theglebe

Submission deadline: Thursday, March 16, 2023
Contact: chloepark@intheglebe.ca

The Glebe BIA is seeking new mural submissions to animate the Glebe for residents and visitors. Artists and artist teams are invited to propose mural projects that will enrich the on-street experience in the neighbourhood. This year we are brightening up Bank Street by painting an electrical box by Central Park.

The aim of the program is to add vibrancy while celebrating local art and diversity in our great city. The Glebe BIA Mural Program has seen the installation of over 20 community murals by local artists since its inception. Submissions should conceptualize an artwork installation for an electrical box in the Glebe. These murals should enhance our community by:

• Celebrating the Glebe.
• Welcoming people to the neighbourhood.
• Brightening spaces.
• Deterring graffiti.

The Glebe BIA, in partnership with the City of Ottawa will fund winning concepts and help facilitate their production and installation.

REQUIREMENTS & GUIDELINES

Artists and artist teams interested in participating in the Glebe Mural Program should submit ONE copy of each of the following:

• A Letter of Interest no more than one page explaining the artist’s or artist team’s interest in the project, experience working on comparable projects, and statement of artistic approach.
• A resume not to exceed two pages, including artist training, professional experience and art/public art commission. If submitting as a team, a separate resume should be submitted for each team member.
• Three work samples (including title, year, location, and image) of your past or current projects.
• A design concept sketch.
• A project name.
• An approximate budget for the project, based on the picture of location provided.
• A maintenance plan for the project.
• Complete contact information.
• Professional references (upon request).
• Artists may submit more than one design proposal along with a statement for each design. Do not send any materials not specifically requested (i.e. transparencies, DVDs/videos, articles etc.), as they will not be reviewed by the jury. Any hard copies of submissions will not be returned.

ELIGIBILITY

Designs with wording will likely not be chosen. Designs cannot contain advertisement or promotion for any business, product or viewpoint. Designs may not include any breach of intellectual property, trademarks, brands or images of illegal activity.

COMMISSION

To be determined and dependent on project scope. 

APPLICATION

Applications must be submitted by Thursday, March 16, 2023 by 11:59pm.

HOW TO SUBMIT

Submissions or questions should be addressed to Glebe BIA Programming and Events Coordinator, Chloe Park, at chloepark@intheglebe.ca.

Michael Scrivens has been participating in Glebe Spree for 11 years now, since the 2011 inception. That dedication paid off for him big time this January, when his ballot was picked from tens of thousands to make him the big winner this season. 

We asked Scrivens to name some of his favourite Glebe spots and he eagerly came up quite a list including: McKeen Metro, Il Negozio Nicastro’s, The Unrefined Olive, Cantina Gia, Home Hardware Store, The Rowan, Feleena’s Mexican Cantina, Irene’s Pub, Wild Oat, Avenue Lock, Glebe Central Pub, Knifewear, Bloomfields, Kunstadt Sports, The Papery, Von’s Bistro, Eddy’s Diner, Glebe Trotters, Mane Collective, and Glebe Meat Market. 

“Glebe Spree is such a community-driven event,” says Patrick Burke, the Glebe BIA Executive Director. “It’s fun to meet people in the neighborhood talking about the local businesses they love, and where they’ve entered their ballots. There is a shared excitement that is unique to the Glebe and it’s a pleasure to be a part of”. 

Where was Scrivens shopping and what did he buy when dropping off his winning ballot you ask? A quesadilla from Feleena’s Mexican Cantina! When asked if he has any tricks for winning, he said, “get involved. Collect your ballots and support your community.” 

“On behalf of Feleena’s we are delighted to congratulate Mike on this year’s win. We always look forward to participating in the Glebe Spree each year. It’s a wonderful way to bring the local community together!” said Ann McGarry, owner of Feleena’s Cantina   

Glebe Spree is a popular holiday contest brought to you by the Glebe BIA. It encourages participants to support the fantastic local businesses in our neighbourhood. For every $150 spent in the Glebe, participants can submit one ballot. In 2022, there were 30 Any Day Prizes of $100 gift cards to Glebe businesses given out, with a $2,500 Early Bird Prize and of course, our $10,000 Grand Prize. 

“Glebe Spree is a wonderful event that encourages people to shop local each holiday season,” said Rebecca McKeen, owner of Glebe Spree’s Title Sponsor, McKeen Metro Glebe. “It’s very much in line with our commitment to the Glebe community and we were happy to help support it this year.” McKeen Metro is thrilled to congratulate Mike on his win. 

Many thanks again to our title sponsor of Glebe Spree, McKeen Metro Glebe. We’d also like to thank all our participating merchants, our Any Day Prize participants, RBC Royal Bank, Mediaplus, and every single member of the Glebe and beyond who play along every season and make Glebe Spree a continued success year after year. 

Ready, set, skate (soon anyway)!

Let’s all send some ice cold wishes to the Rideau Canal Skateway, which is still currently closed. As we eagerly await its opening, we thought it might be fun to look at the history of the world’s longest skating rink. New to Ottawa? An Ottawa native? I bet there will something here you didn’t know!

