Glebe Report

I had a chat with a very frank and enthusiastic co-owner of Banditos named Jamie McConnell. His partners are Gregg McCabe, Matt Loudon and Steve Halucha. This quartet of locals enjoy catering to a wide range of clientele with hearty sustenance at reasonable prices.

To turn on a pivot, to ricochet off in a new direction, to live a pivotal moment that changes everything – that is tthe theme for this month’s Poetry Quarter.

Glebe Spree, the neighbourhood’s favourite promotion, launches on November 15. Given the popularity of last year’s Canada 150 edition of Glebe Spree, several of its elements will be returning this year, including the weekly $1,000 cash prizes and the ever-popular Any Day Prizes.

We wrap up this series of stories in the Glebe Report commemorating the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Armistice, with the final three of the 16 servicemen from St. Matthew’s killed in action in the First World War – the youngest of the soldiers, the “chemist” of the Central Experimental Farm; and the last of the soldiers from St. Matthew’s to die in the war.

Did you know that the Glebe is home to a sizable hidden harvest? The Lansdowne Park apple orchard is a hidden treasure. Each year, 37 trees yield between 600 and 700 pounds of apples.

Immaculata High School celebrated its 90th anniversary on the weekend of September 30, including a mass at the original site at 211 Bronson Avenue, celebrated by a graduate of the high school. Said principal Sean Power, “It has been a very busy and exciting two weeks for our Immaculata community.

Grandmothers in the nation’s capital are coming together once again to raise funds for the Stephen Lewis Foundation’s Grandmothers Campaign. The fourth annual GRAND Market is coming back to Lansdowne on November 25.

The church buildings that are essential elements in the daily life of the Glebe were all built in the first half of the 20th century. The Glebe’s old church buildings are a gift, but they are also a burden that is no longer sustainable in many cases.

This October, author Basia Vanderveen flew all day from north to south and landed in Quito, Ecuador, the highest capital city in the world at altitude 3,200 metres. What an amazing trip!

Blackfoot chief Crowfoot by early manhood had abandoned raiding parties in favour of raising horses. By 1865, his perspective marked the evolution of a compassionate leader and prairie diplomat.

Every June at the conclusion of Ashbury College’s closing ceremony, the graduating students are invited by the head of school to toss their uniform ties into the air to mark the end of the year. Watching the ties unfurl against the clear, blue summer sky this year, however, I saw things differently and I began to question what it means to “celebrate.”