There is an art gallery on Danforth between Woodbine and Coxwell. Did you know it was there? The Dylan Ellis Exhibition Space is located at 1840 Danforth Avenue, and for one more week we can all go and see Philip Jessup’s exhibit called Imperiled Landscapes, which is part of the Scotiabank Contact Photography Festival.
Two special events this week include:
Gallery talk – Thursday, June 11 from 6:30-8:00pm Closing party – Sunday, June 14 from 2:00-4:oopm
Admission is free!
Gallery is open: Mon–Wed, 9am–5pm, Thu–Fri, 9am–8pm, Sat–Sun, 10am–4pm
The photographer is in the gallery on weekends, noon – 4 PM for Q and A.
The exhibit closes on Sunday, June 14 at 5 PM.
Here’s a description of the exhibit:
Over the past eight years, Jessup has been photographing the potential effects of climate change on wilderness during travel related to his environmental career. As the earth warms up, wilderness areas will be especially at risk. In the Arctic, sea ice is disappearing while Inuit villages sink into muddy ground. Along coastlines, rising seas are inundating wetlands essential to bird migrations and seashore protection. Meanwhile, large rural watersheds are afflicted by recurrent droughts, threatening urban water supplies. Imperiled Landscapes surveys conditions in Pond Inlet on Baffin Island, Mai Po mangrove wetland in Hong Kong, and the Sugarloaf water supply catchment area in wilderness north of Melbourne. All are endangered by global warming. The exhibit offers a window into the wild beauty that we can save if we take action.
If optimism could be bottled and sold, Amanda Olsen would be a very wealthy woman, except she’d likely give it away for free. Her optimism is matched only by her generosity, and we all benefit.
Days after giving birth to her second son, when most of us would spend any spare second sleeping, Amanda was at the mic at our AGM convincing people to volunteer for the pop-up shop team (which she was leading at the time). She puts her hand up over and over and inspires others to follow.
We’re so grateful for Amanda, and, dear neighbours, you should be too. Read for yourself in her own words.
Amanda Olson takes her two sons to Grumbles Deli (290 Main St.) as a reward for surviving swimming lessons each week. Here is Amanda (middle, brown jacket) with her husband Lauris, sons Janis and Aksels, and Grumble’s owners Denise and Franzi.My name and age is…
Amanda Olson, aged 37 and 1/4 (Adrian Mole is one of my fave literary characters).
One thing people don’t know about me is…
By day, I help put books on your shelves. I work for a publisher, but sadly, I can in no way whatsoever help get your novel published. I moved to Danforth East ….
Four years ago this summer. I was determined to buy a house in Leslieville because I liked the restaurants and shops. On a whim, we decided to check out a place further east than I thought acceptable. We can’t get over our luck of landing in such an amazing neighbourhood.
One change I’ve seen over the years….
Everyone will say the more vibrant retail strip, so I’ll point out the increase in community involvement. We have a Visioning group the size of a small army; we see more people come out to the DECA meetings; the board is at full capacity. It’s a great time to live in Danforth East. And of course those gains on the retail strip have been a big part of the increases in the overall community cohesion!
My advice to new neighbors is.…
Get on the DECA Diaries blog mailing list. Sign up and you’ve just become part of a community in a single click. I’m forever grateful to my friend Janina for passing on this advice when I first moved here. The thing I love most about Danforth East is…
The local retailers. I love being able to go to the butcher to pick up dinner from Carmen, then wave hello to Houman, the owner of Bella Lite (1989 Danforth Ave, just east of East Lynn Park), and his daughter on my way home. Houman just installed the perfect chandelier in my dining room and now that he knows my style he’s on the look out for something for my hallway. If you haven’t been in yet, you really need to check it out next time you need lighting fixtures.
My biggest local pet peeve is.…
Storefronts that aren’t accessible. The places being used for non-commercial purposes drives me bananas. They make their neighbours’ attempts to attract customers that much harder.
My neighborhood secret is.…
Lunch at Grumbles Deli (290 Main St, south of Danforth) after an hour of torturing my boys with swimming lessons. Mother and daughter, Franzi and Denise, are lovely and the sauerkraut passes muster with my husband–he comes from Latvian stock and knows his pickled foods. Remember to go to the bank machine across the street, though, as it’s cash only. The thing I’ve done as a DECA board member that makes me most proud is….
I dabble in a bit of everything, but I do love being a @DECAdiaries tweeter and helping share the news about the hood. I’m also particularly proud of the Danforth East Dreams event I helped put together last spring. 400 neighbours came together to talk about what they wanted the neighbourhood to be and we could make those changes happen. Everyone was engaged and excited. The atmosphere was electric. And the map of the giant map of the hood plastered with hundreds (Yes, we recorded them all!) was the tangible proof.
This year, I hope to finally ….
Help our fearless Volunteer & Membership leader, Jane, get organized about emailing volunteers on a regular basis when people need help on projects, big or small. By year end, if the same 5 people don’t have to put up posters for every event, then I’ll bust out the good sparkling wine.
My final word….
