Beach Metro News November 27, 2018

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A rare leaf

Volume 47 No. 18

BEACHMETRO.COM

November 27, 2018

WHILE RAKING leaves on Remembrance Day, resident Edward Preston came across this red-veined maple leaf. It got him thinking about the iconic Canadian symbol and the blood of Canadians spilled fighting for freedom. He found the leaf by his door, and sent the Beach Metro News this photo.

Santa and Mrs. Claus visit the Beach

Lights on for the holidays

PHOTO: ALEX WRIGHT

Big crowds welcomed Santa and Mrs. Claus during Sunday’s Beaches Santa Claus Parade which took place along Kingston Road and included more than 40 floats and hundreds of participants from around the area.

Local residents help fill Santa’s Streetcar By Nina Rafeek

TORONTO TRANSIT Commission streetcar operators banded together on Saturday to put on their second annual Santa Streetcar Drive. Despite the inclement weather, residents came out to donate toys for children in need at the Woodbine Loop, on Queen Street East, just east of Kingston Road. New unwrapped toys were collected in the modern, low-floor streetcars, and participants in the streetcar drive had a chance

to take a photo with Santa Claus in a vintage 1950s Toronto PCC streetcar. Residents who braved the cold and rainy weather on Saturday enjoyed holiday classics such as Run Run Rudolph and Jingle Bell Rock on the outdoor speakers, while local bands such as the Rouge River Winds volunteered to perform Christmas carols for the afternoon. Guests of the event also enjoyed hamburgers and hotdogs while they mingled with Santa Claus, the TTC operators, fellow

residents and Beaches-East York Councillor-elect Brad Bradford. “A little bit of cold and rain didn’t dampen the enthusiasm of this neighbourhood or dampen their generosity,” said co-organizer and TTC streetcar operator Chris Perrin of Saturday’s event. Community support Perrin said the organizers received a lot of help from the community and would like to double their donation to Toy Mountain this year compared to what they collected last year.

“It’s amazing,” said Marcela Garcia, co-organizer and president of recreation of the Russell Division of TTC streetcar operations. Garcia said that she was very pleased with the turnout on Saturday and she is already looking forward to organizing the event next year. “We have to give back to the community. We are not just the drivers for the streetcar, we care and we really want to make things happen for our community,” she said.

LOCAL RESIDENTS can get into the spirt of the season with a number of upcoming illuminating events. This Friday, Nov. 30, night will see the DeClute Light Up The Beach celebration, followed the next evening by the Beaches Lions Club’s Christmas in the Park Tree Lighting. Light Up The Beach was conceived as a way of making the Boardwalk and Beach a destination point for residents in the winter months. DeClute Real Estate dedicates an enormous amount of time and resources every year stringing Christmas lights as high as 65 feet above the Boardwalk through mature trees lining the shores of Lake Ontario. More than 80,000 individual LED bulbs on 20,000 linear feet of wire are hung every fall in advance of the Light Up The Beach display, which has attracted international attention. Residents are invited out this Friday night to join Santa as he strolls the Boardwalk and counts down to light each tree in sequence. Light Up The Beach begins at 7 p.m. at the foot of Leuty Avenue on Nov. 30. Along with being a great celebration of the season, the event is also a fundraiser that supports mental health and addiction services at Michael Garron Hospital. For more information, visit www. lightupthebeach.com Beach residents are also invited to the annual Christmas in the Park Tree Lighting ceremony on Saturday, Dec. 1, at Kew Gardens. Presented by the Toronto Beaches Lions Club, the tree lighting ceremony is set to begin at 5:30 p.m. at the Kew Gardens Bandshell. The hour-long celebration will Continued on Page 2


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