UPDATE: So, remember how I was looking for the perfect holiday event to get in the Christmas mood? Last week, I found it.
After hearing all of the hype about this event on social media, hubby and I decided to buy tickets to Kitestring creative branding studio Christmas Spectacular event.
Now, we’ve been to a couple of events run by the Kitestring crew before, and they are a fun, ebullient bunch. We always have a good time and needless to say, we had high hopes for this event.
It didn’t disappoint.
So what made it so great?
In my post-party analysis, I came to the conclusion that this particular event ended up being the perfect blend of what many people are looking for this time of year, namely: 1) fun (including good food and drink) 2) giving back and 3) supporting local business.
First of all, it was held at the beautiful, grand old Hamilton Conservatory for the Arts building on James Street South. I had never been inside this building before (truth be told, I didn’t even know it was there until I spied it while walking to the GO station one day earlier this month).
Once inside, we were greeted with comfort food a-go-go – I’m talking Red Hill coffee bar, candy bar and Cake & Loaf COOKIES AND MILK bar (hubby’s fave). All hopped up on sugar and caffeine, we headed to the Christmas Pageant part of the evening’s event.
Yes, this was not a typical mix and mingle/drinks and hors d’oeuvres holiday party – the centrepiece of the event was a Christmas Pageant in the Conservatory’s theatre.
As the show went on, I mentioned to hubby that it felt like we were at a school Christmas play (in a good way) – we were entertained by local professional performers, young and old, with fabulous voices, dancing skills or musical talents (with one of our faves being blues guitarist Rita Chiarelli).
While we thoroughly enjoyed the pageantry part of the evening, the after party was where the event seemed to truly shine.
The Conservatory houses a fantastic loft space, complete with outdoor, rooftop patio (a little chilly at this time of year, but I got the picture.) A live rockabilly band was playing, party-goers were lined up to taste the alcoholic snowcones and a snack table that took me back to birthday party days (think chips, cupcakes & little sandwiches). Essentially, we were surrounded by food, drink, music and new friends. What more could you ask for from a Christmas party?
To top it all off, the event was for the greater good – each ticket paid for one month of after school arts programming with Culture for Kids in the Arts.
I could go on and on about this event, but you get the jist. If you get the chance next year, make sure you go!
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Holidays in the Hammer
“Silver Bells, Silver Bells, its Christmastime in the city”
Holidays in the city: for me, this evokes thoughts of lights, shopping, trees and general merriment.
Well, normally, yes. But here we are – it’s our first holiday season in Hamilton, and I need to know what’s going on! I’m floundering a bit with respect to finding all of my usual holiday comforts (and its not just because there’s no snow!)
I’ll chalk it up to being one of the hazards of moving to a new city. Where we used to live, I knew all about 1) the Christmas parade 2) where the best lights were 3) best/most festive/most convenient shopping destinations.
Being a big fan of all the things that come along with this time of year, I’ve been pretty eager to discover what sorts of festive things are on offer in this new city of ours.
So, obviously, I took to the internet.
A quick Google search yielded these suggestions from Tourism Hamilton.
Oops, it appears we missed the tree lighting! But, I did pass by Gore Park the other day, and in addition to the monster Christmas Tree, they’ve got a great little nativity scene set up.
We also checked out one of the lower city's beautiful 100+ year-old churches the other night for a carol service, which did the job of getting us in the Christmas spirit.
More holiday events are listed here.
Part of me realizes it will take a few years to get up to par on all of the seasonal goings-on here in Hamilton. In the days leading up to Dec.25, I’ll be doing my best to find more festive activities. In the meantime, I’d love to hear some of your fave holiday traditions in The Hammer!
Holidays in the city: for me, this evokes thoughts of lights, shopping, trees and general merriment.
Well, normally, yes. But here we are – it’s our first holiday season in Hamilton, and I need to know what’s going on! I’m floundering a bit with respect to finding all of my usual holiday comforts (and its not just because there’s no snow!)
I’ll chalk it up to being one of the hazards of moving to a new city. Where we used to live, I knew all about 1) the Christmas parade 2) where the best lights were 3) best/most festive/most convenient shopping destinations.
