A few months ago, Big Fish Small Pond (a new local business) started making neighbourhood-specific t-shirts. A.J. Jimenez and his brother Jon started thinking that people might want to represent where they’re from with their apparel. In Windsor, we’re usually wearing Detroit Tiger hats to display our locality. A.J. wants to change that…for those who are proud citizens of Sandwich Towne, Walkerville, Forest Glade, Riverside, and now DOWNTOWN!
Take a look at my interview with A.J., done last week, where he talks about the new Downtown neighbourhood shirts.
Right now, the only way to get a shirt is to contact A.J. through his blog. http://bfsp.tumblr.com/
Printhouse is celebrating their one-year anniversary by hosting a street BBQ at 510 Pelissier Street. It’s called Unity in the Community.
It’s free! And there’s going to be music provided by Windsor performer…KERO!
Watch this short video as I interview Dan Bombardier about his idea for the party in the middle of the construction zone.
Thanks to Mark Bradley for sending
me the link to this story at the crack of dawn today. It was great to learn about this cool initiative going on up the 401.
London, Ontario is having their first pedestrian-day downtown THIS Sunday.
Dundas St. between Ridout and Wellington streets (a cew blocks) will be car-free from noon until 4 p.m.
London is taking part in a world-wide challenge by the World Health Organization (WHO).
The World Health Organization challenged cities around the world to take part, and over 800 are stepping up and participating on April 11 for World Health Day.
From the London Free Press:
“Any time you can remove vehicles, there’s an environmental benefit and there’s a financial and health benefit. That’s the thrust of all this,” said Jay Stanford, the city’s director of environmental programs and solid waste.”
Buskers, entertainers, barbeques, and stages will be out on the street in place of the car traffic, offering more than just quiet streets to the citizens of London.
Also from The London Free Press:
“It’s about being healthy and in full recognition that as a society, we’ve become far too reliant on the car. We can enjoy the street for other purposes,” Stanford said.
To read this entire London Free Press story, click this link.
As a business owner in the downtown, walking the street has never been so invigorating. Ever since the Downtown WO duties brought me face-to-face with numerous downtown entrepreneurs, moving around in the core is a lot friendlier.
This goes to show that the experience of a business owner, patron, resident, or visitor is predicated on your own willingness to explore, and converse with new people. Expanding your horizons beyond your familiarity and far past the walls of your downtown apartment, you begin to notice regular characters that make downtown great.
I’ve never been so comfortable walking up Ouellette Avenue than I was this week, hunting down new pieces about business expansions and new developments. Every half-block there was someone familiar calling out with a friendly wave, that only one month ago, I couldn’t have picked out of a line-up.
It simply strengthens the adage, “you reap what you sow”.
This is my encouragement statement to business owners who have a comfort zone of “known” customers and other business owners. Take a walk down a new street downtown, or pop into a business you’re unfamiliar with…as it’s made my appreciation for our neck of the woods that much greater. It’s offered me a new perspective about how to direct people asking about where to go and what to do downtown.
There are places we simply drive past.
They aren’t a second thought because their prime function is housing people that worship in a way different from us.
Even though many call Central United Church, located at 628 Ouellette Avenue, their second home, many of us know it as the neighbour to Shoppers Drug Mart on the corner of Ouellette and Wyandotte.
A lot of these places feel like closed doors to us. Closed by our own lack of curiosity, or closed by our self-imposed restrictions.
The Open Doors Campaign, organized by church council member Dan Bryant, is a series of musical events aimed at trying to keep the church’s doors open by raising money from these concerts.
My blogger-friend Victoria Rose told me that she’d seen a concert there recently and it had been exquisite.
A Welsh tenor named Gwyndaf Jones, friend of Bryant, played there January 29th for $10.
That sentence might not hold any meaning for you, until you understand the phenomenal acoustics in Central United Church.
He didn’t use a microphone. He didn’t need one. If you watch the video tour below, you’ll see the majestic space, and imagine the sounds effortlessly flowing through it. He was joined by violinist Besnik Yzeiri, Sandra A Miller Radvanyi, and Alde Calongcagong on piano.
The idea of music taking place in a building that’s 104 years old is extraordinary to me. So much so that I plan on taking a closer look at the building itself in a future Salt & Roses segment with Neil Helmer. The 60-year-old pipe organ that can be seen looming over the altar is so prominent, it’s hard to look at it without imagining it calling to the heavens.
