More Royal Glamour
When Queen Elizabeth visited Toronto in early July, her event at Queen’s Park was made more colourful and graceful by floral decorations from Simmons Flowers (540 Parliament). The photo attached to this story shows one decoration which was arranged right on-site at the Lieutenant Governor’s suite in Queen’s Park. As Merion has said, “Cabbagetown’s merchants provide services fit for the Queen.”

Bring your dog to the Parade
Our plans for our 2010 Festival are quickly coming into focus. One of our more exciting (chaotic?) new wrinkles is the plan to highlight Cabbagetown’s lovely dogs in our Parade. We’ll be working with our two pet shops, our groomers and our veterinarian to make this a success. We’re going to highlight a couple of rescue agencies as well.
So – get your pup ready. Join us on Saturday, September 11, at 9:30 am at Wellesley and Parliament and be ready to strut your stuff together down Parliament.

Plans for the 2010 Festival
This year, we’ll be highlighting a lot of Cabbagetown performers. U4Change is an art-based service group who work with St James Town kids and they’ll be handling the Saturday stage at Winchester. The Cabbagetown Youth Centre will show off their choir, dancers and karate skills on Sunday at Winchester. GetItStraight has Regent Park talent. Among our Cabbagetown professional musicians, we’ve got Danny Marks, Cabbagetown Steve Grant and Jim Heinemann. In the parade, we’ve got the Cabbagetown Pipe Band, St James Town Steelpan Band and ROTC. There’ll be lots more by September – so far, the line-up is already exciting.

Welcome to Labour of Love
Regina has just opened her new store in this lovely space at 242 Carlton. She’s got gifts and accessories with a special emphasis on Canadian handmade jewelry, purses, bags, home furnishings and fun-filled knick knacks. She’s already had lots of retail experience with her successful store, Propaganda at 686 Yonge Street which was recently given high marks by NOW Magazine. She’ll be open from 10 am to 7 pm, Monday to Saturday.

Spiffy new lines at Sharon’s
Sharon (503 Parliament) has just received two new Canadian west-coast labels, Kersh and Press. She also has new items from Cabbagetowners’ favourites, Neon Buddha and Pure. Men’s Players Sports Tee’s and golf shirts are now in stock too. She also reminds us to check out her summer clearance rack with items from $9.99 to $19.99 – she’s adding new items there every day. The beautiful turquoise necklace that she’s wearing is part of her summer jewelry collection.

Alexandrine Roy at JAMCafe
Ms Roy will co-host this special six-course tasting dinner at JAMCafe as the visiting winemaker. Av Atikian’s menu will complement her wines – hors d’oeuvres, sea scallops, quail, Ontario elk, braised beef short ribs, confit of pork belly and dessert will all be offered along with seven lovely wines. Only 22 tickets are available. 7 pm, Wednesday August 11, $130 per person. For all the details, click here: http://www.jamcafe.net/events 195 Carlton Street. Reservations – (416) 921-1255.

World Jazz for Haiti

Holly Cole is the first (and only) person to make herself comfy on the roof of George's Porsche.

For several months, George Rondina at Number 9 Recording Studios (222 Gerrard E) has been preparing this World Jazz for Haiti album. It’s now in its final stages and will be released online in August. The physical album will be in stores in September. It features over two dozen amazing artists – Holly Cole, David Clayton-Thomas, Jane Bunnett among them – who contribute their talents to this effort. Cabbagetowners who frequent The Cobourg (533 Parliament) will recognize Mike Murley and Reg Schwager who are also on the album. All proceeds are being given to the Red Cross for their relief work in Haiti.

Prestige office space available
Kentridge Johnston have very attractive offices available with shared amenities in their beautifully restored heritage building. Bright sunny space with two separate offices – it can be subdivided into smaller offices of 500 and 600 square feet. Boardroom, kitchen, fax and copy facilities available. 185 Carlton Street. June 1. Contact (416) 323-1444 or johnston@planners.to

Asian delights at Kendall + Co
Visit Kendall + Co (438 Parliament) to get a $5 discount off the ticket price at the ROM for “Warrior emperor and China’s terracotta army.” Kendall will be featuring Asian inspired home décor and other distant treasures.