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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.

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Market this Week, and Circus Shadows

Market this week

It’s fall. That means there’s a whole new crop of vegetables and fruit available from the farmers. This week we’ll also have Toronto Public Library storytime at 4:30 p.m. and and an activity with Silly Goose Kids at 5:00 p.m. We’re also busy planning for October 4th’s Harvest festivities courtesy of SugarMoon and Alterna Savings. There’s going to be fun of the animal and bouncy variety… stay tuned! You won’t want to miss it.

Circus Shadows

From September 20 until October 14th S Sense in Design at 698 Coxwell Avenue is presenting a unique art show – Circus Shadows. It’s a unique collection showcasing a collaboration between Zero Gravity Circus and photographer Kathleen Finlay. They’re also hosting a special reception this Friday September 28th from 6:00 – 9:00 pm.

[slideshow]

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Pumpkin People

Thank you Pumpkin People for helping make the 2nd annual Pumpkin Parade particularly pretty and perfectly peculiar. And thanks to Ron Grimes for these pics.

[slideshow]

Hats off to Heather Bean who couldn’t organize it this year because she was busy having a baby.  She did, however, get us started with a very thorough how-to guide.  Then Anita Schretlen and Sarah Kiriliuk took that guide and created a community event that was both kick-ass and magical.

Then, of course, there was the fabulous poster, designed once again by Tak Bui.  Thank you Tak!  And finally, the heroes who showed up after it was all over and hauled all those pumpkins into the pool so the good folks from the City of Toronto could come and pick them up the next morning.  Thanks to Melissa Peretti, Jason Pytel, Leo Gonzalez, Paul Haines, Joel Redmond, Beth Binnington and Sean Webb.

Farmers’ Market

Did you know that NOW Magazine voted the East Lynn Farmers’ Market the best farmers’ market for the Danforth area?  Well, now you do.  Did you also know that Ron Wilford wrote a paper for his course on Local and Global Food Systems about the East Lynn Farmers’ Market? Well he did. I present it here for you reading pleasure.  East Lynn Farmers’ Market

Opening and Closing

This neighbouhood has come a long way in terms of getting a decent cup of coffee.  We have a ways to go in terms of local pubs, especially now that Ten Feet Tall has closed . If you were a fan of Taps and Tales, you will be interested to know that it is being re-invented by a new owner (Hot House Cafe) as ‘Morgan’s.

The House That Went To The OMB

If you live near Coxwell you, no doubt, remember that this BIG house was the subject of an OMB hearing after the developer continued building even when the City refused his permit applications. Well, he’s apparently (I say apparently because I really don’t know) taken down what needed to be taken down and now has it on the market. How much?  Would you believe, almost a cool million?

Earl Beatty and Toronto Star

Word went out this week that ‘hard’ balls such as footballs and soccer balls are now banned from the Earl Beatty school yard. How do I spell kerfuffle anyway?

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Pumpkin Parade

Remember the DECA Pumpkin Parade is Tuesday, November 1st at East Lynn Park – 6:30 – 9:30 p.m. Bring your jack-o-lanterns and enjoy the carving skills of your neighbours. Last year was incredible. And, if you’re a better photographer than me and can capture the beautiful glow of the lit pumpkins, I’d love to post some of your pictures here.

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Pumpkin Parade Appreciation Part 2

Our Pumpkin Poster Artist – Tak Bui

Thank you to Tak Bui, designer of our first-ever Pumpkin Parade poster. He’s a man of many talents and is committed to community service, as you’ll read below:

Tak Bui is the cartoonist of two syndicated comic strips with the Washington Post Writers’ including “Cheap Thrills Cuisine,” with Chef Bill Lombardo, a longtime friend who is also a local resident.

A native of Vietnam, Tak won a scholarship at 17 to study in the U.S.  He has won awards for editorial illustrations and has illustrated Vietnamese and Canadian children’s books.  McClelland and Stewart will publish his next book of cartoons for children in 2011.  Tak has also taught cartooning for non-profit art organizations in Toronto.

Tak is a founding member of the Stephenson Ave. Community Garden near Main and Danforth, which won a Beautiful City award. Last summer he played mandolin at farmers’ markets around town (including the East Lynn Farmers’ Market)  with Bad Dog Trio, a retro country band. Tak is married with two adult children.

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Pumpkin Parade Appreciations Part 1

Heather Bean organized the fabulous pumpkin parade last week and she has sent along this note of thanks…

Photo courtesy of jaaaarel

Pumpkin parade appreciations

What a great night! I had a blast at the pumpkin parade. Here are a few thank yous to the people who pulled it together.

Thanks first to Natasha Granatstein for offering orientation and lots of good advice, Sarah Kiliuk for handling media contacts, and the whole DECA crew for helping to harness this great neighbourhood’s enthusiasm and community spirit.

Huge, huge thanks to our volunteer crew for the event: Julie Doucet, who managed to photograph the event as she lit your pumpkins and doled out candles; Anita Schretlen, who showed up after the parade to haul pumpkins, taking on the grunt work and not much glory; and most especially to Johanne Von Zuben, who showed up an hour before the parade began and cheerfully stuck it out to the bitter end. A special award goes to Andrea for volunteer spontaneity–she came for the parade but stayed to help us clean up.

Thanks, too, to City of Toronto Parks Manager ,Bob Ward, and his cleanup crew; the next day there wasn’t a pumpkin seed in sight. Amazing.

And finally (and crucially), thank you to everyone who brought a pumpkin to share! Each pumpkin made the parade bigger, better and more beautiful. Hope to see you all out again next year–tell your neighbours!

Show us your pictures!

There were lots of cameras at the pumpkin parade, and we want to see your favourite photos! On Flickr, tag them “DECA Pumpkin Parade”, or email them to hbbean(at)gmail.com

And we’d love to hear from the owner of the giant monkey Jack O’Lantern, the king of the parade. Where’d you find that pumpkin???