powered toys.  “We believe in toys and gear that are well made — toys of integrity,” Shamie says.

Stock is a mix of the well-known and the locally-made — “we run from zero to 10-years-old safely,” says Shamie, “and can find things for older kids, plus games for families” — and ranges from shelves filled with books at the back to baby gear, clothing, toys from Playmobil, Plan Toys and enough birthday-party-ready gifts (including science sets) to satisfy even parents with the most hectic, kid-fuelled social calendar. (A loyalty program offers discounts for frequent shoppers.)

After discovering a pocket of French speakers in the neighbourhood, Tracey and Shamie started stocking books and games en Français; a trove of phthalate- and- BPA-free sippy cups and lunch gear that will fuel inter-generational brown-bagging.

For first-time parents, there’s organic cotton onesies that read “I [trike] the Danforth,” $27.99 and locally-made sleep sacks ($49.99) from Wee Urban; for parents of toddlers and beyond, a selection of mouse-eared and felt-adorned caps from Toronto’s Patouche ($36.99) and sturdy shoes from Tom’s; a company that donates one pair of shoes to a child in need for each pair sold.

Coming up to the year’s busiest shopping time, Shamie predicts Fastrack ($24.99) — an addictive blend of Pong and air hockey that’s ideal for holiday family tournaments — will be a best-seller.

And Silly Goose is making it easier to make the annual gift-buying frenzy philanthropic — the store is is participating in a toy drive in support of the Woodgreen community centre; taking donations, keeping a registry of toys and games for the centre’s kids and offering up gift-wrapping at $1 in support of making family’s holiday a little brighter.

2054 Danforth Ave.
647-341-4400
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The House That Gingerbread Built

There are two fabulous ways to create your very own gingerbread house in the ‘hood.

Madame Gateaux

Register for a baking lesson with Madame Gateaux to learn how to mix the dough, bake the gingerbread, cut and assemble the house and decorate with chocolate and candies. The class is Sunday, November 27th, 2-5 p.m. $85. To register, contact noely36hk@madamegateauxbaking.ca or 647-352-0763. Madame Gateaux is at 2034 Danforth, just west of Woodbine.

Cozy Cafe & Bakery

If all that mixing of dough and and baking of slabs seems like a little too much bother for you, then don’t hesitate to reserve your spot at the Cozy Cafe Gingerbread House Party!

They will supply everything including home-baked gingerbread.  They’ll do the prep. They’ll clean up the mess. All you have to do is have fun.  Sunday, December 4th, 10 a.m. – 1 p.m. $25/house including gingerbread, candies, icing and board. 2075 Danforth at Woodbine.   Reserve your spot at cozygingerbread@gmail.com

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Feel The Love Baby

Well, thanks to all of you who joined us at the Community Cocktail Party last night. Melanie of  Melanie’s Bistro was a wonderfully gracious hostess, as always and it was a treat to meet some new people in the neighbourhood.

Sugar Moon

We were extremely pleased to announce a very generous donation from one of our local businesses. Sugar Moon Body Sugaring and Esthetics Boutique has donated $1000 to DECA this year. Owner, Paola Girotti, is incredibly community-minded and an ardent supporter of the work our community association is doing to make our neighbourhood more vibrant, walkable and safe.  Paola was a bit of a pioneer in this neighbourhood by opening her gorgeous little salon first just east of Coxwell and now just west of Coxwell. She’s a big believer in shopping local and supporting local businesses and just as a big a believer in community. Thank you Sugar Moon.

Woodgreen Child Care Centres 

Woodgreen Community Services is one of the largest social service agencies in Toronto -operating almost exclusively out of the east end. It provides service to 37,000 people every year. It runs 10 child care programs in east Toronto serving 820 children and their families. Why am I telling you all this? Because Woodgreen provides a lot of services in our neighbourhood and as the Christmas season starts sneaking up on us, there is a toy drive to support the Woodgreen child care centres.

The fabulous new toy store – Silly Goose Kids – is helping out this year by:

  • selling donation gift cards in $10 denominations
  • giving customers the opportunity to donate their ‘golden egg’ points to the toy drive
  • charging $1 for gift wrapping with all profits going to the toy drive

The event is being sponsored by realtors Duncan Fremlin and Karen Laing.  Local residents supporting local toy store and local real estate agents and all helping local social services agency.  Love it.

Art & Craft Show At LucSculpture

T’is the season to really show your support for your local businesses by shop shop shopping local. It’s getting easier and easier to do it every year. First stop? the LucSculpture sale featuring sculpture, paintings, drawings, photography, post cards, pottery, jewellery and crafts from local artisans. The sale is on now, but the official opening reception day is Saturday, December 3rd from 11 a.m. – 6 p.m. For more info visit www.lucsculpture.com.

And – hey – I want to know what how you are shopping local.  What are you buying and where?  Post it on the blog or e-mail me and I’ll post it! natasha.granatstein(at)gmail.com

Local Arts Services Organization

There is a move afoot to look at the feasibility of starting a local arts service organization in East York. There is a public meeting to discuss it on Tuesday, December 6th from 3 – 5 p.m. at 3079 Danforth (near Victoria Park subway). To find out more, contact Liz Swan at eswan(at)toronto.ca.

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DECA Community Cocktail Party – Monday Night!

Can’t wait to see you on Monday  night at Melanie’s Bistro for our third annual Community Cocktail Party (and AGM, but I promise that part is very short and very sweet and then we get right back on with the food, wine and fun).  6-9 p.m.  1870 Danforth Ave. CASH BAR