Parkdale Activity-Recreation Centre

Comrades, the vendor market is stacked!

July 23 at Parkdale Hall: come for the benefit concert, stay to shop local creators between sets.

Your vendors -
Little Ghosts Books: Toronto's q***r-owned horror bookshop.
Diyen Sang: the Parkdale artist behind the painted walls, doors, chairs and planters you've passed all over the neighbourhood.
Whimsy Henna: original hand-designed henna tattoos.
sickflatdesigns: indie Toronto tees with bold flat-design graphics.

Every purchase puts money straight in a local maker's hands. 🛍️

Protect Parkdale! Opposition to supportive housing is growing, even as the need for affordable housing, harm reduction, and mental health support rises. More people are being pushed into homelessness, and too many are overdosing and dying in our streets.

THIS IS NOT NORMAL.
Join us on July 23rd in solidarity to defend supportive housing, protect harm reduction, and fight for our neighbours. Get tickets here: https://buff.ly/r2GBrUQ

Toronto is under an orange heat warning. This kind of heat is dangerous for our neighbours living outside.

In Ontario, people with a recent history of homelessness end up in emergency departments for heat-related illness at roughly seven times the rate of the general population.

PARC is open to everyone. Come in for water, a cool place to rest, or a meal! Check on your neighbours at higher risk, especially older adults and people living alone. You can carry an extra bottle of water or an electrolyte drink to hand out as well!

Stay cool, Parkdale!
--
Clemens, K. K., Ouédraogo, A. M., Le, B., Voogt, J., MacDonald, M., Stranberg, R., Yan, J. W., Krayenhoff, E. S., Gilliland, J., Forchuk, C., Van Uum, R., & Shariff, S. Z. (2022). Impact of Ontario's Harmonized Heat Warning and Information System on emergency department visits for heat-related illness in Ontario, Canada: A population-based time series analysis. Canadian Journal of Public Health, 113(5), 686–697. https://doi.org/10.17269/s41997-022-00665-1

Protect Parkdale! Opposition to supportive housing is growing, even as the need for affordable housing, harm reduction, and mental health support rises. More people are being pushed into homelessness, and too many are overdosing and dying in our streets.

THIS IS NOT NORMAL.
Join us on July 23rd in solidarity to defend supportive housing, protect harm reduction, and fight for our neighbours. Get tickets here: https://buff.ly/r2GBrUQ

https://duchesstoronto.bandcamp.com

Protect Parkdale! Opposition to supportive housing is growing, even as the need for affordable housing, harm reduction, and mental health support rises. More people are being pushed into homelessness, and too many are overdosing and dying in our streets.

THIS IS NOT NORMAL.
Join us on July 23rd in solidarity to defend supportive housing, protect harm reduction, and fight for our neighbours. Get tickets here: https://buff.ly/r2GBrUQ

https://siyahkalpunk.bandcamp.com/

In the mid-1970s, q***r artists priced out of Yorkville found cheap rent and empty warehouses along Queen West.

By 1979, the neighbourhood's q***r and arts communities had become inseparable. The 1980s tested that community. Police raided four bathhouses across Toronto in 1981. HIV/AIDS devastated the neighbourhood. The Body Politic published its final issue in 1987.

Q***r West rebuilt. The Gladstone Hotel became an arts hub. Artist Will Munro opened The Beaver in 2006. Sweaty Betty's became a noted lesbian-owned bar.

The neighbourhood set itself apart from the Church-Wellesley Village by being more diverse and less defined by any single identity. Rising rents continue to test that resilience, but the community keeps showing up.
Happy Pride to all our neighbours!

Sources: John Greyson, "Yellow Boots on Q***r West" (Any Other Way, Coach House Books, 2017); Heritage Toronto; Defining Moments Canada; Rick Bébout, "Diva Diaries."

Last week we celebrated the Summer Solstice with our members, one of two solstice gatherings PARC marks every year.

These are the days we get to slow down and really be together. Members took the open mic and showed off their talent, we ran bingo with prizes, and long-time PARC member and musician 'Zephie & the Hot Pepper Band' gave us another performance to remember.

This is what it looks like to be neighbours and comrades in Parkdale. We'll see you at Winter Solstice!

If you'd like to support our Winter Solstice gift collection, you can reach us at [email protected].