This year would have been Jane Jacobs 100th birthday, and the annual Jane’s Walk festival in her home city of Toronto is going to be a great way to celebrate. Free volunteer-led walks are happening all over the world this weekend, and we’ve got some you can join locally.
The local walks are starting either on Dundas West or Trinity Bellwoods Park, they focus on a number of different topics, and they aren’t even all walks! Leaders come in all varieties: we’ve been on walks led by historians and professors, to students and actors. Each walk has a write-up on the Jane’s Walk website so find something that interests you, or go on a local walk:
- May 6 at 9am Take a Walk on the Wild Side: Homegrown National Parks in a Bee City: This walk is an early one, as most of them are on the weekend, but if you’re free Friday morning, it should be interesting and informative. It will be led by park rangers working with the David Suzuki Homegrown National Park Project, who will walk through Trinity Bellwoods Park and learn about the plantings and other work they’ve done to create gardens in the park. Meet at the Southeast corner of the park
- May 7 at 9:30am Jane’s Run: Toronto’s Future Parks: Meet at The White Squirrel Coffee Shop to go for a guided group run through some of Toronto’s newest parks.
- May 7 at 10:30am: City by Heart: Lifestyle, History & Culture in West Queen West, Lower Ossington & Trinity Bellwoods Park: This walk is being led by a local lifestyle blogger and will focus on community spaces and photo opps. You can bring your dog!
- May 8 at 11am: Dundas West, The Real Deal: Glaciers and Beyond: This 2 hour walk being led by an architectural and social historian begins at Dundas West and Crawford and covers the evolution of Dundas West all the way to Sorauren Park
- May 8 at 4pm, Anatomy of a Street Festival: 1 hour walk led by the Dundas West Fest coordinator and leader of the BIAs for both Dundas West and Little Portugal. He’ll take you from Dundas and Landsdowne to Ossington, telling stories about the creation and execution of the 4 year old festival and prepping you for this year’s on June 11.
All of these local walks are listed in our calendar, along with most local events. As you journey on any Jane’s Walks this weekend, be sure to share with the hashtag #JanesWalk