Being a big fan of all the things that come along with this time of year, I’ve been pretty eager to discover what sorts of festive things are on offer in this new city of ours.
So, obviously, I took to the internet.
A quick Google search yielded these suggestions from Tourism Hamilton.
Oops, it appears we missed the tree lighting! But, I did pass by Gore Park the other day, and in addition to the monster Christmas Tree, they’ve got a great little nativity scene set up.
We also checked out one of the lower city's beautiful 100+ year-old churches the other night for a carol service, which did the job of getting us in the Christmas spirit.
More holiday events are listed here.
Part of me realizes it will take a few years to get up to par on all of the seasonal goings-on here in Hamilton. In the days leading up to Dec.25, I’ll be doing my best to find more festive activities. In the meantime, I’d love to hear some of your fave holiday traditions in The Hammer!
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Hanging out with the Veterans
I have to admit, I didn’t know much about the Legion before we visited our local branch in Toronto a couple of years back.
But when my hubby (who served in the military in his late teens and early 20s) decided that it was something he’d like to join, I was on board. I was curious to find out what this Legion thing was all about.
With initial expectations of it being a social club for older Veterans (which is still partly true, but that’s a whole other issue), and the home of cheap beer (also still pretty true), I was surprised with how our Legion experience turned out.
Sure, initially (before they gave it a facelift last year) it reminded me a lot of my parents’ basement, circa 1985 (aka: a lot of wood panelling), but there was a warm, homey feel - the people at the Legion embraced us right from the get-go, encouraged us to get involved and visit often. That particular Legion branch ended up being a go-to place for socializing on random weekday nights and a must-visit on more ceremonial special occasions (like Remembrance Day or Canada Day). It was a laid-back place for my hubby to chat about military service with older Veterans, play pool or watch sports.
It’s a membership he decided to continue in Hamilton, even though we had been particularly fond of the branch and members in Toronto. This past Remembrance Day, hubby and I headed over to our local Legion branch to commemorate with other Veterans. We’d been there once before when we first moved to Hamilton and were pleasantly surprised by how active this particular branch is.
On Remembrance Day, the Legion was hopping, as we expected it would be. Veterans and other supporters were busy chatting and sharing memories (and yes, there was also Karaoke!). It was wonderful to see the older Veterans with their medals on full display, wearing their finest. Hubby decided that night that this was to be his new Legion branch.
While we are definitely still at the low end of the age range when we visit the Legion, here’s hoping we can start a new trend, with more Vets of my hubby’s era, their families and supporters getting involved as time goes on.
But when my hubby (who served in the military in his late teens and early 20s) decided that it was something he’d like to join, I was on board. I was curious to find out what this Legion thing was all about.
With initial expectations of it being a social club for older Veterans (which is still partly true, but that’s a whole other issue), and the home of cheap beer (also still pretty true), I was surprised with how our Legion experience turned out.
Sure, initially (before they gave it a facelift last year) it reminded me a lot of my parents’ basement, circa 1985 (aka: a lot of wood panelling), but there was a warm, homey feel - the people at the Legion embraced us right from the get-go, encouraged us to get involved and visit often. That particular Legion branch ended up being a go-to place for socializing on random weekday nights and a must-visit on more ceremonial special occasions (like Remembrance Day or Canada Day). It was a laid-back place for my hubby to chat about military service with older Veterans, play pool or watch sports.
It’s a membership he decided to continue in Hamilton, even though we had been particularly fond of the branch and members in Toronto. This past Remembrance Day, hubby and I headed over to our local Legion branch to commemorate with other Veterans. We’d been there once before when we first moved to Hamilton and were pleasantly surprised by how active this particular branch is.
On Remembrance Day, the Legion was hopping, as we expected it would be. Veterans and other supporters were busy chatting and sharing memories (and yes, there was also Karaoke!). It was wonderful to see the older Veterans with their medals on full display, wearing their finest. Hubby decided that night that this was to be his new Legion branch.
While we are definitely still at the low end of the age range when we visit the Legion, here’s hoping we can start a new trend, with more Vets of my hubby’s era, their families and supporters getting involved as time goes on.
