Clinic displaces festival and market

Clinic displaces festival and market. Shortly after the H1N1 vaccination clinic opened at the Masaryk-Cowan Community Centre in Parkdaleon Monday, a line of people looking to get the shot stretched down the block. Because of this clinic programs at the popular community centre have been displaced. Staff photo/ERIN HATFIELD

When the clinic opened its doors on Monday, Nov. 2, a line of residents looking for the shot snaked south down Cowan Avenue past the adjacent Masaryk-Cowan Park. Inside the gymnasium, a steady flow of people received the vaccination, but that means the centre's regular programing is happening elsewhere in the community.

"We relocated our gentle fitness program, our basketball programs, our soccer program, badminton, fitness, karate programs, gymnastics and volleyball," Peter Lewis said. "We have been pretty successful in accommodating the programs."

Lewis, who is the supervisor of community recreation in the area, said the centre has been able to relocate 90 per cent of the programming to other venues including the Parkdale Community Centre, Holy Family Community Recreation Centre and the YMCA.

Programs that take place elsewhere in the community centre are going ahead as planned, Lewis said.

"It is really not too much of an inconvenience for the regular users. The only inconvenience is the volume of traffic of people coming in, but it is a necessary thing," he said. "The only things that are not able to happen are permitted events that were planned for the gym."

One such event is the Sounds of Toronto Avant-garde Music and Culture Festival, organized by local musician Kevin Crump.

Originally scheduled for Dec. 11 and 12 at the Masaryk-Cowan Community Centre, Crump said the festival, in its first year, is now without a venue.

Crump, who also runs the local noise-music label Wintage Records, had originally booked the centre in September and lined up performances by Ayal Senior, Colin Fisher, and John Oswald.

Now he is stuck looking for a new home for his festival and has been forced to look outside of the community.

"I didn't really want to take it out of Parkdale, but if I have to take it out for budget reasons then I will," Crump said. "Other close by venues are too far out of the price range for the festival."

All of the performers were playing for free and the venue was free to rent. Crump said this enabled organizers to save funds and hopefully grow the festival and make it an annual event.

The festival, according to Crump, is now postponed until the new year. The festival was also serving as a food drive for the Parkdale Community Centre.

As well, plans to resurrect the Parkdale Liberty Economic Development Cooperation's (PLEDC) Parkdale Holiday Market have been cancelled.

The market, which took a hiatus last year after being held for three years, was scheduled for Dec. 5 at Masaryk-Cowan Community Centre.

Bill Squires, the executive director of PLEDC, said although they are disappointed the market won't happen this year, it is understandable.

"They had to set it up some place and this is the most logical place to have it," Squires said. "It is too bad some events that were planned aren't able to happen, but at the end of the day peoples health and safety trumps all this."

The first week the vaccination clinic ran Monday to Friday from 1 to 7 p.m. Depending on the numbers of people yet to be vaccinated, Lewis said the clinic is scheduled to operate Tuesday to Friday from 1 to 7 p.m.