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2014 AGM – November 15, 2014

Postcard - image of Oxford St. with date and time of 2014 KMAC AGM

KMAC (Kensington Market Action Committee) is your general-purpose neighbourhood association looking out for the interests of both residents and businesses in Kensington Market

Some of what we’ve worked with & supported in 2014

– Friends of Kensington who successfully kept Walmart from moving into Kensington Market this year
– the 25th Annual Kensington Market Winter Solstice Parade on December 21st
– Sonya’s Park Community Gardens
– new artist murals in the neighbourhood

Laneway mural with dedication to KMAC, who funded the project
– St. Stephens out of the cold program
– Canopy of Kensington – planting new trees in both front and back yards throughout the market
We also
– act as liaison for visiting film crews in Kensington
– negotiate with city officials in all matters that relate to our neighbourhood.

Is there anything you think we could be supporting?
Do you have an interest in volunteering for our board?

Please join us ….
refreshments will be served.

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KMAC Board Update

Dominique Russell has resigned from the KMAC Board and the position has been offered to Martin Zimmerman, who has accepted.

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AGM 2013

Front of 2013 KMAC AGM invite postcard - squirrel eating a toasted chocolate bagel

KMAC held a its Annual General Meeting at 10am on Saturday, 23 November 2013 in the amenities space of the Kensington Market Lofts, 21 Nassau.

Following a breakfast donated by merchants from the community, the meeting was called to order and worked its way through the agenda, culminating in the election of a new board consisting of:

Su Alexanian
Shamez Almani
Yvonne Bambrick
Venetia Butler
Gabi Caruso
Helena Frei
Dominique Russell

KMAC would like to thank Big Fat Burrito, Cafe Pamenar, iDeal Coffee, My Market Bakery, Nu Bugel. Sanagan’s Meat Locker, Wanda’s Pie in the Sky and Zimmerman’s Freshmart for their donation of a delicious and generous breakfast.

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Wallpeople 2012 in Kensington Market on of 30 cities around the world lived the Wallpeople experience.

Toronto participated in the global art project Wallpeople. Artists, neighbours and passersby got involved in creating a momentary open-air art museum on June 9th, 2012.

With the guiding theme, ‘Express yourself’, Wallpeople encouraged people to express their ideas and share them in a public arena. The grey wall of the washroom in Bellevue Square transformed when nearly seventy people contributed their art.

Painting, knitting, collage, poetry, and photography changed the face of the wall in this improvised open-air museum. Children and people of all ages were playing with art supplies.

Wallpeople is a collaborative art project originally conceived of in Barcelona that leads people to create, and be part of a special moment in an urban space, by setting up a unique street work done by all. Wallpeople is truly a chance to inhabit our urbanity together through a collective creativity. Wallpeople is art by and for the people and found a comfortable fit in the eclectic neighbourhood of Kensington Market.

Wallpeople Toronto’s Team included Javiera Rossel, Felipe Hidalgo, Esma Yakut, Lido
Pimienta, Javier Lovera, Simón Rojas and Su Alexanian.

Wallpeople in Toronto was supported by KMAC and the Kensington Market BIA.
See more at Wallpeople Toronto Video

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To tag or not to tag?

TORONTO – With a coffee house threatened with a fine for leaving a couple of tags on their wall, graffiti has managed to spray itself across the headlines once again.

Often considered the most deviant art form, you can’t miss street art if you tried: it’s on the walls of warehouses as you pass through Scarborough on the RT, it’s in alleyways in Kensington Market, it’s even on TTC buses and subways in the form of illegible tags, which are normally an artist’s signature, scrawled with black markers.

The question is: what is considered vandalism and what is art? And why do artists, whether experienced or just starting out, feel the need to tag walls?

To read the rest of this Global Toronto article click here

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Cousins wage a cold war in Kensington Market

Outside Zimmerman’s Discount is an aging sign that advises customers: “Zimmermans Fresh Mart, across the street has no association with our store.”

At Zimmerman’s Freshmart, two signs are posted in response.

“We at Freshmart believe customer loyalty is earned by offering quality and service not the name on the store.”

To read more of this Totonto Star article click here

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Restaurant review: Agave and Aguacate

Agave and Aguacate
214 Augusta Ave. (inside Pancho’s Bakery), 647-208-3091

I always thought that cauliflower, that goth veg, needed clouds of cheddar, a pinch of mustard, to make it edible.

Now, I know better. I’m at Agave and Aguacate, a takeaway stall in a scrappy Latin American food court in Kensington Market. A Spanish song of masochistic mourning carries down Augusta Avenue on this bright spring morning, Latin American restos and shops have their shingles out. Jumbo Empanada, Mexican Salsas, La Tortilleria, Emporium Latino … all signs of an Hispanic breakthrough. The taco is now challenging burgers, pizza, sushi as Toronto’s fave fast food. I’ve come to sample the cooking of Francisco Alejandri, a Stratford Chefs School alumnus who, for the past l8 months, has been wowing the lunch crowd with his unique take on Mexican food.

To read more of this National Post review click here

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BIA Social & Meetings

Monthly Kensington Market BIA Social!

The Kensington Market BIA board of management would like to invite the businesses and residents of the neighbourhood to join us at our new monthly meet & greet social.

Starts: Wednesday, May 9th – 7:30pm to 9:30pm
Cafe Pamenar, 307 Augusta Ave.

Feel free to BYOB, socialize and share your ideas, questions or concerns with your neighbours and members of the BIA board on the second Wednesday night of the month from May to October at Cafe Pamenar.

Please call the BIA Coordinator with any questions, 416 826 2964..

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Pie in the Sky, Toronto pie shop, honours George Takei with 75th birthday present

How sweet! George Takei turned 75 on Friday urned 75 on Friday and, smart cookies that they are, a Toronto bakery was ready for the “Star Trek” alum’s visit to the Great White North.

This weekend, Toronto’s Kensington Market pie shop Wanda’s Pie in the Sky presented Takei, who’s best known for playing Hikaru Sulu on “Star Trek,” with 13 cookies made just for him. To read the full OMG! article click here