Thank you to Brightworks Interactive Marketing for Helping Bring the Riverside Bridge to Light!

Interacting with and animating the Riverside community

Bridge May 28 2015 Lighting Test - White PurpleOn the evening of Friday, June 5th, the Riverside BIA and community will launch the Riverside Gateway Bridge Project – a $600,000 capital installation illuminating the iconic Riverside Bridge. The bridge is the gateway to Toronto’s Riverside District, located on Queen Street East, between the DVP and Empire Avenue.

The culmination of three years worth of thought and effort has been achieved thanks to our partners and sponsors. Brightworks Interactive Marketing is one of our Bronze Sponsors and has helped make this idea of lighting up Riverside Bridge possible.

Brightworks pic2Brightworks was originally based on King Street West but is now located in Riverside at 100 Broadview Ave. They are “a creative agency that is a little hard to categorize”, offering things from branding and creative direction to media planning and market research.

Having won 55 international awards since 2012, they “create experiences that connect the right brand message to the right audience”. Being described by clients as strategic and creative, Brightworks have worked on projects for some of the most respected brands in the world.

We are very happy to have Brightworks as one of our sponsors, helping to bring our vision of Riverside Bridge Lighting to reality!Brightworks pic1

LET US KNOW you’re coming to the Riverside Bridge Lighting June 5th!

Many thanks to ALL our Bridge Lighting partners and sponsors:This project grew from idea to inception thanks to public partnership with City of Toronto, Ward 30 Councillor Paula Fletcher, and private sponsors: Gold Sponsor – Streetcar Developments; Silver Sponsors – Hullmark Developments, and Downtown Automotive Group; and Bronze Sponsors – Ashlar Urban Realty, The Avro, BMO, Brightworks Interactive Marketing, Harhay Construction, il ponte, and OX Agency – all of whom shared our vision.

Find Yourself Soaring to New Heights with The Flying Yogi this Saturday June 6th at Eats & Beats StreetFest!

Free suspended inversions from The Flying Yogi and discounts off their workshops

FlyingJogi_0714-0490At Riverside’s June 6th Eats & Beats Streetfest, come and “hang out” with The Flying Yogi (literally) to receive special discounts!

About The Flying Yogi

The Flying Yogi is Canada’s first Suspension Yoga studio. They offer classes with the revolutionary YogiGym Suspension Sling: the world’s most versatile and transportable yoga prop and exercise tool.

At the June 6th Riverside Eats & Beats Streetfest, The Flying Yogi will be at our Broadview/Queen St. E. street closure offering free suspended inversions. Suspension Yoga does wonders for the spine and the circulation while sending lots of oxygen to the brain, helping you think faster and feel better. Indeed, “after only a few minutes on a YogiGym you’ll feel relaxed, energized and perhaps even an inch taller too!”

140807_FlyingYogi_0302Make sure you don’t miss them at this special event as they will be offering a 20% discount on the purchase of a YogiGym, enabling you to suspend anywhere indoors or outside.

They are also offering 50% off their Intro to Suspension Yogaworkshops! For more information about this revolutionary practice, visit their website: www.theflyingyogi.ca

What their customers are saying:

“I tried a suspension yoga class here. It was a lot of fun. The instructor explained the equipment very thoroughly and reassured students that they were safe. She explained all the benefits of suspension yoga. We proceeded to do a lot of yoga poses with the aerials. I really did notice that I was able to go deeper into my stretches when I was upside down.” – Janet S.

LET US KNOW YOU’RECOMINGto the EATS & BEATS Festival  

Thank you to Toronto 2015 IGNITE and Metroland media for their support of Eats & Beats 2015

POP-UP ARTIVATION by The STEPS Initiative will be at June 6 Riverside Eats & Beats Festival!

Inspiring Torontonians to re-imagine how their city would look if vibrant and welcoming artistic activities were part of their everyday

As part of the June 6th Riverside’s Eats & Beats StreetFEST, The STEPS Initiative will host a live painting event, during which five emerging artists will be portraying the Riverside streetscape in their own creative styles. Those interested to pick up a brush and paint with theRiverside-ArtsFest-PATCH-It-Up-July-13-2014-Nguyen-16-copy-e1427726769637-300x300se emerging artists will be warmly welcomed, contributing to a canvas co-created by the community!

This Pop-Up ARTivation is one of a series of public space activations that STEPS has been facilitating across the City of Toronto in the last year. This mobile ARTivation program series inspires people to challenge how public spaces are used in our city, while injecting some artistic and vibrant activities to revitalize our shared spaces.

The STEPS Initiative is a public arts organization that builds connection with the communities through what they call Public Space ARTivism. Some of the activities that they engage to engage the public is by leading large-scale community art and public space revitalizations, such as the World’s Tallest Mural on 200 Wellesley. They are also instrumental in building youth capacity in both community and school settings a great example is of this is their mentorship of the Toronto Emerging ARTivists – a youth arts collective.  A big part of what they do is creating opportunities for local artists to exhibit in the public realm – much like the live painting you will see at Eats & Beats on June 6th. STEPS advocates that art can not only aesthetically transform public spaces, but also serve as a common language with which citizens can create shared spaces that foster civic engagement.

One of the iSteps pic2nitiatives of STEPS is The PATCH Project where they put together art work in underused spaces like constructionsites and vacant storefronts, in order to strengthen community ties and to decorate the streetscape for other artists to display their work to the public.

We are thrilled to have them help animate our streetscape during Eats & Beats!

 

LET US KNOW YOU’RE COMING to the EATS & BEATS Festival 

Thank you to Toronto 2015 IGNITE and Metroland media for their support of Eats & Beats 2015

Welcome to all of our torchbearers for the June 5 Riverside Bridge Lighting!

