SUMMER’S HERE – WHICH MEANS THAT FESTIVAL SEASON IS UPON US. WHILE OUR REGION PLAYS HOST TO A MYRIAD OF ARTS AND CULTURE EVENTS ALL THROUGH THESE WARMER MONTHS, THERE’S ONE THREE-DAY PARTY THAT’S ESPECIALLY DEAR TO MY HEART: RIVERFEST ELORA. THIS YEAR’S FESTIVAL – WHICH TAKES PLACE AUGUST EIGHTEENTH THROUGH TWENTIETH AT ELORA’S BISSELL PARK AND FEATURES SUCH HEADLINERS AS METRIC, FEIST, THE REKLAWS, AND (WAY) MORE – PROMISES TO BE A TRIUMPH.
‘No two homes are alike’ is a common saying in the world of real estate. The same can be said of home buyers. We’re all unique – and we all come to the house-hunting process with our own needs, desires, challenges, and quirks. That's why realtors need to be able to relate to people coming from all walks of life. Many of us have trusted systems and best practices, but we also must be ready to adapt our regular ways to meet some clients’ needs. A great example? The neurodivergent buyer.
‘People know what it’s like to live in a house that's uncomfortable,’ James tells me, and I nod, maybe a bit too eagerly, ‘but they don’t often make a connection between the absence of comfort and environmental inefficiencies.’ He continues: ‘Our goal is to build sustainable and energy-efficient homes that will also ensure that our clients are comfortable in their everyday lives.’
If you’re one of those special few who have set their sights on purchasing a rural property (a house in the country, a larger farm, or something else outside of town) it’s best to understand the unique opportunities and challenges that accompany these properties – including access to utilities, types of water sources, and allowable agricultural uses.
‘This place is a lot like summer camp,’ David McAuley, prominent and (not quite) retired Guelph architect, tells me, ‘except we’re all grown-ups and there are no counselors.’ I smile – recalling my own summers at camp. The friendships. The freedom. The fun. ‘If there are no counselors,’ I ask, having fun with David’s analogy, ‘then who’s in charge?’
It’s Tuesday. Middle of May. Just past eleven in the morning. And when my TOQUE Partner Cai and I pull up to the main entrance of Anderson Brewing Co there’s already a long lineup of people waiting in a queue out the front door. ‘This place is absolutely hopping,’ I remark to Cai as we join the back of the line, ‘there must be something big going on.’
It’s mid-May, Friday afternoon, and unseasonably hot outside. Just a couple hours remain until the end of the work week, and I’ve got plans for dinner with the family at Willibald. I can taste the weekend – along with Willibald’s magnificent menu of juicy IPAs and farm-to-table dishes – already.
When I was a kid growing up in Kitchener, my dad (also born and raised in the city) loved driving my brother and me past the many landmark buildings that helped grow – and define – our hometown. The Arrow Shirt factory on Benton Street. The AR Kaufman factory at the corner of King and Victoria.
Downtown Cambridge is experiencing a bourgeoning renaissance of sorts. And we’re here for it. Hip boutiques. Fantastic restaurants. Chic condos. Bumpin’ patios. All framed in a European-esque historic town lined with stone buildings and cut through by the mighty Grand River.
When Lee Anne Downey moved with her family to a gorgeous ninety-three acre farm in Erin back in 2017, she had a singular mission in mind – to put lavender in the ground for a future business endeavour.
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.
