DECA Pride was started by DECA to bring together the east end LGBTQ+ community and create spaces and events where we live. Allies are welcome.
For more information or to join the DECA Pride email list, visit DECA.to/Pride or send us an email.
Join us on Tuesday, June 12 to celebrate queerness, community and pride at a free reading of Any Other Way: How Toronto Got Queer. 7:30-9:00pm at Red Rocket Coffee, 1364 Danforth.
Hosted by co-editor Jane Farrow, we will hear pieces from Kate Zieman, Cathi Bond, Ed Jackson, and Karen B.K. Chan. You can buy a copy of the book for a special price of $20 (cash only). Facebook event here with more info.
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We are also planning our third annual DECA Pride @ The Market on June 21st from 3-7pm, generously sponsored by Steve’s Quality Meats and Deli (1938 Danforth – across the street from East Lynn Park).
Over the course of the afternoon, we’ll have Pride themed arts and crafts with Silly Goose Kids and Create Art Studio and we’re happy to welcome back the Coe Hill Girls to sing and play from about 5-6pm.
Can you believe it, Halloween is almost here! The decorations are everywhere as the whole neighborhood gets into the spooky Halloween spirit. Even the jack-o-lanterns are now starting to make an appearance and hoping to outlast the squirrels’ attacks until after the big day. One of our favorite parts of Halloween is not the day of, but November 1 when jack-o-lanterns from around the ‘hood make their way to East Lynn park, or another park nearby, and we all light them up one last time and see the wonderful creations blinking together in the night.
Even better, when you are ready to go you can leave your pumpkins at the park and amazing volunteers will toss those babies in bins that the city provides, and the city will pick up in one swoop the next day. So bring your pumpkins and your candles and come join in the fun on November 1 starting at 6:30 pm with DECA at East Lynn Park!
So much fun happening this weekend – plus a few reminders about some DECA events coming up in September! The Danforth East Arts Fair is one week away, but you can cope with your excitement by checking out some of these events happening tomorrow.
Saturday events
Bike Lane Party 10am-noon
Queenie’s Cards Grand Opening 10am-6pm
Nooks Flea, noon-10pm
Other News
Do you want a Danforth East Arts Fair sign? Email us and Nicole will be in touch to arrange it!
#DECAde Celebrations
Our 10th birthday celebrations are happening this month! We’re having a party at the East Lynn Farmers’ Market on September 21st (formal remarks and cake at around 5pm) and a cocktail party at the Shore Leave on Saturday, September 23rd from 7-9pm. We also have our self-led community scavenger hunt underway! All the details are in the post found here.
Well, you’ve read this far so you must want to see the arts fair poster! We still need volunteers so watch this space for the sign-up or send us an email. Sitting at the DECA table is a great way to be right in the middle of the happiest day in the neighbourhood! Spots for set-up and take-down are also available.
So much to tell you about what we are up to – our birthday parties next month, community-wide scavenger hunt, meet & greet next week, Board meeting and volunteer opportunity!
Happy Birthday to Us!
We have officially announced our DECAde celebrations, our 10th birthday, with a few exciting events. We’ll tell you more, but here are the highlights:
celebration at the East Lynn Farmers’ Market at East Lynn Park (1949 Danforth Avenue) from 4-6 pm on September 21st. Formal remarks and a cake-cutting to begin at 5pm.
cocktail soirée at The Shore Leave (1775A Danforth Avenue) on Saturday, September 23rd from 7-9 pm (cash bar)
self-led scavenger hunt from now to September 21st to encourage individuals and families to explore the Danforth East neighbourhood to find the 10 spots, using our clues.
Free scavenger hunt maps & clues will be available at the East Lynn Park Farmers’ Market on Thursdays or download one here. Completed maps can be dropped off at the DECA table at the Farmers’ Market every Thursday from 3-7pm until September 21st. All completed maps will be entered into a draw, with results announced at The Shore Leave cocktail soirée on September 23rd.
Meet & Greet + Board Meeting
Who should come to our meet & greet on Tuesday? You should! It’s from 7-8pm at Gerrard’s Pizza in the basement (1528 Danforth). You should come if you’re new to the neighbourhood, or you’re curious about what exactly DECA does and who we are (spoiler alert: we’re all volunteers with full lives but we just really love our neighbourhood and we are fun!) or because you are interested in joining our Board or volunteeringin some other capacity. Come for a chat, and it’s up to you whether you’d like to stay for the Board meeting!
You are also invited to join us for our Board meeting from 8-9pm. Same location. Do you have an agenda item? Just let us know!
