Tomorrow (Saturday) is the day Toronto explodes. It popped a bit last Saturday, but with a predicted high of 26C tomorrow, Torontonians will be out in force and it will, as I wrote two years ago, be the best weekend of the year (in the most Biblical and Leonard Cohenesque way). Torontonians will be outside and on the sidewalks in force as it’s too early for the mass vacation and cottage exodus that empties Toronto on summer weekends. Everybody is still in town. A fine way to see the warm and fleshly spectacle is to take a psychogeographic walk around the 1834 boundaries of the city, a walk that will give participants a sense of how big (or small) the city was when it was founded 175 years ago. This unique walk kicks off Hertiage Toronto’s 2009 season of historic walks that Spacing is proud to sponsor.
Our 2009 Heritage Toronto Walks Season is around the corner – and it begins with a special self-guided walk this year to honour our city’s birthday: 1834 Toronto: Beating the Bounds.
Dirt streets and wooden sidewalks, the smell of wood smoke and stables, schooners and steamboats in the harbour – this was what one would have encountered here in 1834, the year the growing Town of York (population 9,252) was incorporated as the City of Toronto. While it is a challenge to fully understand life back then, we can get a sense of the scope of the early city – through our feet!
In celebration of Toronto’s 175th anniversary, Heritage Toronto and Spacing magazine invite you to walk the 1834 city boundaries in a one-of-a-kind modern ‘pilgrimage’. Pick up a map between 1:00 and 2:30 PM on April 25 at the start point and walk the route at your own pace. Remarks will be said at 1pm — Councillor Adam Vaughan in attendance. Or drop by the Heritage Toronto office after April 25 to pick up the map and do this tour at your own convenience. The first 100 people who finish the walk get a copy of an 1834 Toronto map. Anyone who finishes can go to Mill Street Brewery nearby at the end and get a 10% coupon off a food purchase.
START POINT: North end of Market Lane Park, west side of St. Lawrence Hall, 157 King St E at Jarvis St
FINISH POINT: Parliament Square Park, Parliament St, 1 block S of Front St E, near the Distillery District
LENGTH: Approx. 4 to 4 1/2 hours or 9 to 9.5 km
FOCUS: Historical
DIFFICULTY: Very long walk on pavement, park grounds, some slopes
