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Holiday happenings & other news

The holidays are upon us, and some events are taking place in our neighbourhood that you might want to mark on your calendars.

DECA’s First Annual East Lynn Park Tree Lighting! 
Thursday, December 13 5:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m

Whether you celebrate Christmas or not, come on out to meet your neighbours and have a cup of hot chocolate together this Thursday – it’s for a good cause, and it will be lots of fun!

EastLynnPark tree lighting 2012

And a big thank you to all the volunteers who braved the rain this weekend to hang the lights in preparation for Thursday’s event.  Check out the photos!

Gingerbread House Building at Cozy Cafe & Bakery (Woodbine & Danforth) December 15 (5-7 p.m.) & 16 (3-5 p.m.) for $25

cozy

Call Cozy at (647) 349-5251 to reserve your spot, and then next Sunday enjoy your clean kitchen after you and/or your kids have iced the floors and furniture at Cozy!

An artful walk?

Remember in the fall when DECA helped to facilitate the painting of some local Bell boxes?  Have you ever wondered, ‘where are those boxes?’  As winter clamps down, if you are like me you probably need an excuse to get off the couch and venture out, so why not take a little walking tour of the murals? Here is a map to show you where the boxes are, and photos to give you a sneak peek of the beauty that awaits you on your journey.

Bell box murals Danforth 2012Stay tuned for information on next weekend’s pop-up events, and details about some late-night shopping specials at some of our favourite local shops!

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Make magic with us tonight in East Lynn Park

Don’t forget that you can stretch the spooky magic of Halloween a little longer by bringing your pumpkins to East Lynn Park, TONIGHT, (Thursday, November 1) for DECA’s third annual Pumpkin Parade.
The event runs from 6:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. – bring a candle and we’ll light it for you there. The forecast says rain, but we’ll brave a little drizzle if you will. If it’s too wet to keep our jack-o-lanterns lit, then the magic will have to wait until next year.
P.S. – It’s not an actual parade, but only because those lazy pumpkins won’t march. It is amazing though, so if you’ve never been you really must come to see it.
P.P.S. – If you don’t have a pumpkin, you can still come!

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Pop-Up Reminder and Pumpkin Parade

Mrs. Darling’s Imaginarium takes over the Pop-Up Shop

This weekend 1948 Danforth will be transformed into Mrs. Darlings Imaginarium for Girls and Boys – A place to play with art and discover the art of play.  There are drop-in studio times both Saturday and Sunday mornings (9 a.m. until noon) and facilitated classes in the afternoons (1 p.m. until 6 p.m.) ideal for the 4-14 year olds.  For the detailed schedule of activities this weekend and to register for classes, check out Mrs.Darling’s website.

 

Pumpkin Parade 2012

It’s baaaaaack!  The third annual DECA Pumpkin Parade in East Lynn Park.  Bring your jack-o-lantern to the park next Thursday, November 1, and be part of the most magical night of the year in our neighbourhood.  Don’t forget to BYOC (bring your own candle!) Fun begins at 6:30 p.m.

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Farewell to our Farmers for 2012

Sniffle. It’s time to say farewell to our farmers for yet another year. Don’t forget to come to East Lynn Park on Thursday to say goodbye in person and fill your cellars and freezers with local delights. This year we tried to give you some insight into the farmers, their families and their products by profiling them on the blog. We hope you enjoyed.

Thank you to all the farmers:

Once again our community showed their appreciation to the farmers by providing a lovely dinner each week. Thank you to this year’s line-up of culinary volunteers: Alisa Metcalfe, Shelley Pogue, Diana Gonzalaz, Ruth Heathcote, Catherine Dorton, Nicola St. John, Kirsten Hurd, Mary Egan, Melanie’s Bistro, Amoy Lowe, Susan & Bruce Crofts, Nicola Yap, Brenda Chow, Susan Spratley, Patricia Chartier, Ruth, Tak Bui, Sheila Colla, and the Ceili Cottage. If you’re interested in helping out next year, please email shelleydarling(at)yahoo.ca.

And thanks to all of you for supporting the local farmers each week and making the East Lynn Farmers’ Market the best in the city.

See you next year!

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Last Two Weeks for East Lynn Farmers’ Market

It takes a village to raise a child.  And it takes a community to put on a farmers’ market.

While our farmers’ market is always first and foremost about the farmers, there are also countless volunteers, every single week, who help to make the farmers’ market the magical place that it is for our community all season long.

We had students who helped paint little faces; entertainers who entertained at the five festivals; local bakeries and bistros that fed us while we shopped and played; local organizations, businesses and professionals who brought their information to our community; and, musicians who always created a festive mood.  To all of you – thank you!

Another group of neighbours volunteered to be the friendly face of DECA each week, answering questions, helping deliver dinner to the farmers, setting up children’s board games and helping clean it all up each evening.  Lia Munro, Kendal Gerard, Gala Arh, Kim Dolan, Susan Bates, Heather Bean, Nana Jokura, Amy Illingworth, Sarah Kiriliuk, Marianne Sheshko, Laura Walters, Sarah Hutchinson, Shannon Connors, Mary Vallis, Justine Saccomanno, Catherine Dorton, and Sheri Hebdon, Steve Wickens, Paul Haines and any others who jumped in at the last minute to help – thank you too.

Don’t forget, there are still two more Thursdays left to shop at the East Lynn Farmers’ Market!  Make sure to stop by the park to fill up your tote bags with the freshest of Ontario’s autumn bounty while you can!

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Just for fun, here’s a slideshow of the Harvest Moon Festival that DECA put on a few weeks ago with the generous help of SUGARMOON and Alterna Savings:

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p.s. there are more thank yous to come next week!

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Pumpkin Parade Update and Harvest Moon Reminder

Pumpkin Parade Update

DECA’s annual Pumpkin Parade will light up East Lynn Park Thursday, Nov. 1 from 6:30-9:00 p.m. And we need your help!

If you’re a regular Toronto Star reader, you may have noticed that for a few days, our annual Pumpkin Parade was in some peril. (Click here for the article) During the uncertainty, we had a number of businesses and groups offer to donate their time and their trucks, including Local 416.  A huge thank you to everyone for their ideas and offers.  But after a flurry of emails between local Councillors, city staff and parade organizers – a bit of media-coverage pixie dust – we have a parade again!

Now that we will have the City dumpster bins in place and removal is taken care of, we need some volunteers to help run the parade and with clean up.  If you’re interested in volunteering for either of these two roles, please contact Heather Bean by clicking here.

  • Greeters –  During the parade, volunteers will help their neighbours place and light their pumpkins. We’ll need five or six of these volunteers.
  • Haulers –  After the parade, volunteers will load pumpkins into dumpster bins onsite.  If you have a wagon, wheelbarrow, or wire cart, you could be a pumpkin clean-up MVP. For this job, the more the merrier. (roughly 9-10 p.m.)

Reminder: Harvest Moon with SUGARMOON & Alterna Savings TODAY

The forecast is perfect for the Harvest Moon Festival at the East Lynn Park Farmers’ Market today. If you forgot, there will be pony rides for the kids, bouncy castles, garden talks with the Garden Mum, sugaring info from the staff at SUGARMOON, blue grass music from the Ceiligrass Boys, the Touch Table from the Toronto Zoo, pumpkin crafts with Mrs. Darling, and health tips from naturopathic medicine expert Nana Jokura.  If you don’t have time to pack your picnic basket, don’t worry – Lazy Daisy’s Cafe and Columbo’s Pizza will be there with some yummy eats for sale.