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June 2017 – Events at a Glance

It’s the season for community outdoor activities!  Here’s a quick peek at some of our local events in the coming weeks.

Looking to register your child in a summer program?

Registration opens this week!  

Tuesday, June 6th.
For more information…

Registration for the City’s summer swim and skate programs and 2017-18 After-school Recreation Care (ARC) programs begins at 7 a.m. on:

  • Tuesday, June 6 for North York, Toronto and East York
  • Monday, June 12 for ARC programs for the upcoming 2017-18 school year for all districts.
Visit toronto.ca/torontofun or refer to the printed Spring/Summer FUN Guide to browse and choose programs. Register:
  • Online at efun.toronto.ca
  • By phone. Touch Tone Registration (TTR) is available at 416-338-0000. Operator Assisted Registration is available at 416-338-4386.
  • In-person at select locations. A list of these locations is available here, by calling 311 or by speaking to staff at a City community recreation centre.

**Remember you need a family number and client numbers for each child ahead of time! Use the above contact info to find out more**

    One Great Saturday – June 10!

    It’s not too late to sign up for the #DanforthEast Yard Sale and be added to our big map. Click here to register your sale!

    Shoppers: The above link will also take you to our map so that you can plan out your yard sale route and sidewalk sale shopping! The BIA has events and activities planned along the Danforth so be sure to check it out. 

    the danny

    Danforth Village Festival

    Free fun at Main & Danforth on June 10 from noon-6pm! Art activities for all adults & kids, live music and more! 

    Farmers’ Markets are Here!

    Picnic blankets, warm summer evenings, and tasty things to buy.
    See you there!

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    East Lynn Park Farmers’ Market
    Thursdays, 3 – 7 PM
    June 1 to October 19
    1949 Danforth Ave.

    East York Farmers’ Market
    Tuesdays, 8 AM – 2 PM
    May 16 to October 24
    East York Civic Centre
    850 Coxwell Ave.

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    The installation of cycle tracks and bicycle lanes on Woodbine Avenue is expected to take place in late June or July 2017. It is expected to take approximately two weeks to be completed. A construction notice will be issued two weeks before installation work begins.

    You can visit here for more information
    or contact Maogosha Pyjor with questions

     

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    Join in for the opening of the Kiwanis Pool
    & NEW SLIDE!

    Help kick off the summer outdoor pool season.
    Enjoy family fun, cake and ribbon cutting!

    Saturday, June 24
    Starts at 12 noon
    375 Cedarvale Ave.

    A free, family friendly event will have something for everyone!

    Exciting and eclectic music and dance performances
    Hands on art activities & a community arts fair

    The East End Cultural Hotspot Launch Event
    Saturday, June 17th
    East York Civic Centre

    Visit www.toronto.ca/culturalhotspot for more information and you’ll even see some DECA events listed!

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    Canada Day in East York is looking for sponsors and volunteers

    Amazing fireworks| A performance stage with all-day programming | New activities for kids and adults | Canada Day Parade

    Under the tents and throughout the park, the East York Canada Day Committee is working hard to provide a full array of information tables, vendors and food!

    You can be a part of this celebration too.

    Tables and sponsorships are still available. Volunteers welcome.  If you are interested in getting involved, contact:

    Shannon Timms-Ugochukwu
    Canada Day Corporation
    shannont222@rogers.com
    416-524-5363

    or

    stephen.pett@toronto.ca
    City of Toronto contact
    Click here for more information about sponsorships and tables.

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    East Lynn Park Farmers’ Market Is Back! 

    Market Season Begins!

    market-2017-2

    While summer doesn’t officially start until June 21st, this Thursday, June 1st is a happy harbinger: the first day of the East Lynn Park Farmers’ Market season!

    Come by the market to say hello to your old friends at Godelie Farms, Sun-Ray Orchards, Meadowsweet, School Grown, Austin’s, Royal Rose, and Hamlin’s Honey. And if your Thursdays tend to the thirsty, our winery this week is 13th Street Winery.

    This season you can also make some new friends: Mad Mexican (guac, salsa, tortilla chips), Real Pies (savoury pies), Bejula Juice, and meat and eggs from Murray’s Farms https://www.murray sfarm.ca/

    After farm-fresh fruit and veggies, nothing says summer like bikes and gardens, and we’ve got you covered: Ward 32 Spokes will be on hand to do bike tuneups, and Rain Gardens United will be in our community booth for gardening consultations.

    As always, face painters will be in the Kids’ Korner. Watch this space for more details about our Grand Opening party on June 8. And Happy (almost) Summer!

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    Local Businesses Challenge One Another to a Game!

    Thanks to guest blogger Sarah Brown of DECAconnects for this post.

    The first playoff of our Table Tennis For Tuition Tournament is just one week away.  Don’t delay, register today! Registration closes on Saturday May 27th at 6pm.

    Last year we saw some fun neighbourhood spirit with local business teams from Hollandaise Diner, Face to Face Games, Press Books Coffee Vinyl, Melanie’s Bistro and Red Rocket challenging one another to raise money for a good cause. Check out this challenge from Hollandaise last year! Who will challenge who this year? Time is running out…

    Many of our lovely local businesses also donated prizes or funds to support last year’s DECA Scholarship! Special thanks to The Firkin, Coal Mine Theatre, Gerrard Pizza, Face to Face Games, E-Clips Hair Salon, Corbin Creative, Ace Awards and LEN. We would love to have your support again this year.

    Hollandaise Diner donated proceeds from Fresh Squeezed Orange Juice for a day!
    And there are prizes to be won! Father and daughter Team ‘We Can Pickle That’ were last year’s Spirit Prize winners with hand made t-shirts. Pictured below see ‘We Can Pickle That’ Team  starting a round against “Team Red Rocket”.