Let’s take it back to the beginning –

The Rideau Canal was constructed on a ravine that had served as an important traveling and trading route for the Indigenous peoples. The Algonquin peoples have lived in the Ottawa Valley for many generations, thousands of years before the Europeans arrived in North America.

It was later expanded after the War of 1812, as a secure war-time supply route for British troops and supplies. The route ran from Montreal to the settlements of Upper Canada and the naval dockyard in Kingston. The Rideau Canal opened in the spring 1832 after six years of hard labour from 4,000 or more workers.

The total number of wars between the United States and Canada since the canal opened is a whopping… zero wars. Which means that over the years, the canal has become a historic site for boating, fishing and skating. People havs been skating on the canal for many years, but the skateway’s official debut took some time.

In January 1971, a team of NCC employees with brooms and shovels cleared a small section of ice between the Mackenzie King and Laurier bridges. It was then extended as a six-metre-wide skating track to Dows Lake, a distance of about 5 km. Now, each winter, the historic Rideau Canal, becomes the Rideau Canal Skateway, the world’s longest skating rink (take that Winnipeg!). Today, the Rideau Canal Skateway spans over 7.8 km through the heart of the Capital and is a key site for Winterlude celebrations each year. The average skating season is 50 days, but the record is 95 days (1971-1972 season).

The canal (and, when it’s opened, the skateway) wraps beautifully around the Glebe neighbourhood meaning you can enjoy the site and then hunker down for a meal or a show in our hood! Or if you’ve got some pep in your step, you can visit some of our local shops. Paths beside the canal are maintained all winter, so you can take a canal-side stroll anytime you like. National Capital Commission staff can sometimes be spotted working their winter magic on the canal to help it become safe for all of us to use. The ice must be 30 cm in thickness for the Rideau Canal Skateway to open. This means there needs to be about 10-14 straight days of -10 to -20 degree Celsius days for the quality of the ice to meet the standards of safe skating! That’s a bit more chill than Hottawa’s been so far this winter.

Here are some historical dates for you:

1971: The very first season of the Rideau Canal Skateway!
1979: Winterlude launches.
1980: The Skateway hosts the first edition of the international Outdoor Curling Challenge at Dows Lake. This event becomes an annual tradition.
1981: BeaverTails become a part of the Skateway experience. Prior to 1981, the popular pastry was called “The Elephant Ear,” but the name was later changed to make it more Canadian.

2004: The Skateway hosts Hockey Day in the Capital, where more than 100 simultaneous shinny hockey games take place along the ice.
2005: The Skateway is recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest naturally frozen ice rink in the world.
2007: The Rideau Canal becomes a UNESCO World Heritage Site and, that same year, the NCC fine-tunes its ice-building process by flooding the surface of the ice.
2011: “The Froster,” a new ice re-surfacer, revolutionizes maintenance of the Skateway.
2017: The Skateway hosts 150 hockey games to celebrate Canada’s 150th anniversary. It is also selected as the best ice-skating rink in North America by the readers of USA Today.
2018: Lonely Planet names the Skateway one of North America’s most spectacular winter destinations.
2018–2019: The Skateway welcomes 1,493,524 visits — a new record!
2022: For the first time in over 20 years, skaters were able to enjoy the full 7.8 kilometres of the iconic Rideau Canal Skateway on opening day.

Winterlude begins on February 3, 2023, and runs all the way to Family Day, Monday, February 20, 2023. Come enjoy a skate on the canal and don’t forget to pop into the Glebe for a hot chocolate, or two!

Living in The Glebe you won’t be a stranger to cold winters. At this time of the year, it’s harder to get out of bed or run to the gym, so it’s challenging to remain consistent with your fitness goals. But you shouldn’t be too hard on yourself. After all, cold weather can put a strain on your body as your system fights to activate its defense mechanisms for protection against the lower temperatures.

With the cold weather lasting months into the new year, it’s equally important to focus on your health. Building good habits in the winter can help you build momentum so you can spend the rest of the year staying fit. If you’re wondering how to pursue your fitness goals during winter in The Glebe, here are some tips that can help you.

Prioritize consistency in exercise
While you may be used to running around The Glebe during the warmer months, you don’t need to brave that cold to stay fit in the winter. If you have a gym membership, it may be easier for you to exercise indoors. Popular gyms in The Glebe are Free-Form Fitness on Bank Street and Where I Thrive on Glebe Ave. However, with the roads being less accessible, you can exercise without leaving your home. Prioritize consistency over intensity during the winter. For example, you can set a minimum daily or weekly quota. It can be as simple as stretching or doing a 10-minute yoga routine. You can even take virtual fitness classes if you prefer more intense workouts.

Getting started with your workout is often the hardest part. But when you avoid overwhelming goals, you reduce the temptation to skip your workout and leave it for another day.

