Toronto’s Riverside BIA ready for holidays amid broader push for more welcoming streetscape
Posted November 18, 2022 5:52 pm.
Last Updated November 18, 2022 7:05 pm.
With more than a month to go until Christmas, shop owners in the Riverside Business Improvement Area (BIA) are making a renewed plea this holiday season as they still deal with the effects of COVID-19.
“Shopping local is really crucial,” Jennifer Lay, the BIA’s executive director, said.
“It supports family-owned, small, independent businesses. It really benefits our economy a lot better than doing your online shopping from the big-box stores, so it keeps these neighbourhoods vibrant – the places where we live and work.”
In recent years, the area has become a destination for food and drink establishment along with vintage- and arts-inspired stores.
With no shortage of ambitions for this stretch of Queen Street East between the Don Valley and Jimmie Simpson Park, the biggest one for now is drumming up visitors for the holiday season, which is the first one in the past three years with few COVID restrictions.
“Compared to last year, I’m hoping this Christmas season will be a bit better with everything open. But it’s a really critical time to get through for a lot of these small, independent businesses so supporting local is as critical as ever,” Lay said.
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The BIA is hosting holiday markets at the Riverside Common Park on Nov. 27 and Dec. 4. There will also be fundraisers for local charitable initiatives. Grab bags of products from local businesses are also available for purchase. There are also 15 holiday displays in storefronts within the BIA’s borders.
Trying to make the area welcoming day and night has been a focus for Lay and Riverside shop owners.
One of those ways is by embracing public art. She said 20 murals have been installed over the past year, something that helps weave the social fabric of the community.
“These are stories connecting residents, connecting artists, connecting lots of people in the neighbourhood so that is part of making it feel like the community is telling important stories that may not be apparently while you’re walking the streets,” Lay said.
Looking into the future, a multi-million-dollar streetscape master plan has been developed. Elements of that plan include the banners and pole wraps that line Queen Street East right now but also bigger ideas like new public seats, greenspaces, landscaping, beautification, intersection and biking improvements.
Although applications have been made to governments for funding to fully realize the vision, all of the needed funding hasn’t come. Lay said the plan would be a game-changer.
“It helps attract people, it helps make it a better place for residents, more accessible, more vibrant, so it’s all good to implement what’s in our plan,” she said.
