Today I ventured out into the world of families and regular daytime folk to help block traffic for the puppet parade.
Turns out we had a lot of volunteers and for the most part I just kinda stood there and walked around. I did get to guide some cars at one point, it felt useful. I’m on the board of Notre Dames Des Arts so it made sense for me to be there for our event, especially since lately I haven’t been present as much lately.
After a night of Ubering I woke up to a groggy start and inevitably walked my way over to NDG park to meet up with the parade.
Along the way I walked through Imagine Monkland, the BizNDG street festival, and it was really pleasant.
It got me thinking that this type of thing needs to happen far more often.
The Puppet Parade is not really what you are thinking
Basically over the course of the last 2 weeks there was a crafts workshop where people made their puppets.
Some people made birds with flapping wings. This one girl had a really cool fish that was segmented in a way she could make it wiggle. This isn’t hand puppets, those also can get real next level, instead think more like interactive art projects that bring imagination to life.
Imagine Monkland is actually the right venue for it when I think about the name.
It’s a celebration of art. People were dressed in cool outfits and Peter McQueen was all floating around on roller blades as the magnificent bird he was. Gracia Kasoki Katahwa was there too, and she hugged us board members.
That’s right, the Mayor of NDG hugged me today.There’s not much more to that clickbait portion, it actually happened and it was funner because of it.
She wanted to meet the Notre Dames Des Art board members.
No big deal.
Imagine Monkland was pretty but would have been cooler with me performing at it
I’ll be honest when I first saw the lineup for the musical selection at Imagine Monkland I was disappointed.
The genre selection always feels like there are glaring blind spots. Where’s the representation EDM DJ’s in the hood? Why are there no rappers? It feels like there are a lot of artists I know that could have been showcases but were not.
I should acknowledge Dust Gang, who is awesome did in fact come with rappers, lead the way in the puppet parade. They are true talents, however they do more freestyle improv and I was thinking more traditionally.
Then I realized I was just being salty that I wasn't booked.
I wanted to walk in hating it. But it was really cool. I saw happy people all around vibing and buying stuff. The community looked vibrant and the commerce was in full effect. They had bean bags all over and it was just an inviting place to stay.
Had I not been volunteering to block traffic, I would have wasted a few hours doing nothing there.
I’m aware of the self-absorbed nature of this section, but I want to give props to the BizNDG folk or whoever else is behind it. I am duly impressed and maybe next year y’all can book me. Definitely happy to brainstorm with y’all. Let’s talk about doing some cool stuff like after parties at local bars next year.
Maybe we can think about how many external residents we can bring as a KPI we can try and measure.
Playing a part in bringing people together is a blessing
The part I played in this was volunteering to block traffic, that should be stated clearly.
Still working with Notre Dames Des Art has been a really cool way to see another side of events and community than I am used to. The world is different at 2 PM on a Saturday chilling on Monkland when compared to the middle of the night on St.Laurent.
I know it takes civilians stepping up to coordinate the pieces to make cool things happen. Maybe more of us can create new waves of events that have Monkland and Somerled closing all the time for cool community stuff. Inevitably if we build it, we can get some of that Wellington love where people come from all over to spend money in our hood.
That would do a lot to keep the restaurants and hidden treasures we love in the neighbourhood alive.
I wish I had more time this year to participate but I’m glad I got to see a glimpse of what Imagine Monkland was. I’m especially happy I saw the creativity in the puppet parade. Melanie Stuy curated a wonderful experience for the people.
When you see this kind of stuff happening in the city, participate, city councillors may pull up to track how many people attend for future decision making.
You can help sway the decision with the democratic power of your time.
Live Long and Prosper Everyone
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