Friday, October 28, 2011
Happy trails to us
On a recent weekend, we found ourselves in the midst of a rare warm and sunny day (for this fall anyway!) and decided to head into Westdale to grab a coffee and take the dog for a spin around the neighbourhood.
We, admittedly, aren’t too familiar with the ins and outs of Westdale, apart from King Street West, and vaguely remembered there being some parkland in behind the houses, so we headed due north with our coffees in hand and the puppy in tow.
A block or two up from the coffee shop, we came upon a large field to the right, and a park straight ahead. Then a trail marker caught our eyes.
It was the Royal Botanical Gardens’ “Ravine Road Trail”.
In spite of all of my Hamilton travels, explorations and research, I have to admit I didn’t really know the extent of the RBG's series of trails.
Of course, we had to check it out. So, in we went.
All of a sudden, we were out of Hamilton, and in the middle of a beautiful, forested trail. The leaves were changing colour, people were walking dogs, it was quiet and peaceful and it smelled like fall. It was perfect.
As previously mentioned, we checked out the Rail Trail over the summer, and while we enjoyed it, the RBG trails were beyond our expectations. Where the Rail Trail (at least the part we were in) was largely open to the elements (on that particular day, the sun beating down on us), the trail behind Westdale is shaded, leafy, and in some parts, it seems you can walk for miles without running into a single soul.
The best part is, this trail network is huge – so huge, in fact, that we didn’t know how long it would take us to get back to our starting point if we continued on the trail. (With a young dog, this is a serious consideration. We didn’t want to have to carry her back!) It’s a real pity we didn’t have a map with us, because we ended up turning around just to be safe. Who knows what we missed out on further down the trail!
Needless to say, there is a lot more exploring for us to do here in future.
I love when you’re expecting a certain thing and what you end up getting exceeds all expectations. That was this trail for us. It was so far beyond what we were hoping to find that afternoon, and the dog adored it. It made our Saturday.
We, admittedly, aren’t too familiar with the ins and outs of Westdale, apart from King Street West, and vaguely remembered there being some parkland in behind the houses, so we headed due north with our coffees in hand and the puppy in tow.
A block or two up from the coffee shop, we came upon a large field to the right, and a park straight ahead. Then a trail marker caught our eyes.
It was the Royal Botanical Gardens’ “Ravine Road Trail”.
In spite of all of my Hamilton travels, explorations and research, I have to admit I didn’t really know the extent of the RBG's series of trails.
Of course, we had to check it out. So, in we went.
All of a sudden, we were out of Hamilton, and in the middle of a beautiful, forested trail. The leaves were changing colour, people were walking dogs, it was quiet and peaceful and it smelled like fall. It was perfect.
As previously mentioned, we checked out the Rail Trail over the summer, and while we enjoyed it, the RBG trails were beyond our expectations. Where the Rail Trail (at least the part we were in) was largely open to the elements (on that particular day, the sun beating down on us), the trail behind Westdale is shaded, leafy, and in some parts, it seems you can walk for miles without running into a single soul.
The best part is, this trail network is huge – so huge, in fact, that we didn’t know how long it would take us to get back to our starting point if we continued on the trail. (With a young dog, this is a serious consideration. We didn’t want to have to carry her back!) It’s a real pity we didn’t have a map with us, because we ended up turning around just to be safe. Who knows what we missed out on further down the trail!
Needless to say, there is a lot more exploring for us to do here in future.
I love when you’re expecting a certain thing and what you end up getting exceeds all expectations. That was this trail for us. It was so far beyond what we were hoping to find that afternoon, and the dog adored it. It made our Saturday.
Friday, October 7, 2011
Doggies in The Hammer
I’ll admit, the pace of our “Hamilton exploration” has slowed recently, and no, its not because we’ve seen it all or that we've powered through our 'must-see' list already.
We’ve got a new family member of the four-legged variety, who is keeping us close to home and exploring the four corners of the backyard and every leaf and stick in the neighbourhood.
As a result, my newest obsession is finding out how “dog friendly” Hamilton is - looking for places around the city that we’ll be able to take our pup when she gets older - to run, exercise, socialize with other dogs and have fun.