Three days to go until the Riverside Bridge comes to light…

On the evening of Friday, June 5th, the Riverside BIA and community will launch the Riverside Gateway Bridge Project – a $600,000 capital installation illuminating the iconic Riverside Bridge. The bridge is the gateway to Toronto’s Riverside District, located on Queen Street East, between the DVP and Empire Avenue.

To help celebrate the launch of the Riverside Gateway Bridge and the Pan Am Games, Riverside BIA is hosting a free public event and Samba parade on Friday June 5th at 6:30 at McCleary Playground here in Riverside. Accompanying the Samba band will be multiple torchbearers wTorchbearers pic1ho will carry a Riverside Torch that was created by a local artist.

One of our torchbearers is Sam McLean. He is a five year old kinder-gardener from École Élémentaire la Mosaïque in the Upper Beach area. He is a keen soccer and hockey player, cyclist and talented Lego builder! He loves to have fun playing around with his sister when he’s not helping his dad work on their latest project together.

Another torchbearer is Kaia McLean. She is a seven year old Grade Two student and also from École Élémentaire la Mosaïque in the Upper Beach area. She loves gymnastics, swimming and cycling. Recently having found her passion as a top notch defender in soccer, she is a big fan of the Toronto Football Club.

Joan King is a torchbearer and also mother of five children and five grandchildren. She is from Grenada and has lived in Riverside for the past five years. She is founder of The Safety First Group, and runs a lot of the Rivertowne community programs, such as the breakfast and homework program.

A further torchbearer is Suzette Saunders. A mother of four children, she came to Canada in 1991 from Jamaica. Having always lived in downtown Toronto, she has been an avid volunteer since a teenager, helping out with seniors programs at Woodgreen, community clean ups and much more. For the past five years, Suzette has lived and volunteered in Rivertowne, helping shape the new Joel Weeks Park and working with Joan King on the Safely First program.

Mary Loria, another one of our torBridge May 28 2015 Lighting Test - White Purplechbearers, was born and raised in Toronto.  She has been volunteering since her teenage years doing community events, work with food banks, charity walks, and Boys & Girls clubs. For three years now she has been an outstanding volunteer in Riverside and helping the BIA on a day to day basis. Mary is an avid dog-walker and a sports fan of all variety of sports.

Shazia McCormick will be the final torchbearer of the evening and will lead the way to the foot of the Riverside Gateway Bridge. She is self described as a nomad and always travelling, exploring and finding new adventures. Riverside represents renewal to her by building a new life and being surrounded by a highly engaged community. The bridge represents not only the connection of the city to this vibrant neighborhood, but also the connection to nature. As an avid runner and stand up paddleboard athlete, she claims this is the best place in Toronto to live!

 

LET US KNOW you’re coming to the Riverside Bridge Lighting June 5th!

Many thanks to ALL our Bridge Lighting partners and sponsors: This project grew from idea to inception thanks to public partnership with City of Toronto, Ward 30 Councillor Paula Fletcher, and private sponsors: Gold Sponsor – Streetcar Developments; Silver Sponsors – Hullmark Developments, and Downtown Automotive Group; and Bronze Sponsors – Ashlar Urban Realty, The Avro, BMO, Brightworks Interactive Marketing, Harhay Construction, il ponte, and OX Agency – all of whom shared our vision.

A huge thank you to Streetcar Developments for being our GOLD Sponsor for the Riverside Bridge Lighting on June 5th!

Streetcar is demonstrating its dedication to further enhancing local neighbourhoods like Riverside

Bridge May 28 2015 Lighting Test - White Purple

On the evening of Friday, June 5th, the Riverside BIA and community will launch the Riverside Gateway Bridge Project – a $600,000 installation illuminating the iconic Riverside Bridge. The bridge is the gateway to Toronto’s Riverside District, located on Queen Street East, between the DVP and Empire Avenue.

Bringing together three years of planning and effort with key partners and sponsors, Streetcar Developments is the only Gold Sponsor of the Riverside Gateway Bridge. Over the past three years, the urban home developers, known for their stunning loft projects located in some of Toronto’s hippest locations, have donated their time and effort into helping the project become a reality.

 

Streetcar has a long history of partnering on community projects and events in Riverside. Their support as a Gold Level sponsor of the Riverside Gateway Bridge Project demonstrates their dedication to   community involvement, which has earned them a “hard-earned reputation as a Toronto developer who invests in exciting neighbourhoods improving the quality of entire communities”.

broadview

Moreover, Streetcar has been integral in illuminating the Riverside neighbourhood when the eyes of the world will be on Toronto during the Pan Am/Parapan Am Games. Most recently, they have purchased and are currently revitalizing the Broadview Hotel located at Queen and Broadview. The historic 125-year-old building  previously housing office buildings, clubs and the main floor of the Canadian Bank of Commerce, is being renovated into a boutique hotel. This exciting project will further animate the iconic street corner, while recognizing the Broadview Hotel as a historic landmark.

LET US KNOW you’re coming to the Riverside Bridge Lighting June 5th!

Many thanks to ALL our Bridge Lighting partners and sponsors: This project grew from idea to inception thanks to public partnership with City of Toronto, Ward 30 Councillor Paula Fletcher, and private sponsors: Gold Sponsor – Streetcar Developments; Silver Sponsors – Hullmark Developments, and Downtown Automotive Group; and Bronze Sponsors – Ashlar Urban Realty, The Avro, BMO, Brightworks Interactive Marketing, Harhay Construction, il ponte, and OX Agency – all of whom shared our vision.