On Saturday, June 7, people in Toronto and around the globe will unite in a single goal – to bring positive change to their little corner of the world. One hundred citizen-led community actions – or urban interventions – will help foster awareness about urban and social issues, or just inject some fun and whimsy into a neighbourhood. What began as an idea in Bogota, Colombia in 2012 has spread around the world. Last year Montreal took part, and this year Vancouver, Halifax and Toronto have signed on. Our own East End is hosting 10 (at press time) interventions.
Cherie Daly will be hosting Pop Up Play Place, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Queen Street East and Glen Manor Drive. Inspired by another city’s transformation of a bus shelter into a homey living room complete with curtains and a couch, Daly’s project encourages participants to interact with each other and their environment in front of Ivan Forrest Gardens.
“My initial idea was to brighten up the space with bright outdoor furniture, beach umbrellas and flowers,” she wrote in an email. “Then I thought, ‘why not make use of the pathways and encourage interaction a bit more – so people will use the space, not just pass through it?’” Board games, hopscotch, bubbles, hula hoops and art are part of the plan. Participants are asked to bring a colourful chair or a potted plant, and musicians may bring their instruments.
No Ifs … No Ands … No Butts! is the intervention Susan Crofts of the East Toronto Climate Action Group is leading. Cigarette butt litter is an ongoing problem in the green space on Strathmore Boulevard at the north end of Woodbine station, maintained by ETCAG. The group will create posters discouraging the tossing of butts. They hope the posters might even lead some smokers to kick the habit altogether, by extension improving air quality. It will run from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Martina Rowley’s intervention is Working Bee, where participants can help clean up two large plant beds at the southeast corner of Queen Street East and Kingston Road. The project will be hosted by Greening Ward 32’s Friends of Woodbine Park in partnership with Transition Toronto. Raking, digging, weeding, and mulch-spreading are on the agenda. Contributions of tools, such as rakes, edgers and dandelion diggers, are welcome. The intervention runs from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Other East End interventions include Nature Walks in a Post Industrial Site at the quarry lands at Gerrard and Victoria Park; Bread & Butter Bunting, hosted by Daily Flag for Daily Bread; Yoga on the Beach, at Leuty and Hubbard; Potluck in the Park, at Wildwood Park; Guerilla Jazz, at Dawes Road and Victoria Park; Gledhill Chain Link Fence Art, at Danforth and Cedarvale; Cooking With Soul at Beach United Church; and Yoga and Pilates on the Beach, at Coxwell and Lakeshore.
To see a full list of Toronto’s interventions, or to find out how to register your own, visit 100in1day.ca.
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