Click here to email us with any questions or to RSVP. We appreciate it if you let us know you are coming so we can reach you if anything changes and so that we can change to a bigger location if needed. Please also tell us about any accommodation needs. (The room is not accessible but we will find one that is if needed)
Volunteer Opportunity: Still need cooks
We are still looking for volunteer cooks to feed the farmers’ at our East Lynn Farmers’ Market. Some spots have filled since we made our plea last week but lots of spots are still available. Make a simple meal for 10-15 and we pay you a $20 honourarium. Past volunteer cooks have really enjoyed this chance to give back to the people who bring us their fresh local food week after week! Click here to sign up and for more information.
For this series of blog posts marking our #DECAde, we are looking back on where DECA started, how far we’ve come and where the next 10 years might take us and our neighbourhood. We are including interviews with some of DECA’s founders and other info and tidbits from DECA’s “archives”
2014 DECA Board
Making Change
Parts 1 and 2 of series described what the neighbourhood was like 10 years ago and how a group of people came together to start DECA. This post is about what happened next. As you know, fair reader, the DECA Diaries blog was our only communication tool for many years before Facebook, Twitter and Instagram helped us expand our reach. Lovingly written by DECA’s founding Chair, Natasha Granatstein from 2008-2011 when every post was written on an actual computer (not on an iPhone like this one) and event posters were still actual pieces of paper and not JPEG files so the words that Natasha wrote had to be crafted carefully – and they were.
In the past nine years of the blog (it began as an email newsletter), we have posted 1160 times. Each post takes anywhere from 20ish minutes to a few hours of someone’s spare time, to help get the word out about our community. More than 1200 people subscribe to the blog and many more read it via Facebook and Twitter. The blog is now managed by a small team of volunteer bloggers and a volunteer editor (yours truly). Turns out, the blog is also our unofficial archive.
Here’s a look back courtesy of the blog at some of what we’ve done to change the neighbourhood over the past #DECAde.
Our weekly market posts didn’t start until a few years in, but this post was a sweet reminder of a wonderful night at the market (in its third year by 2009) where people of all ages came to square dance!
November 2009: Our first annual cocktail party (that was secretly also our AGM) at Melanie’s Bistro. No e-version of the poster back then so the blog post is our only proof!
January 2012 – blog post about Australian Marcus Westbury’s innovative “pop-up shop” model to deal with high commercial vacancy
March 7, 2012 – Marcus Westbury was in town so we hosted an event with him!
May 2012 – carrot gets a buddy: the birth of the broccoli costume!
What shows a deeper commitment to improving one’s own community than dressing as vegetables to promote our local farmers’ market during rush hour?!
Veggies promoting our Farmers’ Market
October 2012: First Pop-Up Shops
This was back when it was solely run by a team of DECA volunteers, based on the Renew Newcastle model we learned about earlier that year. Incredible!
June 2013: First #DanforthEast Yard Sale
April 2014: #DanforthEast Dreams event
We asked you what you wanted for our neighbourhood and mapped it and made a video found in this follow-up blog post. (The post also shows our first laneway revitalization effort more than three years ago!)
April 2015: DECA Gems neighbourhood competition
It was a total love-in and so many people learned of new places to shop, eat, play, get their car fixed, hem a skirt, get a haircut, buy flowers and on and on. Search the hashtag #DECAGems on our fb page or blog to look back. Anyone remember who won?
December 2015: First DECA Connects fundraiser – Sleep Out for Syrians
DECA’s social justice group launched with this fundraiser where participants slept outside (in December!) to simulate what Syrian refugees were experiencing for months in camps. The goal was $10k. In the end, we raised $28,500, helping several Syrian families come to Canada.
June 2016: First DECA Pride LGBTQ+ event
We have a thriving LGBTQ+ community in the east end but no groups or events. DECA Pride changed that!
June 2016: First Table Tennis for Tuition
To raise money to support the $2000 DECA Young Leaders Scholarship established in 2016.
This has been an amazing decade-long experiment in being positive and making changes that many people say have transformed our neighbourhood.
Want to join us?
DECA memberships are $10/household to support our community initiatives including our weekly Farmers’ Market, Diversity Scholarship, annual Arts Fair, Pumpkin Parade, Tree Lighting Festival, #DanforthEast Yard Sale, DECA Pride LGBTQ+ group and more! Sign up here.
On November 1st, beautiful jack-o-lanterns will light up parks around the neighbourhood thanks to many volunteers who put them together. (And in some cases with help from City Councillors – thanks to Councillor McMahon for her support of ours.)
DECA’s Pumpkin Parade will be at East Lynn Park again, but we’ve also included a few others below so that you can take your pumpkin to the closest magical event.
Happy Halloween and see you on November 1st starting at 6:30pm (Note that in most cases, it’s helpful if you bring your own candle)
