Reminder: Pop-Up Sunday

People are loving Day 1 of the DECA Pop-Up Shop.  Here are a few pictures. If you missed it or if you have some funky people on your Christmas list, it’s open Sunday from 12-6.  Thanks to everyone who showed up today.  Just walking in the door is showing your support for a more vibrant, walkable and safe community.

Pop-Up Shop: Birthia

Hey DECA. It’s me, Natasha.  Remember me?  Well, I’ve hauled my sorry keester out of DECA Diaries retirement for one reason and one reason only.  Because I’m asking you to get off your keester for the first ever, premier,  never-see-before, pioneering DECA pop-up shop.  When? This weekend!

Walk your keester over to 1948 Danforth, conveniently located across from East Lynn Park, and close to a number of local cafes and eateries. If you do that between 12 and 6 this Saturday and Sunday you will find our first fabulous shop: Birthia.

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When we put out the call for artists, entrepreneurs and community groups to submit proposals for one of two weekends, we were overwhelmed and absolutely delighted with the more-than-50 applications that came in. Most of them were fantastic. We interviewed four of those who submitted. Osvaldo, who runs the shop, Birthia, was the first person we interviewed. We really loved him and the local products that he sources for his shop.

This pop-up shop is the first of what we expect will be many neighbourhood storefronts that are temporarily occupied by creative enterprises of many kinds. It is our hope that by working with landlords who provide the space, we can provide the vitality that can make these storefronts more attractive to paying tenants and therefore help build the kind of vibrant, walkable neighbourhood that we all want to see. It’s win-win-win.

How can you help?  It’s easy.  All you gotta do is show up. We’ve already done the hard part – and by hard part I mean getting down on hands and knees and scrubbing the floor of this shop until our hands were calloused and sweat was pouring down our foreheads.  So really, showing up, this Saturday and Sunday between 12 and 6 is the very least you could do.

As for next weekend, you can already start signing up to bring your wee ones to Mrs. Darling’s Imaginarium for Girls and Boys. You know Mrs. Darling (a.k.a. Melissa). She’s the one who does the crafts at the Farmers’ Market every week.  She has two full days planned including pre-registered and drop-in programs.