Category: #Sunnyside365 (Page 29 of 39)

“There’s the whole niqab debate going on in the media right now. There’s a lot of concern in the community about how we’re depicted and what to do about it. I tell people that: “The light shines brightest when surrounded by darkness” We need to be that light.

I work a lot with youth, and focus on making changing without resorting to violence. We volunteer at the Drop-in Centre and the Bethany Care Centre to be grateful for the blessings we have, and to find purpose and meaning in life beyond ourselves.

This neighbourhood is great! My favourite bakery is Sidewalk Citizen and my favourite coffee place is the Roasterie. Every Sunday my wife and I drop our kids off at Quran class and usually go for breakfast–today we decided to come here.” Navaid Aziz, Director at the Islamic Information Society of Calgary.

“When the owner suggested putting a bar in the alley way, I was like, ‘What alley?’ As it turns out, this sort of thing exists all over the world. People re-purpose shipping containers for all sorts of things: homes, businesses, bars–you see it all over the place. So we stuck a shipping container in this spot and opened the bar up. Container Bar is just a cool pop-up use of an unused space. Our last regular day is Sunday, but through the Winter we’ll have special events.

Tonight was the Dandy Brewing takeover. Usually a brewery will take over the taps, but we only have one so they’re taking over the whole space–DJ and everything.

I’ve lived in this neighbourhood for years. I even used to work at Red Robin over on the corner (now where Julio’s Barrio is). I’ve always felt this neighbourhood is a small town within the city. You get to know a lot of people who hang out and work in the neighbourhood. I love that you can access everywhere just through walking.” Bill, Assistant General Manager, Winebar and Brasserie Kensington.

“Oh my god, I love Sunnyside! It’s like the only thing that I’m going to miss about Calgary. Ha ha, I’m just kidding.

I’m one of the lucky ones who moved directly to this place from Little Portugal in Toronto. Our two year plan became ten years, so I guess this place grew on me.

But we’re moving as soon as our place sells. We’re going to Vancouver Island.

I feel like all my friends are at The Roasterie. I love that I don’t have to drive, that I can get everything I need in this place–food, art supplies, everything.” Helena.

October is a time synonymous with harvest, changing of the seasons, and taking advantage of what last few moments we can enjoy outdoors.

“This neighbourhood feels like home and the people here are welcoming. It’s a bit on the seedy side, but in a good way. I can walk everywhere, everyone greets you when you walk into a store, it’s great to visit when my kids are working. I have to confess, I don’t actually live here!” Lois.

“I’ve been riding my bike all my life, she’s been riding for five months. Our club is called Bikers Against Child Abuse. We empower children to help them overcome fear and face the world in which they live. What do I like about this neighbourhood? Let’s see…

Diversity. Cool people. Nobody wears a tie here. I like that.” Coach (Left) & Pastel (Right).

“What I like about walking through Sunnyside is the trees. If it’s a hot day, I can choose a route that gives me a reasonable amount of shade so I don’t get too hot.” Howard, commenting on his morning walk to work in the downtown core.

“Sunnyside School was originally built in 1919, but they built onto it in the 1950’s. I’ve been the principal here for nine years. I came here and loved it so much that I decided to stay! Sunnyside School has got amazing amazing kids, amazing teachers, and incredible support. It truly is the heart of the community.

Every year we host the Sunnyside School Fall Fair. It was initiated by one of our students and it has been around for over a decade. It’s a great way raise funds for school initiatives. We like to feature local artisans and people–that’s Peter Puffin over there getting ready to play, he teamed up with the students to write the Sunnyside School theme song. The kids run the games and some of the craft tables. It’s a lot of fun.

It’s been a long day, we got started at 7am.” Sandra Trumper, Principal, Sunnyside School

“The shipping container village was supposed to be removed next summer, now I’m hearing that it’s going to be extended at least for another year while the city figures out what to do with the space. They had a community forum where they wanted to hear what we all had to say, but the longer it went on, the more obvious it was that we were just there as a formality. I was told that if I didn’t change my attitude, I wouldn’t be invited to the next one. Can you imagine?

Beakerhead was supposed to have another one of their dance parties here, but we made sure they couldn’t. It’s too loud, too late at night. Don’t they realize that there’s a lot of senior people? I live in one of the houses that faces the container village and trust me, there’s some shady activity that happens there some nights.

But I suppose that’s the neighbourhood. I’ve lived in Sunnyside for my entire life. The people west of 10th are snooty, the people east of 10th are the weirdos. My photo? Ha ha ha, you don’t need an old lady’s face taking up space on your project.”