Get a support system
A support system can help you better enjoy your fitness journey, especially in the winter. A study on social support and exercise shows that having people around can make physical activity more fun and rewarding. It can also foster opportunities for relationships and genuine connections. So by recruiting friends and family to join you in on your activities, fitness can become easier to sustain.

If you love the cold, this can also help you enjoy the winter months. After all, winter is one of the most exciting seasons in The Glebe, with many fun activities you wouldn’t even realize count as exercise. Visit the Lansdowne Skating Rink with your friends for some healthy and fun exercise. You can also go skiing or snowboarding in nearby resorts, such as Edelweiss Valley, which is only 30 mins from Ottawa. Enjoying these winter activities with a group can help you stay fit and build a support system that can last long after the winter passes.

Have a balanced diet
With exercise becoming more inaccessible in cold weather, your diet is one of the best avenues to boost your health. And with the holidays over now is the perfect time to change your diet towards health and weight loss. If you have struggled with your diet in the past, the best way to make a meaningful change is to follow a plan. Effective weight loss plans prioritize having a balanced diet over focusing on the number of calories consumed. Simply restricting your calorie intake or avoiding certain foods make it difficult to maintain your diet, resulting in frustration when you gain back the weight you lost.

The good news is that there are plenty of healthy places you can visit in The Glebe that will fit with your new diet plan. For those looking for a healthy meal there is Chickpeas, Ottawa’s first falafel and hummus eatery that only uses 100% organic chickpeas. Healthy and comforting food for the cold weather. If you have a sweet tooth, don’t worry you don’t need to give up your favorite treats. Cinnaholic offers cinnamon rolls that are 100% plant-based, dairy & lactose-free, egg-free, and cholesterol-free. By approaching your diet more comprehensively than calorie counts, you can avoid less healthy calories and ensure your body gets the proper nutrients.

Winter in The Glebe can be challenging to navigate when it comes to fitness. But by following these three tips, you can build momentum to sustain your health for the rest of the year.

-Jemimah Burkin

A huge congratulations goes out to Michel Laurendeau, a big fan and loyal customer of the Glebe.

This is Michel’s first time participating in the Glebe Spree contest, and he is this year’s Glebe Spree $2,500 Early Bird Prize winner. Talk about beginner’s luck!

When asked where he will spend his $2,500 prize, he had a great idea, “LCBO on Bank Street to buy some good wine to celebrate with the family visiting us during the Holiday Season.”

“Working part-time as a consultant, I see this prize as helping me enjoy some good times meeting with my colleagues at pubs and coffee shops along Bank Street. I also expect my wife will occasionally want to come along and do some shopping in the Glebe,” he added.

Laurendeau is a great supporter of the pubs and cafes along Bank Street, as well as Cineplex at Lansdowne. But he says, “As a stamp collector, the main attraction for me is the Chris Green Stamps boutique where I regularly buy philatelic articles.”

His ballot was dropped off at Chris Green Stamps. When asked what he purchased for that final winning ballot? “Some philatelic articles on September 11. David (Giles) helped me fill and submit the ballots, after which I totally forgot about it. Your email was a very pleasant surprise.”

What are philatelic articles you ask? They are usually postage stamps or other items related to postal history and Chris Green has lots of them.

Many thanks as always to our title sponsor, McKeen Metro Glebe.

Glebe Spree runs from November 15 – December 31, 2022. Participants get one sticker for every $15 they spend, and 10 stickers complete a ballot. Stickers can be collected, and ballots can be dropped off at any participating merchant in the Glebe. Shop local this Holiday season and you could win the $10,000 Grand Prize of a Glebe shopping spree. Good luck to all!

As you hike out in the snow, full of determination and bravery,
Don’t forget your Christmas cards from the one and only Papery.

Wear your warmest gloves and your finest tunic,
While searching the endless aisles of Compact Music.

Looking for a feast that’ll keep your family happy and budget on target?
Shop the wonders and choices of the Glebe Meat Market.

Not sure where stylish mens apparel can be found?
Why of course at our very own Stomping Ground.

This holiday step up your skincare routine before each siesta,
And grab some nighttime skin care from Oresta.

Sing Christmas carols and belt out fa la la,
On your way to a gorgeous new ‘fit from viens avec moi.

A gift for our families and special some ones?
Jewelry-a-plenty from gorgeous Davidsons.

For your outdoorsy friend, maybe new snowpants or a hat.
You’ll find everything you need from the Glebe’s Kunstadt.

The sugarplum fairies danced and swirled,
Probably because they have a fresh pair of kicks from Top of the World.

Sick of candy canes and ice cream cones?
Grab the finest salted caramels from Penelope Jones.

Looking for a shop to give mom all the excitement and feels?
Get her what she really wants, a trip to Bloomfields!

A gift to help us get back to our pre-holiday bodies?
A personalized class from our own Glebe Pilates.

And don’t forget to swing by JD Adam,
For a home furnishing for any sir or madam.

Happy Holidays from all of us in the Glebe,
And remember to shop local, for your Christmas good deed!