Bryant assures me that the intention of the church, (known to many as “What church?!) is going to hold a few organ recitals in 2010, which will be open to the public as part of the Doors Open Campaign. That alone has skyrocketed my interest. Also planned is a folk music series, aimed at getting an entirely different music-appreciating crowd inside of this audio giant.
The display sign out front will be displaying the next music event when it’s solidly booked in the church’s calendar. I will, for sure, be at the first organ recital. Maybe I’ll see you in this century-old, architectural, acoustic, heaven-sent building for some transcendent entertainment.
To inquire further about the church or their events, before the Salt & Roses episode highlighting this building comes out, go to http://central.mnsi.net or e-mail central@mnsi.net.
Yet another genuinely precious, mostly unknown, event-series in downtown Windsor. Tell someone this exists. Share this link with them!
And if you have a place you’re curious about downtown, and you’d like me to shine a light on it or the workers, or the owners, or the residents…send me an e-mail.
It all comes back to Windsor’s Community Museum when you bring up history in downtown Windsor.
Neil Helmer, local historian, took me to Windsor’s Community Museum to discuss the building’s storied history in connection with the War of 1812. We met up with curator, Madelyn Della Valle, who talked a bit more about the 1812 connection by showing us some of the current items on display within the museum.
We may visit this topic again in the future, as it is a massive section of Windsor’s downtown history, but we felt this video was a good start.
If you have any questions or comments about the information on this video, please leave it below or e-mail.
Also, if you have any suggestions of what Neil Helmer should feature on an upcoming Salt & Roses, let us know.
Windsor’s Community Museum is located at 254 Pitt Street West, and is wrought with amazing historical displays and artifacts.
Headline image courtesy of Windsor’s Community Museum portraying Francois Baby Farm with British Royal Artillery.eumX WO
Have you ever wondered what sits behind the “For Lease” signs in the windows downtown?
I’ve always thought that it’d be interesting to walk within those spaces and imagine new businesses flourishing behind those signs.
As a downtown entrepreneur, the curiosity these vacancies foster has lead to a new feature for the Downtown WO Blog called “Moving In”.
In the interest of showing a clearer vision of downtown Windsor, the WO Blog will attempt to better acquaint entrepreneurs with their property opportunities in the downtown.
One of the driving forces of entrepreneurship and new business flourishing is vision. When you can’t see inside a vacant storefront, you can’t imagine the possibilities. If the entrepreneurial mind can walk through a potential business space, it can envision the transformation of a shell into a viable vocation.
Over time, Moving In will offer short guided tours of downtown spaces for sale or for lease. The curiosity of a potential downtown property owner in Windsor or from out of town can be satisfied from your keyboard.
For our introductory piece, I was able to meet with Mark Lalovich of of RE/MAX Preferred Realty. Mark was a great host, taking time to show me a few spaces he’s listing. He knows what used to be in the spaces, what they were outfitted for originally, and what kind of use they would accommodate with little or no infrastructure overhaul needed.
We took a look at a third floor vacancy at 633 Ouellette Avenue, steps away from the intersection of Wyandotte and Ouellette. Everything about the property is on the video, including costs etc. Take a look.
Do you love watching the Oscars or taking in a good movie? You’re in luck if you answered “yes” to either. This week the Capitol Theatre and the Art Gallery of Windsor are having special film screenings. Not to be outdone, the Palace Cinemas will continue its popular art film series and Chanoso’s is holding an Oscar Night viewing party this Sunday.
I thought it was exclusively for the Friday and Saturday crowds that mingle on Ouellette Avenue after hours. Located at 419 Ouellette Avenue, I didn’t even know they were open during the day.
I don’t know exactly what I was expecting from a Mexican restaurant called Drunkin’ Burrito, but my idea was turned on its head as soon as I walked in the front door. It was more akin to a martini bar or sushi restaurant rather than the harshly lit “burrito shack” I’d envisioned. The lighting is subtle. There are a few muted flat-screen TVs, as ambient music plays in the spirit of their menu. Accoutrements and decor befitting a Toronto cocktail bar grace the walls. It’s comfort food with a chic comfort mood.