Sign up for the #DanforthEast Garage Sale, June 13! It’s a blast and will just get better the more people participate. Last year I teamed up with a neighbour since neither of us had enough stuff to do a sale on our own. We played music, got to see our neighbours, spelled each other off to do some shopping. You can even donate your leftovers to charity. Email Bruce, deca.yard.sale@gmail.com, if you want to help out. The more, the merrier (see Goals answer). Sign up here: http://danfortheastcommunityassociation.com/yard-sale/
Don’t worry, Damon and Emily have come to your rescue.
They put together DECA’s third podcast, all about the night which started with a judges’ tour of the final four, interviews with the finalists, and finally, clips from the night.
Damon Scheffer is the traffic announcer on a couple radio stations.
Emily Anastassiadis is a fourth-grade teacher who loves journalism. Together, they’ve perfectly captured the evening. Listen here.
Also, you can catch some photos of the night you missed here, snapped by Snap magazine’s Frank McKinney.
Thanks to the East End Pioneer for this guest post, and for teaming up with us for this exciting initiative!
This Saturday, June 6, we will be stretching 30 feet of canvas down the sidewalk in front of Coxwell parkette (south-west corner of Danforth and Coxwell) from 9:30 am to 12:30 pm. You are all invited to come and paint, draw or write what makes living here so special. Is it the parks? How about your favourite local shop? Maybe it’s your awesome neighbours? What keeps you loving our little neck of the woods?
Sometimes events in life can happen that although minor on their own, end up solidifying humanity around a cause. Malcolm Gladwell calls it the ‘tipping point’ and it celebrates the small things adding up to something bigger. This Saturday is 100in1Day around Toronto, a collection of 100+ community-led urban interventions or ‘small actions’ aimed at improving the city. Things like asking cars to slow down on Jane Street, or a midnight dance party under the Gardiner ramps.
In our neighbourhood, some people are saying that we’ve also reached a tipping point. But despite a number of violent crimes in our area recently, the community continues to come together to make positive change happen – we want a safer, walkable, vibrant Danforth East and so many of us are actively working to make this a reality. Our ‘hood is awesome and people want to celebrate all the awesomeness and show why we love living here.
That’s where the idea for our very own #danfortheast 100in1day intervention came from. DECA and community partner East End Pioneer are inviting community members (residents, business owners, politicians) to help us create a community mural about what Danforth East means to all of us.
So come out on Saturday. All supplies will be on site (thanks to generous donations from Dulux Paints at 2031 Danforth for donating paint and to DeSerres at 2056 Danforth for supplying the canvas) so all you need to bring is you your kids, families, the dog, your friends and your imaginations – let’s all get our paint on! See you there!
(Afterward, the plan is for the mural to be mounted along Danforth East as a symbol of neighbourhood support and community pride.)
Get your sleep now because come Friday, there is non-stop fun going on in Danforth East…
FRIDAY: Local not-for-profit East End Music Project’s TOTALLY AWESOME AND SO MUCH FUN fundraiser is happening at the Jam Factory. Raise money for non-profit music education for East End kids while getting your groove on and listening to fantastic tunes.
Also – registration is now open for EEMP’s September 2015 classes at Secord Public School. Subsidized classes in piano, ukulele, guitar, percussion, and choir offered on a sliding scale based on income. Click here to register.
Also on Friday, it’s Hirut Hoot! Before you head to the EEMP fundraiser, get a few laughs in, courtesy of comedians: Tim Blair, Cleve Jones, Gilson Lubin, Matt O’Brien, Arthur Simeon, Lee-Anne Stewart and Winston Spear. Hosted by Kevin MacDonald.
SATURDAY: Employ the old “hair of the dog” cure for your fun hangover, and head over to RH McGregor’s (555 Mortimer Ave., south-east corner of Cowell and Mortimer) annual Fun Fair, 11am-2pm.
Featuring fun games, robotic demonstrations, photo-booths, BBQ, lemonade stands and much more.
All proceeds go towards supporting school activities such as field trips, guest speakers, Scientist in the School and safety workshops. Funds raised provide the staff with the opportunity to plan programs that will enrich and enhance the curriculum that is delivered to the students.
Remember when we crowned Gerrard Pizza & Spaghetti (1528 Danforth) as our DECA Gem on May 14?
We have all likely heard by now that last Saturday, just two days later, a terrible crime occurred at Danforth and Coxwell. What you may not know is that this was right next door to Gerrard’s, and during that ordeal, Gerrard’s front window was smashed. Vito and his family are now out-of-pocket to pay the high deductible to get it fixed.
So, friends and neighbours, let’s do what we do best and show Gerrard’s some love.
DECA and Gerrard’s are happy to announce that SATURDAY, MAY 23 FROM 1-5PM, COME TO GERRARD’S FOR A SLICE (Veg or Pepperoni) + a PINT OF CRAFT BEER FOR $10! This neighbourhood special will help Gerrard’s recover some (or all!) of their costs, and we all get to drink beer and eat pizza in the afternoon. Win-win!
*Update* – if beer ain’t your thing, a slice and a pop can be yours for $3.50
The special will end at 5pm but don’t let that stop you from heading over there for dinner on Saturday!
