Photo from around our neighbourhood

Meg Leslie recently tiled the side of her house. This adds a nice bit of colour to the Duke St and Waterloo St corner.

Please send us your photos if you see something in our area you think is interesting!

Jane's Walk 2012: Growing Every Year!

On May 12, 2012, the Mount Hope - Breithaupt Park neighbourhood sponsored two Jane's walks and we counted approximately 60 people for each one! Last year we had around 40 people for the one walk and I think we can thank Terry Pender from The Record for this article he wrote advertising all four Jane's Walks in Kitchener over the weekend.

(There were no walks given in Waterloo this year so as a side note we will suggest "Hey Waterloo, step up next year and produce a couple of walks!")

Our first walk began at 10 am in the new parking lot across from the Breithaupt Block where Ted discussed the history of the area, from its agrarian roots to manufacturing (pianos, leather, rubber, buttons) and now into the current knowledge economy.

(Click on any of the images below for a larger picture)

Then we walked to the Beohmer Box building which, unlike the Breithaupt Block, is not being renovated. But it is an active building which houses many interesting and eclectic tenants. In the picture below Wayne is discussing the old Fire Hall #2 which has been modestly renovated into studios and has dance classes on the main floor.

After discussing some more old buildings, including the former Electrohome building at Duke and Shanley, we all headed to Little City Farm.

At Little City Farm Greg and Karin were great hosts. Greg explained their "back to the land inside the city" philosophy and Karin fed us bread baked in their outdoor oven. What an excellent end to a great Walk. Thanks to everyone who came out!

But that's not all! In the afternoon, Wayne hosted a walk in Mt. Hope cemetery. In past years, this has been part of our main walk, but there are so many stories to tell, it become a walk on its own. And about 60 people attended.

We initially met "under the angel":

There are many great works of sculpture to observe in the cemetery when you wander through and take some time to observe:

Many of the older headstones are deteriorating with time, acid rain and other weather. But that is part of life and evolution. 

Wayne fascinated us with many great stories of early settlers, businessmen and former slaves who are all buried here. It is a great way to learn the history of Kitchener and many of the people who contributed to our rich culture.

Sometimes a man with a megaphone needs a helper!

Thanks to everyone who came out. It is a real pleasure to help with these walks each year. This is our fourth year (!!!) and the Blog has pictures from all the others if you want to browse back in the archives.

Animate, Meet Up, Bang a Gong on the Trail

On May 27, 2012 Kitchener is hosting a "trail event" on the Iron Horse trail. Initially called "Animate the Trail" it seems to have evolved into "Meetup on the Trail" and is being held at the same time the Victoria Park folks are holding their 2nd annual Henry Sturm festival.


To view the website for this event click here.


To view a poster for the event click here.


There will certainly be many things to celebrate and everyone is invited to take part of the trail and do pretty much whatever you want there.


It will be fun to walk the trail (which many of us do anyway) and see how many folks come out to this event. At some point we hope the organizers settle on a theme and name. This event started last year as a "car free" day. It was expensive to block off the road and impossible to make the many blocks between Kitchener and Waterloo very interesting and Kitchener council voted against spending any more money on it.


Relocating the event from the street to the trail is a great idea because the Iron Horse is already "car free". But with all the activity inside Victoria Park for the Henry Sturm festival, we will see how many folks venture away from that space and onto the trail itself.


Let's all come out and see what is happening on May 27th. Bring a gong to bang!

Angel watches over Jane's Walk

Jane's Walk weekend has been a great success and the last event is scheduled for 1 pm today (Sunday, May 6) in the King and Ottawa area.

A full report will be published this week. But here is a photo from the cemetery walk (click on photo for larger image).

Jane's Walks 2012: The Past, the Present, Buildings, Farms and Cemetery Plots

Spring must be here because it is time for another Jane's Walk Weekend in the Kitchener/Waterloo area. The "Jane" in the walk is Jane Jacobs who was an urban activist in the United States and Canada. She wrote books on how to build urban environments that people enjoyed living in. The photo above shows her engaged in saving Penn Station from development and in her later years she was famous for helping stop the Spadina Expressway in Toronto. 


Of course there are many excellent places on the web to learn about Ms. Jacobs and the great thing about the Jane's Walk events is that you do not need to know anything about her at all, except that she serves as an inspiration for neighbours to get together and discover the history of where they live. These walks are a great way to meet people from near and far.


We have hosted Jane's Walks in the Mount Hope neighbourhood in 2009, 2010 and 2011. So this will be our fourth year!


On Saturday morning (May 5, 2012) we will meet at 10 am in the parking lot across from the Breithaupt Block for a walk titled: Mount Hope Neighbourhood: Industrial Past, Post-Industrial Present. Click on the image below to view the big poster.

On the same afternoon we will have a second walk through the Mount Hope cemetery where Wayne will tell stories about famous people and others who were fascinating, but almost forgotten. Please come along to help rescue them from obscurity. Click on the image below to view the big poster.

Please come out to one, or both of these walks. They are great opportunities to meet new friends, and renew conversations with others you have not seen much over the winter (ok, I know we barely had a winter, but you know what I mean).


There are other Jane's Walk events in the Kitchener-Waterloo area as well. For a complete list you can either go to www.janeswalk.net  or click here to go directly to the Kitchener walks. At the time of this Blog posting it doesn't look like there are any walks scheduled for Waterloo but you can check it out on the Jane's Walk website closer to the weekend.


If you look over the photos from years past you will see we get a good crowd rain or shine! It is always worthwhile to engage with neighbours and hear their stories so we hope to see you there. Bring your friends.

KCI Green Industries Open House

Please note the new entry on the calendar (to the right). This Thursday, May 3, there will be an open house and tour in the KCI Green Industries Building.

For more information about this great learning environment read this article in The Record.

Come out to the event. Pet the goat! Feed the chickens....

Animating the Iron Horse Trail

Car-free days have evolved into "trail animation" afternoon. Shutting down parts of King street was interesting, but expensive and it is very difficult to fill the space between the two down towns. So we now have an "Animate the Iron Horse Trail" event scheduled for May 27th (Sunday). It is on the MHBPNA calendar so you will not forget.


However, this is an "open project" and everyone reading this Blog is invited to participate. You can add events to a Google map located here:

1)      Google Map: http://g.co/maps/5tvdf

a.       The google map can be used to identify points of interest and certain sections of the trail.

b.      Feel free to drop pins / lines where you think it would be appropriate.

2)      Google Docs:

a.       The google docs can be accessed here:https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0ApTCQxUXajGHdHBBdE80Q2pFODBIVG9rRjRGVVhXeHc

b.      Add any ideas you have here for vendors, event names, partnerships, etc.