Thanks, Kevin
Once again, we have a generous sponsor for our Cabbagetown Festival Parade.
Kevin White is a broker with Royal LePage Urban Realty. His gift of $200 is welcome indeed. In fact, as he says, the Festival has special meaning in his family. He and Ruth met during the pub crawl. They live on Aberdeen where he’s owned his home since 1998 and they’re members of the Aberdeen Avenue Residents Association. Their house has been featured on the annual Tour of Homes.
Many thanks, Kevin, for a great gift from a committed Cabbagetowner!


September 5 to September 9. Mark your calendars for the Cabbagetown Festival.
For details and more information: www.oldcabbagetown.com.
Click on the balloon and follow the links to your favourite Festival events.


Festival warm-ups

Three big events happen right after Labour Day to warm up your Festival week.
Wednesday, September 5, 7:00 to 11:30 PM – The second annual Cabbagetown Wine Route. Seven great restaurants will feature rare and hard-to-get Australian wines. Tickets are now available. Don’t miss out.
Thursday, September 6 – The Cabbagetown Pub Night. Ten pubs are each hosting amazing events to turn this into a memorable evening.
Friday, September 7, 7 pm - the return of the Cabbagetown Short Film & Video Festival (at Winchester Dance Theatre, 80 Winchester St) followed by serious filmography analyses at The Cobourg Wine Bar (533 Parliament Street).

The 2007 Festival Program – Saturday, September 8 and Sunday, September 9

It’s planned, prepared and well underway. Here are a few highlights:

The whole day starts at Blair’s Run. It’s a mini-marathon for the whole family. Starting at 8:30 am with a coffee and muffin, ranging through 3 kilometers on the grueling streets of Cabbagetown’s central district, and ending up at croissant heaven (Daniel et Daniel), this is a race for four-year-olds and eight-four-year-olds. Don’t miss it.

Saturday’s Cabbagetown People’s Parade (10 to 11:30 am) launches the weekend. We’re assembling at Parliament and Wellesley and marching straight down the street to Gerrard.
Bring your baby. Wear your superman outfit. Be a real cabbagehead. Nobody’ll tell. Experienced observers will expect the instant replay that has always marked past parades – a quick trip up the street and then a second march down. Not this year. It’s a one-way adventure so the times are a lot more important!

Carlton Street Home Show. All day long on Saturday, twenty local businesses are showcasing the services that they can offer to Cabbagetown homeowners. There are furniture and decorating stores, renovators and handymen, home and real estate services and lots more. Plans are even underway to bring an antique appraiser to help you decide whether to keep that priceless but doubtful armoir.

The Parliament Street Party. Saturday is full of music: Go Freddy Go at the House of Parliament, Jim Heineman at Big Mamma’s Boy and Chapter Eleven, Mae Cromwell at the Stonegrill on Winchester, the Mellotones at No Frill’s, South Asian singers and dancers at the International Stage, Errol Fisher at Angel Queen and Pear Tree, the YSM Street Party at Gerrard. Plus David Dunlap, Sady T and lots more.

Blood, sweat and tears. If physical exertion is your first love, then check out the CYC Martial Arts show at 2 pm, the Gien San Karate Demo at 2 pm and the Cabbagetown Boxing Club’s annual Boxing Show at 3 pm on Saturday. You can also see just how tough serious players can be at the Cabbagetown Table Tennis Tournament throughout Saturday afternoon.

Great food and drinks. More than fifteen pubs and restaurants will offer food and drinks in comfortable patios all along Parliament Street. From Ben Wicks’ traditional pig roast to Piccolo’s munchies and on to Timothy’s Tikka and the barbeques at the north end, you’ll find food from every corner of the world.

The Big Opening on Sunday is a mile-long brunch: at PearTree, the HOP, Ben Wicks, Shirleys, Johnny Gs, Cranberries, Big Mamma’s Boy, Brass Taps and many more.

Danny Marks will highlight Sunday afternoon’s celeberation of Cabbagetown’s community musicians. With another heaping spoonful of good food on colourful street patios, Sunday turns into a fine time to sit back, relax, and remember the excesses of the night before.