To further throw my preconceptions into a tizzy, I met the ownership group responsible for this proud restaurant. You couldn’t hope for a more cordial group of visionaries. Every time before and since I interviewed them, all of the staff and ownership has represented themselves as some of the most cordial business people in the downtown core.
A brief overview of the business now. Drunkin’ Burrito offers quesadillas, salads, and nachos on top of the obvious burrito option. And they have the most ridiculously scrumptious cookies, which are unassuming at first glance, but filled with a chocolate and peanut butter blast on the inside. Most surprising about the food is the attention to healthy alternatives in the cooking process. Of course, I’m not at liberty to share these trade secrets, but it’s an impressive feat to have food tasting as good as it does without the stereotypical greasy label that Mexican food can have.
While waiting for my interview to take place, I ordered a chicken quesadilla. I’m a cheese-monster, so it seemed fitting.
How’d that go, you ask? In a few short minutes, I had done this to my gigantic (personal pizza sized) portion.
I thought I’d take a quick video of my peek inside of Drunkin’ Burrito to give you a clearer idea of the inside of their space.
Also, I did a brief interview with some of the operators of the restaurant so you could hear, in their words, what they’re shooting for in this successful restaurant that has just celebrated it’s one year anniversary as of March 1st, 2010. Congrats. Continued success to all of you. On top of everything else, offering free delivery is bound to ingratiate you on potential customers!
Above: The current incarnation of the Drunkin’ Burrito logo
To contact Drunkin’ Burrito, call them at 519.915.6707, e-mail them at support@drunkinburrito.ca
Do you have a hidden gem restaurant in the downtown core? Did a food experience positively surprise you? E-mail Downtown WO to share your experience if you feel someone’s restaurant should have a spotlight shone on it.
From my short interaction with them, I found that they like to meet at The Coffee Exchange for a warm drink on a regular basis.
When I asked them how often they come downtown, Bea quickly chirped, “Every day!”
Bea was quick to point out that they were seniors. I think she felt the need to tell me this, because I was asking them about what they think of downtown. They were extremely well put-together, dressed by my estimation for something more formal. They were smiling most of the time they were there. I was waiting for a WO Blog interviewee to show up, and I was keeping tabs on the passers-by and customers coming in for a treat. Bea and Marjorie were spry, happy, and sated by the goods from this cafe. They did not look like the stereotypical downtown dweller everyone is familiar with hearing about, so I decided to intercept one of them while they were preparing to leave. They were more than willing to tell me what they thought of “their” downtown.
The women make it a habit to come from their apartments on Riverside Drive and experience the offerings of Ouellette Avenue (mostly) but they inferred a heavy usage of the downtown waterfront during the warmer months. They’re aware of the louder evening crowds and party atmosphere. They have reign over the mood of downtown while they’re within it, and they acknowledge that it just isn’t their scene when the sun goes down. But they make sure to mingle in the quieter hours of the day, because that’s when it’s their social time.
Being in the downtown during the day, seeing these two enjoying each other’s company in a cafe on the main strip is a perception-changing experience that nighthawks rarely get to see. When Bea and Marjorie are calling it a day, the evening patrons are just rolling out of bed or finishing reading the newspaper. Which got me to thinking about how people perceive and experience their downtown.
For Bea and Marjorie, it’s lively with business traffic and downtown employees moving from one place to the next. If you look at the photo that headlines this post, you see a jubilant Canada Hockey celebration, and a completely different downtown than the one lived by Bea and Marjorie. And I like that.
As I slowly begin to widen my peripheral/social vision of who makes downtown home, I realize that there are umpteen communities all calling it their own. What better for a diverse experience and expression of self than an inability to specifically label the core as one thing. The multiplicity of niche groups that settle and contribute to the downtown, the better.
It’s a pretty great spot that can host a pair of old friends out for a cup of Joe one minute and an undulating, traffic-halting, red and white ocean of joy the next.
How are you making downtown “your own”?
As an aside to this post, do you know someone who experiences downtown Windsor in their own way? If you know people who might fall under the radar of the stereotypical view of downtown, and you think they should be highlighted on the Downtown WO Blog, drop me an e-mail about them.
Photo at the top of this post by Kari Gignac…sometime contributor to Windsorite.ca.
Downtown, interviewing, and investigating 6-months free rent at 500 Ouellette Ave. Entrepreneurs will love this.03:07:45 PM August 23, 2010from TweetDeck
