MISSISSAUGA’s population is about 722,000 and TORONTO numbers about 6,300,000. They both offer a lot. The challenge is finding a way to get into Mississauga. By our mistake we by-passed a highway entrance and found ourselves in an expensive-looking suburb of beautiful houses with plenty of trees. We drove forever it seemed. 
The Marilyn Monroe towers popped up on the horizon. We managed to find underground parking, and then met a young man in a tourism booth. He highlighted several places worth seeing. 
We began by walking through Mississauga City Hall and its surroundings. This was well worth exploring. 
We stopped and admired a painting of Hazel McCallion , former Mayor of Mississauga, who was elected in 1978, retired in 2014 after putting in 36 years with her rapidly growing city. 
Ross and I realized the City Centre was filled with skyscrapers. Some were plain, but several were spectacular. 
We spent more time walking around, enjoying a muffin, taking in the urban scene of Ontario’s third largest city. Neither of us found it boring, even when some of the shops were closed because of the pandemic. 
MISSISSAUGA has a mind of its own. It has a fine downtown with shops, restaurants, higher education institutions and malls, lakes, and all kinds of people – 23% of residents are of non-European descent; 8% Chinese; 7% Black; 5% Arab; 5% Filipino; as well as Latin Americans, Koreans and Southeast Asians. 
Mississauga Transit buses serve within Mississauga, Brampton, Oakville, and Hamilton areas. 
GO Trains provide service between Toronto’s Union Station and the eastern suburbs. It offers three main lines: the Kitchener line, Lakeshore West line, and the Barrie line. So public transit is available in many locations. Even Car Shares are easily available for getting home late at night when public transit arrives less frequently. 
All in all Ontario’s MISSISSAUGA is one great city.
Monthly Archives: April 2022
TORONTO’S ANNUAL FORSYTHIA FESTIVAL WILL ARRIVE ON SUNDAY, MAY 1, 2021.
That giant-sized Forsythia above has become a gorgeous photograph. Thanks to George Pyron and Jo Lamberton for sending it to ‘toronto savvy’. I asked for the picture and they allowed me, saying “go ahead and help yourself.”
WILLIAM FORSYTH (1737– July 25 1804), was a Scottish Botanist. He was a Royal Head Gardener and a founding member of the Royal Horticultural Society – a genius of flowering plants. Forsythias are named in his honour. – <Photo of William Forsyth is from Wikipedia>
THE 2021 ROYAL AGRICULTURAL WINTER FAIR WON’T TAKE PLACE IN PERSON THIS YEAR. IT WILL IN 2022.
The 2021 Royal Agricultural Winter Fair will not take place in person this year. Instead the organization is looking forward to welcoming guests to its 100th anniversary celebration in 2022. The Royal’s Board of Directors made the decision to cancel the 2021 in favour of returning to an education focused online experience this year — in NOVEMBER 2022, 
The Royal will mark its 100th Anniversary then. Plans are to make it bigger and stronger than ever, and looking forward to celebrating with one-and-all. 
“As uncertainty surrounds COVID-19 it became clear we weren’t going to be able to host The Royal in its traditional way,” stated Charlie Johnstone, Chief Executive Officer at The Royal. 
But don’t forget NOVEMBER 2022!
AFTER SOLID TRAINING A YOUNG LAD MIGHT WELL BECOME AN AIRLINE PILOT. I KNOW ONE WHO DID.
How lucky I’ve been to have such a long-time, best friend, JAN ANDREA. We’ve known each other for decades and still regularly communicate. Jan told me “I was seven at the time the above photo was taken – we were living in Curaçao.” We became good friends, and much later he set off working as a KLM Airline Pilot based in Amsterdam, flying internationally. Jan had never flown to Toronto, but when he came over here for the first time I gave him a detailed tour and after that we began more-than-once connecting to Amsterdam, and he took a liking to Toronto and then Montreal, back and forth. I got to know the Dutch quite well and Jan’s partner, HenkVos, who found his English improving all along the way. Jan was already quite fluent in English. Ross and I took both of them on a tour around Nova Scotia and Halifax, over to Prince Edward Island, and then later we managed to explore the Netherlands. Just for fun a highlight for me was Christmas and New Year’s Eve in Holland. Fire works were everywhere. I asked Jan if I could use his photograph. He said “Of course you can. All going well over there?”, And I said “Thanks again for the photo! We’ll talk one way or another real soon.”
LANDMARKS AND L0CATIONS CAN BE SOME OF THE MOST POPULAR PLACES TO TAKE PHOTOS
When you see a street that looks like this, no doubt you may very well be in our city. It’s a regular Toronto Cityscape, and I’d say this one is a fine one.