There are the obvious places we can go in the car – pet stores, the cottage, etc. But as residents of an urban neighbourhood, what we are really looking for is walkability when it comes to activities – namely, dog parks and nice walks around our immediate area.
I read this article on OpenFile Hamilton (a site that I write for quite often), which reported on a new dog park in the North end of the city, but raised the issue of the lack of dog parks in general, in Hamilton's core.
According to the city, these are our options. While one isn’t too far from where we live, I was initially surprised that a city as large as Hamilton doesn’t have more dog parks and off-leash areas available.
It seems as though the subject of dog parks comes up often in the city, with new ones seemingly springing up every once in awhile. Of course, I’d like to see more (in various corners of the city – because, like her parents, my dog likes to explore new places from time to time!)
I know from my days in Toronto that this can be a long and arduous process in some neighbourhoods (just finding the space can be difficult). Anyway, in the meantime, we’ll soon be taking her to each one, so she (and her human parents) can acquaint ourselves with the canine side of Hamilton.
If you know of any other great dog friendly spots in the city, please share!
We’ve got a new family member of the four-legged variety, who is keeping us close to home and exploring the four corners of the backyard and every leaf and stick in the neighbourhood.
As a result, my newest obsession is finding out how “dog friendly” Hamilton is - looking for places around the city that we’ll be able to take our pup when she gets older - to run, exercise, socialize with other dogs and have fun.
There are the obvious places we can go in the car – pet stores, the cottage, etc. But as residents of an urban neighbourhood, what we are really looking for is walkability when it comes to activities – namely, dog parks and nice walks around our immediate area.
I read this article on OpenFile Hamilton (a site that I write for quite often), which reported on a new dog park in the North end of the city, but raised the issue of the lack of dog parks in general, in Hamilton's core.
According to the city, these are our options. While one isn’t too far from where we live, I was initially surprised that a city as large as Hamilton doesn’t have more dog parks and off-leash areas available.
It seems as though the subject of dog parks comes up often in the city, with new ones seemingly springing up every once in awhile. Of course, I’d like to see more (in various corners of the city – because, like her parents, my dog likes to explore new places from time to time!)
I know from my days in Toronto that this can be a long and arduous process in some neighbourhoods (just finding the space can be difficult). Anyway, in the meantime, we’ll soon be taking her to each one, so she (and her human parents) can acquaint ourselves with the canine side of Hamilton.
If you know of any other great dog friendly spots in the city, please share!
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Super Duper Saturday
It was called Super Saturday, Superb Saturday – and one person even called it Hamilton’s Christmas – Saturday September 10: the day when the Supercrawl and the Locke Street Festival converged on downtown, bringing thousands of Hamiltonians and tourists out to experience the best of the core.
Like good downtown residents, hubby and I hit up both of these extravaganzas on Saturday, starting with the Locke Street Festival. First impressions: I’ve never seen so many people on Locke Street. I mean, it was crowded, packed and hopping – and that was at noon (ie: when it had just started).
Every store on the street had set up a booth outside, selling their various wares, which means – you guessed it – there were tons of amazing food options on offer.
We each opted for something on Locke Street we’d never tried before (I was surprised that there was something we haven’t yet tried, but it was true). I had a hotdog from Beach Road, and hubby tried the NaRoma pizza. Both were tasty and fulfilled their objectives (ie: we’ll likely be making return trips to these establishments in the future).
We loved the festival vibe on Locke Street – live music, a patio at West Town, cupcakes galore – it had the feel of any street party we’d been to in Toronto or London – but somehow better and more community-focused.
After savouring the best of Locke Street, we headed home to recharge and get out of the sun for a bit, then ventured out to James Street North for the much-anticipated and talked about Supercrawl.
I had heard about Supercrawl for what seemed like months. When we moved here, nearly everyone mentioned that we should visit the Art Crawl, but that in September, there was the mother-of-all art crawls that couldn’t possibly be missed.
Well, with all the hype on Twitter and in the community in general ahead of Supercrawl, we couldn’t possibly miss it. We got there, and it was like the art crawl on steroids. The art crawl and so much more. There were street vendors everywhere, huge grandstands with music blaring, the usual galleries open for a browse around, yummy food options – it was fabulous. About the only thing James St. N. was missing that Locke Street had (or maybe I missed it) was a patio right on the street somewhere, so people could have a drink and enjoy the bands.