    ‘We Can Pickle That’ Team starting a round against “Team Red Rocket”

     

     

    Come out and support your neighbourhood and your local business community! The tournaments happen on June 1, 8th and 15th at Stephenson, Monarch or East Lynn Parks from 6-8 pm. The finale playoffs will be held at East Lynn Park on June 22th. Please come to cheer on your neighbourhood teams!

    Register your team now! Every dollar helps. If you prefer, we’re also accepting donations.

    Learn more about the DECA scholarship.

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    #DanforthEast Yard Sale is back!

    Saturday, June 10th is our 5th Annual #DanforthEast Yard Sale and this year we’ve partnered with the Danforth Mosaic BIA (the Danny) for one great Saturday!

    To sign up or ask questions, visit our website by clicking here! 

    Stories on BlogTO and the CBC are predicting that this could be the biggest yard sale in Toronto. 

    If you’re not going to sell, then we hope to see you shopping on June 10. It really is going to be one great Saturday!

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    Don’t Miss Community Environment Day!

    Have you done some spring cleaning recently and are looking to donate some unwanted items? Look no further!

    This Tuesday, May 16th and Thursday, May 18th, City Councillors along with the City of Toronto are hosting a Community Environment Day!

    Tuesday, May 16th (4 – 8 p.m.)
    EAST YORK MEMORIAL ARENA
    888 Cosburn Ave.

    Thursday, May 18th (4 – 8 p.m.)
    Ted Reeve Arena
    175 Main Street

    Pick up free compost for your gardens.

    Donate goods to schools and others for reuse.

    Drop off items for recycling / disposal.

    Note: See posters below to find out what items are being accepted this year.
    You can also visit www.toronto.ca/environment_days for further details.

    Tuesday, May 16th (4 – 8 p.m.)
    EAST YORK MEMORIAL ARENA
    888 Cosburn Ave.

     * DECA will have a table at this event.  Be sure to come by and say hello!

    community enviro day

     

    Thursday, May 18th (4 – 8 p.m.)
    Ted Reeve Arena
    175 Main Street

    enviro day 2

     

    Give a Tree Some Love

    Would you like your children to learn more about trees and how to care for them?  Perhaps you’re someone who just loves the beauty of nature and would enjoy exploring some local parks and their rich tree canopies.  If so, check out this upcoming tour:

    10-Tree Tour from Gledhill to Everett
    Sunday, May 28th
    2 – 4 p.m.

    Contact Decaaat@gmail.com for further information.

    tree tour

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    Meet this year’s scholarship winner

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    I met Sal Sabila at the Monarch Park ping pong table this week.

    She was sitting on the table. She doe not play ping pong, it turned out. But I brought two paddles, and Sal is always game to try something new.

    She’s the winner of this years’s DECA Young Leaders scholarship.

    She told me her story, in between trips under the table to collect the ball.

    Sal arrived to Canada from Bangladesh six years ago, with her little brother, mom and dad. She didn’t speak any English, but she was clearly a quick learner. Three years later, she enrolled into the brainy International Baccalaureate program at Monarch Park. She’s a math whiz. She got 97 per cent in Grade 10 Principles of Mathematics. She’s going to the University of Toronto next year, to study mathematics and physical sciences. She wants to become a high school math teacher.

    The DECA scholarship isn’t for academics though. It’s for community activism.

    So Sal told me about the “amazing dream” she had a year ago. It was of a room filled with passionate teenagers, talking about problems and dreaming up ways to tackle them. Big problems: human trafficking, racial inequality, poverty. Seriously.

    “People don’t believe me when I say this,” she said. “But it really was a dream.”

    So she drafted a poster and put it up around her Regent Park apartment. It said “Youth Council, Regent Park. Come let’s have a passionate talk.” Unsurprisingly, nobody came to that first meeting. But she persisted. In the past year, Youth Gravity (that’s what she called the group) has done some impressive things. They hosted a community potluck with the nearby Native Cultural Centre to mix local residents with their indigenous neighbours. They ran a donation drive for the local women’s shelter, collecting more than 1,000 pieces of clothing. The organized a march on International Women’s Day.

    But that’s not all. While she was doing all that in her neighbourhood, she was doing amazing things in ours too, at Monarch Park Collegiate.

    She launched the local women’s empowerment club, called 50/50. And she started the mental health club called “Rise Above” because, in the middle of all this activism, she was diagnosed with clinical depression.

     “There’s very strong stigma around anything to do with mental health,” she said. “My community activism was the only thing I’d get out of bed for.”

    I could have talked to her all afternoon. But she had to run. She won the Toronto Youth Award for 2016 from the Toronto Police and had a photo appointment at Station 51. As we were packing up our stuff, she asked me if I knew anything about pay equity the wage gap.

    “It’s really terrible,” she said, before racing off. “We have to do something about it!”

    I think she might just.

    Now, the DECA Young Leaders Scholarship is $2000. We’ve committed to raise at least half of that, and Scadding Court Community Centre will kick in the rest.

    You can help us do it by finding a partner and signing up for DECA’s second annual Table Tennis for Tuition Tournament, happening in three local parks this June. You will play in one “mini-tournament” at 6 pm on either June 1, 8 or 15. If you win that, you’ll go onto the finals on June 22, at East Lynn Park.

    You’ll have fun, meet your neighbours, win some awesome local prizes and help pay for Sal’s books.

    So, find yourself a partner and register here.  The entry fee is only $20 for adult players and $10 for teenagers, aged 13-19.

    If you want to donate, but don’t want to play ping pong, you can do that too by going here and clicking the “donate to DECA button.”

    The world needs more Sal Sabila’s. Let’s help get her on her way, Danforth East!