A Historical Day

The morning started with a thunderstorm but the weather cleared and we had a great "historical" day at the Withrow Park Farmers' Market on Saturday. 

We saw archival photographs of our park (thank you to the Riverdale Historical Society!) and had self guided tours of the park to learn more.

We discovered historical love with Shakespeare in the Ruff and their performance of an Elizabethan Bachelorette.  Thank you for such an enthusiastic performance.

If you fell in love with Shakespeare in the Ruff and want to see more (or if you missed them and want to make sure you catch them this summer) be sure to check out their performance of Two Gentlemen of Verona in Withrow Park on Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from August 15th to September 2nd at 7:30 p.m. 

The children made crafts at the crafts table (thank you Jennifer!) which we used on our tour of the lost river of Withrow Park.  Helen led a merry crowd through the park as she explained more about the history of the park and vicinity.  It was a wonderful tour- thank you Helen!

The children also had a chance to play some historical games led by Pepper (an endless source of energy- thank you Pepper!).  The children jumped over imaginary rivers, ran potato/spoon races, played crabwalk tag and rolled hoops with sticks.  It was great chaotic fun.

And finally, people had a chance to stop by and share ideas about how they like to imagine their Withrow Park of the future (and thank you to Rob for being at this table).  What did we hear? A tree map, a splash pad, new playground equipment, an indoor winter market, a cafe, more benches under trees, more bike parking, a bake oven, more flower gardens, a fountain, a community garden, solar panels, a gazebo and a wind turbine.  Lots of food for thought.  Do you like any of those ideas?  Do you have other ideas?  Join the conversation and we can make history by re-imagining our park! 

A final few notes of gratitude:  Thank you to IQ Living for lending us grids for our event.  Thank you to Friends of the Greenbelt Foundation for their generious sponsorship of this event.  Thank you to Wendy for helping design our posters.  And thank you to Roberta for her tireless work at the Withrow Park Farmers' Market and for hosting this event. 

Withrow Park History Day- Saturday July 7th at the Farmers' Market

Come celebrate Withrow Park's past, present and future!

Join neighbours for a morning of fun activities for children, families and history buffs on Saturday July 7, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., during the weekly Withrow Park Farmers’ Market.

History and photo buffs alike can view pictures of Withrow Park in its infancy, thanks to a display set up by the Riverdale Historical Society. Maybe you’ll spot your house! The Society is also offering self-guided tours of Withrow Park.

The Friends of Withrow Park will display a park map, where you can imagine your park of the future by dropping off suggestions or making drawings.

At the crafts table, children can create crafts to take along on a Lost Rivers Walk, in which people can mark the path of the park's long-buried creek.

Kids’ games start at 10 a.m. A performance by Shakespeare in the Ruff begins at 11 a.m, when they will do ‘‘Elizabethan Bachelorette,’’ using sonnets to find historical love.

Participants include Withrow Park Farmers’ Market, Riverdale Historical Society, Friends of Withrow Park, Shakespeare in the Ruff & Lost Rivers.

The event is sponsored by the Friends of the Greenbelt Foundation.

See you at the market!

Dog Owners Beware

Raw meat mixed with dog treats has been found near the off leash area of Withrow Park.  The police are investigating.  Please exercise extra caution with your dog at the park while the investigation continues.

Join LEAF for a Tree Tour on Monday June 18th

The Farmers' Market is Back!

One of the best days at Withrow Park is the opening day of the Farmers' Market.  Join us in welcoming the market back to our park on Saturday May 19th from 9 am to 1pm. 

Bring your bike and get a free tune up from special market attendees BikeSauce. 

Drop by the Friends of Withrow Park table to say hello, talk about tree adoptions, and share ideas about park events and improvements (with a special heads up that we are planning a meeting on June 3rd).

And most importantly...pick up some yummy food.  There are prepared meals and snacks available (even for your dog!) and early season veggies to take home to cook. 

What a great way to celebrate the holiday long weekend.  See you there!

Calling all Park People- That's You

Park People is hosting an exciting event on Saturday May 12th.
If you're a park person, you need to be at the Second Annual Toronto Park Summit. The Summit brings park advocates, city staff, and experts together with community groups, city councillors, and concerned Torontonians to network, brainstorm, and work together to build momentum for better parks in Toronto. The theme for the 2012 Summit is Connecting Toronto's People and Parks. Learn how other Toronto residents are engaging in and improving their local parks, and help us generate ideas and create opportunities for better citizen engagement in our parks. The input we receive at the Summit will form the basis of a Solutions Paper that Park People is going to release in the fall with our ideas for how the City of Toronto can better work with local residents in our parks.

The agenda for the afternoon of May 12th is:

12:30	Registration
1:30	Opening & Introduction: Dave Harvey, Executive Director of Toronto Park People
2:00	Keynote presentation: Robert Hammond, Executive Director and Co-Founder of Friends of the High Line, New York City
3:00	Local park leaders' stories of successes and challenges of engaging in their local park (moderated by Jane Farrow)
4:00 – 5:30	Social mixer and party: Continue the discussion and meet fellow park people
5:30	Optional walk through Brick Works' trails and ponds: discussion of successful park greening and naturalization projects

The keynote speaker, Robert Hammond, co-founded the Friends of the High Line in 1999, spearheading a process to save the High Line structure from being torn down and driving a community effort to turn the structure into a park. The High Line is now one of the world's greatest public spaces. Learn more about Robert and the park here.

For this year's Summit,Park People are asking for a suggested contribution of $20 to help us offset the cost of the event. Park People is a project of Tides Canada, a registered charity, and they rely on donations to undertake their work.

The Toronto Park Summit is sponsored by TD Bank Group and supported by Mitchell Cohen and Janice Lewis

New Waterfountains! At last!

We finally have a water fountain at the north end of the park!  What other improvements would you like to see made in the park?