‘Red Car’s here.’ And with those three (and a half) simple words, the TOQUE crew – along with twenty of our nearest and dearest – were whisked away into a warm May evening toward wide-eyed adventure, mayhem, and surprise destinations. Sprinkled with just a pinch of debauchery. But before I get ahead of myself, let’s begin at the beginning. At TOQUE headquarters.
Somewhere deep in the heart of The Ward – Guelph’s storied neighbourhood renowned for its maze-like streets and hidden lanes, expansive vegetable gardens and picturesque century-old Italianate cottages, clucking chickens, a tightknit working class community and an emerging colony of craftspeople – lies a cozy workshop in a picturesque backyard where magical instruments come into existence. One by one. By hand. By a carpenter-turned-luthier named Tom.
It’s pretty easy to recognize a climber: just look at their hands. Thick. Muscly. Callused and blistered. Fingers always slightly bent – as if begging for something to clamp on to. Looking for further proof? Ask for a handshake. Or, better yet, an arm wrestle. Just don’t plan on winning.
If you ever find yourself near Moorefield in Wellington County, do yourself a favour and visit Mapleton’s Organic Dairy – Ineke Booy and Martin de Groot’s organic-certified, family-owned dairy farm and on-site processing plant. Heck, even if you seldom find yourself in that neck of the woods, make the drive. (It’s only 45 minutes from Kitchener-Waterloo and 40 minutes from Guelph.) You’re bound to enjoy a full day of family fun.
‘Check out how amazing that looks,’ I blurt out to TOQUE Partner Cai Sepulis when we turn off King onto Queen Street in downtown Kitchener. ‘It’s like the lane is alive.’ Straight ahead of us, about halfway up the block between King and Duke Streets, warm light and the sounds of live music spill out into the darkness of Queen from the alleyway between the Vidyard building and its next door neighbour. Goudie’s Lane. Our final destination on what has been a most amazing evening – downtown Kitchener’s annual #DTKPatioCrawl.
'So much of what people buy – and how they buy it – is determined by what they see on their screens,’ Neil Moser begins as we sit down to chat over coffee at Death Valley’s Little Brother in Uptown Waterloo. ‘Shopping online is convenient, to be sure,’ he goes on. ‘But when you’re investing in something that isn’t disposable, something handcrafted, online can be cold. Detached. Irreverent, even.’
When we’re not publishing magazines, we’re branding businesses – most often restaurants, coffee shops and craft breweries. Two of our most recent branding projects include a couple local breweries that will be opening to the public just as this magazine goes to print: Red Circle Brewing Company in Kitchener and Fixed Gear Brewing Company in Guelph.
Mano Duggal’s Phidon Pens has become somewhat of a downtown Galt institution. Indeed, it’s not often that a small independent business survives – no, thrives – for a full decade in any town. And yet Phidon continues to flourish – in part because of Mano’s charm and charisma, and in part because of her fantastic ability to curate a splendid array of fine pens, paper, ink and luggage.
The first time I tried poke (pronounced ‘POH-keh’) was at Baker Street Station in Guelph. I was on one of my wheat-free kicks – minus liquid wheat, which I determined fine – and decided to give it a go. And what a go it was.The bowl of raw, marinated salmon tossed over warm rice and topped with edamame, sliced avocado, sesame seeds and other delectable ingredients, and finished with a beautifully-executed sesame dressing, was like heaven in my mouth. Fresh, crunchy, pretty, delectable.
The moment I press the start button, I know we are in for a treat. As the car announces it’s ready to go – growling, then settling down – Gary Crosby gives us these parting words: ‘Be careful with this one. She’s a little monster.’ I tap on the gas just a smidgeon. The response is thunderous. Lusty. Insistent. Vehement. I give it another tap, unleashing a crescendo of snarling and bellowing out the twin tailpipes.
Travel tends to sharpen taste. It introduces new ideas, uncovers unforeseen obsessions, and offers the occasional epiphany – nudging your sense of beauty and your grasp of craftsmanship in new directions. For Ryan LeClair, founder of Makoto Watch Company out of London, Ontario, it was travel – and specifically a trip to Japan – that transformed his infatuation with watch collecting into his initiation of a brand built on craft, restraint, and everyday practicality.
Almost nothing we carry defines us more clearly than the books in our bags: tactile objects filled with ideas and stories – testimonies to time well spent. They tag along with us, mark our days, and shape the rhythm of how we move through the world. In Uptown Waterloo, three long-standing independent bookstores – Carry-On Comics & Books (46 years young), Words Worth Books (42 years), and Old Goat Books (25 years) – offer distinct ways to build this bracket of everyday carry: a nostalgia-driven comic haven built for the thrill of discovery, a curated literary hub grounded in conversation, and a densely-packed used bookstore where the search is part of the reward. Together, these enduring fixtures map a reading life – charting not just what we read, but how we come to find it.
In my line of work – as writer, photographer, editor, regional explorer – EDC isn't a trend. It's infrastructure. Most days I'm in motion: tracing backroads toward a brewhouse, mapping my way to an artist's studio, or sliding into the corner of a coffee shop where I turn field notes into final copy and RAW files into photographs that will pop on paper. My office is wherever I set my bag down. My tools make it possible.
Stratford – and, by extension, Perth County – lends itself to takeaway. A coffee to carry, a sandwich in hand, something sweet tucked alongside – then out into the streets for window shopping, into the theatres for a performance, or down to the riverbank for a nosh.