PROBABLY MOST CANADIANS WOULD REMEMBER THE PHOTO BELOW, TAKEN ON APRIL 17, 1982.
Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, signed Canada’s Constitutional Proclamation on April 17, 1982 as Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau (father of Justin) looked on, along with Canada’s Minister of Justice,Jean Chrétien, and André Ouellet, Registrar General. The Proclamation brought Canada’s ‘Constitution Act, 1982′ into force, making our country wholly independent. <Photo from Canadian Press>
THE SUN WAS SHINING WHEN ROSS WINTER AND I DECIDED TO EXPLORE TORONTO’S UNDERPASS PARK
Underpass Park transformed derelict, unused space beneath a series of overpasses into a unique community park. The area is located under and around the Eastern Avenue, Richmond and Adelaide overpasses. It’s the most extensive park ever built under a Canadian overpass, and the first ever in Toronto. 
“torontosavvy” presented the early version of The Park, but it was quite different then from the one we saw yesterday. New murals and painted figures have changed from 2012 – many are for children, and there are several others for adults. 
Around the edge are spectacular high-rise buildings, which turn the area into another city altogether. Get yourself to River Street and head South.
Once you reach the West Donland, you’re there. You’ll find the Park is laden with greenery, sculptures, city bus service, dogs everywhere, kids playing – all having a great time.
WHERE PARLIAMENT ST. MEETS DUNDAS ST. EAST YOU’LL FIND A GATHERING PLACE AND THE ARTS
Complete with Story Murals and the Toronto Council Fire Native’s Cultural Centre this community keeps on growing. The murals are connected with the Centre’s Spirit Garden Project, and it’s funded in part by Canadian Heritage and the Toronto Arts Council (TAC). 
Muralist Philip Cote <photo above> has painted Indigenous stories all across Toronto. Chances are you’ll come across Philip’s murals as this is a special time for our city’s “Year of Public Art” 
The Arts Council helps by animating the streets. “Philip Cote, Anishinaabe-Algonquin, painter, historian, young spiritual elder and educator’s work could be found in public spaces big and small. Thanks again, Philip.
Council Fire began in 1976 with a small group meeting for worship at St. Barnabas Church. They’d noticed increasing numbers of Native people were gravitating to the downtown core. Many were becoming homeless, and as a result began to attract and serve a client base of infants to seniors, as well as those new to Greater Toronto. The drop-in area in particular has become a popular place now to meet friends, have coffee and play bingo. Now the Council Fire is going through restructuring and revitalizing. 
The Cultural Centre in the future envisions providing the same level of quality support and services now as it grows along with the community.
‘HUGH’S ROOM LIVE’ MIGHT HAVE FOUND A NEW PLACE TO CALL HOME ON BROADVIEW AVENUE
The original ‘Hugh’s Room’ was established in Toronto’s West End Rochesvalles neighbourhood in 2001. 
It was a mixture of supper club and music room hosted by Odetta, Pete Seeger, Judy Collins, Richie Havens and Loudon Wainwright III, among many others. 
Then it began losing money in 2017 as it was turned into non-profit ‘Hugh’s Room Live’. Three years later reality struck and Hugh’s left its home because the lease was beyond reach. 
The plan then became searching for space to purchase, and they thought they’d found one on Broadview Avenue, just south of Gerrard Street in the East End. One difficulty was dealing with property taxes, reduced 50% by the City for being a music venue for owners and operators. 
Hugh’s’ had to face this until he had occupied the new building for one year. Raising $2-million would be a challenge for anyone these days, and surviving on arts music organizations that meant planning to do something innovative. If all works well a retired carpenter, Andrew Smith, devoted himself to live music, and was making miniature city music venues. He named one of them the old Hugh’s Room and some other silent venues with the name ‘Toronto, Lost Music City’. Will Broadview’s old church be a success? This may well be a triumph! There’s been good luck before for Hugh’s and there might be plenty more coming.
HUMMING BIRDS ARE NOT EASY TO HAVE A PHOTO TAKEN – BUT BRYAN BLENKIN MANAGED TO DO IT
I’ve tried many times to take photos of HummingBirds, but failed always. They came close, but in a split second they were flying away. One attempt was in Arizona and another in Mexico City, but I missed them both. These little birds with long, slender bills are native to the Americas. With about 360 species they occur from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, but the vast majority of the species are found in the tropics. Many have brightly coloured, glittery feathers. Often the males are more colorful than the females. They’re named for the humming sound made by the rapid beating of their wings. < From Wikipedia.>
Toronto Savvy 