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Volume 51 No. 10
BEACHMETRO.COM
July 19, 2022
YMCA on Kingston Road to officially open doors Aug. 15 By Alan Shackleton
AFTER A long wait, The Steve & Sally Stavro Family YMCA on Kingston Road will be officially opening its doors on Aug. 15. And as of Wednesday, July 20, area residents are invited to sign up and book tours of the 63,990-squarefoot facility located on the south side of Kingston Road between Beech and Balsam avenues. Work on the new YMCA, which includes a condo building above it, first began with a ground-breaking ceremony in October of 2015. Opening had anticipated to be in October of 2020, but that did not happen. “Yes, it has not been the smoothest development process,” said Mehdi Zobeiry, General Manager of The Steve & Sally Stavro Family YMCA, during a tour of the facility with Beach Metro Community News on the afternoon of Friday, July 15. “Then it was impacted by COVID-19,” he added. “Two-and-a-half-years of pandemic threw a lot of things of out whack. But we had to have the building finished and safe (before we could open).” Excitement, and some frustration, has been building in the East Toronto community as the condos above were seen to be inhabited and people who looked through the ground-floor windows of the Y saw a full swimming pool. People were wondering why the facility had not yet opened and were confused by the delay. Zobeiry said he saw and heard that in his interactions with resi-
BEACH METRO COMMUNITY NEWS 50TH ANNIVERSARY 1972•2022
SAFETY
SCAROROSUBARU.CA
Roy Halladay Field celebrates opening
PHOTO: ALAN SHACKLETON
Brandy Halladay, centre, is joined by her sons Ryan and Braden, along with other dignitaries including Mayor John Tory and Scarborough Southwest Councillor Gary Crawford at the ribbon cutting for Roy Halladay Field in Highview Park last week. Please see story on Page 5.
Beaches Jazz Festival’s StreetFest set for Queen Street East this week ONE OF the most popular events at the Beaches International Jazz Festival is back this week as StreetFest returns to Queen Street East on Thursday night. StreetFest takes place along Queen Street East between Woodbine and Beech avenues on the nights of Thursday, July 21, Friday, July 22, and Saturday, July 23. Between 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. on all three of those nights, more than 30 bands will be performing at locations along Queen Street East. For a complete list of locations and bands performing, please go to www.beachesjazz.com/streetfest As in the years before COVID-19, StreetFest will see Queen Street East between Woodbine and Beech avenues closed to vehicular traffic to make room for the crowds of music fans. The closures will be in effect from 6 p.m. to 11:59 p.m. on all three nights of StreetFest. Also ve-
hicles will not allowed to be parked on Queen Street East in the area to be closed after 4 p.m. on July 21, 22 and 23 or they will be towed. Please note also for StreetFest that the route of the Main Street 64 bus will be changed to avoid Queen Street East. For safety and access reasons, Waverley Road, Lee Avenue and Wineva Avenue will open for through way traffic heading north and south from Queen Street East. Along with StreetFest, other events planned for the 34th annual Beaches International Jazz Festival this week include the TD Workshop Series Listen and Learn Concerts from 7 to 9 p.m. on Tuesday, July 19; and Wednesday, July 20 at Beach United Church The July 19 concert will be by Juno Award-nominated vocalist Heather Bambrick. The July 20 concert will be by Caribbean Jazz Collective, an en-
semble made up of some of Canada’s best jazz artists representing our country’s diverse Caribbean diaspora. Members of the Collective include Eddie Bullen, Joaquin Nunez Hidalgo, Gareth Burgess, Neal Braithwaite and Andrew Stewart. Seating is limited for these Listen and Learn Concerts, and those wishing to attend are asked to please make sure they register in advance by going to www.beachesjazz.com/td-workshops This coming weekend will be the final one for this year’s festival OLG Weekend Series on the Main Stage at Woodbine Park is set for Friday, July 22; Saturday, July 23; and Sunday, July 24. NuFunk.ca’s sixth annual Groovin’ in the Park Friday Night Vibes celebration goes from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. on July 22. The event is presented by The Main Ingredient supContinued on Page 4
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dents while he was on site helping get the finishing touches done. “Every day when I’d open the door people were asking us when we were opening,” he said. “We know the community is looking forward to the opening and we have been hearing that a lot. We are very excited to be announcing the opening.” Nora Gorman, Senior Vice President Marketing Communications with the YMCA of Greater Toronto, thanked the community for its patience. “We are thankful for and appreciate the community’s patience,” said Gorman, who also took part in the July 15 tour with Beach Metro Community News. Run by the YMCA of Greater Toronto, the Stavro facility replaces the former East City Y at the site which was built in the 1950s. The East City Y was much smaller and did not have a pool. The new Y features three pools—a four-lane, 25-metre lap pool, with a ramp entrance making it fully accessible; a fitness and therapeutic pool with a movable floor to control the depth; and a whirlpool on the pool deck. The facility will also have a conditioning/weight room, multipurpose fitness studios, meeting rooms and a full-size gymnasium. Zobeiry said the Stavro Family Y will be a community hub for people of all ages and abilities since it fully accessible. “We are really looking forward to people coming in and using the facility,” he said. As is the case with many YMCA facilities, they quickly become community gathering places offering a wide variety of uses for residents which go beyond fitness and swimming and into programs for young people and seniors.. “There will be multi-purpose rooms for groups to use, and youth Continued on Page 4
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