All of this plus the world’s best garage sales, Art & Crafts in Riverdale Park, a barn dance, walking tours of beautiful neighbourhoods and a Fairy Godmother’s Assistant. Is it any wonder that people think we’re nuts? And fun!

More good news about the Festival Parade...
Two of our BIA members have just made generous donations to the Parade fund. Both are real estate companies.
HomeLife/Realty One (501 Parliament Street) and Prudential Properties Plus (552 Parliament Street) have each made large donations to the 2007 Cabbagetown Festival. We’ve earmarked $50 from each of them for the Parade.
Pledges to the Parade fund now stand at $1220.00. We’re close to heaven but not quite there yet. Just another $750 will put us over the top. So please, dig deep!


And while we’re talking about the Festival Parade …
It looks as if the baby walk is going to be a great hit. Every mom and dad (in fact, every baby) should be talking it up now!
What’s the idea? Bring your baby to the Parade and strut your stuff. Walk along Parliament Street in the Festival Parade and show off the great job you’ve done.
If you bring your baby, we’ll bring the bands and the cheering crowds to welcome you.
Save this date: Saturday morning, September 8, 10:00 am. Details will follow soon.

Associate Members of the BIA
In the June meeting, the Board of Management approved the idea of Associate Memberships in the BIA.
If you’re a business person working from home in Cabbagetown, we’d love to have you as a member. The cost is minimal - $50 a year. If you join now, your membership lasts until December 31, 2008.
The benefits are big. Our whole emphasis is on networking. Join us and get a listing on our web site. If you have a special event or announcement, you can use this Newsletter to tell the world. Twice a year, we’ll invite you to our informal occasions to meet other BIA members (at our annual Chairman’s Award evening and at our Annual General Meeting.) One Associate Member will be elected at the AGM to sit on our Board and to speak on behalf of the group. Plus you can call on our office for help with your projects and special promotions.
Here’s the fine print on two important questions.
Why Associate Membership? Because a full member has to be a business or property owner located within our boundaries and also has to be someone who pays property tax to the City of Toronto at commercial rates. This is carefully defined by the City of Toronto.
Can anyone join? Sorry – no. We aren’t a social group or a residents’ association. We’re a business group looking for other business people in our area.
For more information, call Doug Fisher at (416) 921-0857 or email doug@oldcabbagetown.com.


Hidden Gardens & Private Spaces
The first annual garden tour sponsored by the Cabbagetown Preservation Association takes place this weekend, Sunday, July 8. It starts at 11 am and continues to 4 pm. Tickets are $10.
This is a wonderful idea. This neighbourhood is full of enthusiastic gardeners who’ve produced lovely landscapes.
If you need a ticket, you can visit Mi Casa at 238 Carlton Street on Saturday. On Sunday, during the tour, walk along Carlton Street east of Parliament and look for a balloon outside a garden.

Green living styles at The Union
On Saturday July 7, from 4 to 9 pm, The Union (242 Carlton Street) hosts a Live Earth party to promote environmental living and bring awareness to the climate change crisis.

Hot music for summer evenings…
Angel Queen Pub & Restaurant (488 Parliament Street) has introduced karaoke nights with DJ Dante. Every Thursday and Sunday. And while you’re there, check out their wings and beer specials.
The Stonegrill on Winchester (51B Winchester Street) still has its Sunday jazz brunches featuring Archie Alleyne from 10:30 am to 3 pm. Scrumptious food and beautiful music.
The Cobourg (533 Parliament Street) continues its marvelous Sunday night jazz series with John Alcorn. Sundays at 9 pm, no cover charge.

And the art world heats up for the summer…
The Cabbagetown Community Art Centre (454 Parliament Street) has two new summer programs gearing up.
For adults, Art Makes You is a six-week course running on Monday nights from 7 to 8:30 pm. At $90 (plus $15 for materials), it’s a bargain.
For kids ages 3 to 6, it’s Vegetable Soup, a fun program of painting and creative art. Held every Wednesday morning from 10 to 11:30 am, the program runs for six weeks and costs only $80.
For information about these programs, contact kdinwoodie@hotmail.com or the Arts Centre at 416-925-7222.