What a stellar weekend to be a HamOnt-ian! Can't wait to enjoy more.
Like good downtown residents, hubby and I hit up both of these extravaganzas on Saturday, starting with the Locke Street Festival. First impressions: I’ve never seen so many people on Locke Street. I mean, it was crowded, packed and hopping – and that was at noon (ie: when it had just started).
Every store on the street had set up a booth outside, selling their various wares, which means – you guessed it – there were tons of amazing food options on offer.
We each opted for something on Locke Street we’d never tried before (I was surprised that there was something we haven’t yet tried, but it was true). I had a hotdog from Beach Road, and hubby tried the NaRoma pizza. Both were tasty and fulfilled their objectives (ie: we’ll likely be making return trips to these establishments in the future).
We loved the festival vibe on Locke Street – live music, a patio at West Town, cupcakes galore – it had the feel of any street party we’d been to in Toronto or London – but somehow better and more community-focused.
After savouring the best of Locke Street, we headed home to recharge and get out of the sun for a bit, then ventured out to James Street North for the much-anticipated and talked about Supercrawl.
I had heard about Supercrawl for what seemed like months. When we moved here, nearly everyone mentioned that we should visit the Art Crawl, but that in September, there was the mother-of-all art crawls that couldn’t possibly be missed.
Well, with all the hype on Twitter and in the community in general ahead of Supercrawl, we couldn’t possibly miss it. We got there, and it was like the art crawl on steroids. The art crawl and so much more. There were street vendors everywhere, huge grandstands with music blaring, the usual galleries open for a browse around, yummy food options – it was fabulous. About the only thing James St. N. was missing that Locke Street had (or maybe I missed it) was a patio right on the street somewhere, so people could have a drink and enjoy the bands.
What a stellar weekend to be a HamOnt-ian! Can't wait to enjoy more.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
The End of Summer (or Hamilton's endless summer?)
In Toronto, the “universally” accepted definition of the end of summer is the arrival of the CNE – the Ex. Personally, the Ex has never really been a part of my end of summer traditions (ie: I’ve obviously been, but its not a tradition), but without fail, when it comes to town, talk of school starting and the arrival of fall are not far behind.
This led me to wonder about the equivalent “end of summer” sign in Hamilton. What I do know is that Hamilton had a ton of summer festivals, and we managed to make it to a great deal of them, as mentioned in previous posts – Its Your Festival, Festival of Friends, BuskerFest and most recently, the Augusta Block Party (awesome chili cook-off!) and the Winona Peach Festival (which, as an aside, was much bigger than we thought it would be!)
My conclusion is that Hamilton doesn’t really have an end of summer tradition (not that I’m aware of anyway), but the party seems to continue into fall, with exciting events like the Locke Street Festival and the James Street North Supercrawl to look forward to in the next couple of weeks, along with all of the usual pumpkin and apple-related events that fall seems to bring. I’m particularly interested to see how James Street North hosts such a large event, with concerts and the like.
Looking forward to our first autumn in The Hammer! If you know of any other great end of summer or early fall events that we should check out, please let me know!
This led me to wonder about the equivalent “end of summer” sign in Hamilton. What I do know is that Hamilton had a ton of summer festivals, and we managed to make it to a great deal of them, as mentioned in previous posts – Its Your Festival, Festival of Friends, BuskerFest and most recently, the Augusta Block Party (awesome chili cook-off!) and the Winona Peach Festival (which, as an aside, was much bigger than we thought it would be!)
My conclusion is that Hamilton doesn’t really have an end of summer tradition (not that I’m aware of anyway), but the party seems to continue into fall, with exciting events like the Locke Street Festival and the James Street North Supercrawl to look forward to in the next couple of weeks, along with all of the usual pumpkin and apple-related events that fall seems to bring. I’m particularly interested to see how James Street North hosts such a large event, with concerts and the like.
Looking forward to our first autumn in The Hammer! If you know of any other great end of summer or early fall events that we should check out, please let me know!
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