This post is about our Toronto meet-up, so if you don’t live in or near Toronto — or if you have no desire to go outside in this humid weather — you can safely ignore it.

Meet-up Details

Our Toronto meet-up will be this Sunday, July 4th, at 5pm. The location will be in Queen’s Park. Anyone in or near Toronto, Ontario, who wishes to attend is welcome to do so, including bringing friends and family members. It’s free.

Queen’s Park is located next to the University of Toronto. Our exact meet-up spot will be the Equestrian Statue of King Edward VII, as shown in the photo below. There are benches all around the statue. This statue is located roughly in the center of Queen’s Park, north of Wellesley St, on a small hill. It shouldn’t be too difficult to find. If you have any trouble, just look for a child and ask them, “Can you tell me where to find the horsey statue?”

Now there’s a possibility that for whatever reason, this exact spot may not be available, or it may turn out to be a poor location for us to hang out while we’re there. When I took this photo, there were only a few people around. But it’s possible this particular spot might appear unsuitable when we get there.

Fortunately, we have a few ways to deal with the unexpected. For starters, if you’re able to do so, please be there at 5pm (or earlier), and try to grab some benches for us. If our preferred location isn’t suitable for whatever reason, then we can all move together to a nearby location in Queen’s Park and have our meet-up. Queen’s Park is filled with plenty of benches and picnic tables and shady spots under trees, so it shouldn’t be too tough for us to find a nice place. If you arrive after 5pm and you don’t see us right next to the statue, scout for us in the surrounding area near the statue.

Now if the entire park seems unsuitable for us at the time (due to some festival, demonstration, burning police cars, etc.), our backup meet-up location will be the Back Campus grassy area at the University of Toronto. It’s just a few minute’s walk to the West. Look it up on Google Maps if you don’t know where it is.

The subway stations nearest to our meet-up spot in Queen’s Park are the Museum station to the north and the Queen’s Park station to the south. Our meet-up location is only a short walk from either station. The Museum station appears to be closer.

Rachelle and I will both be there. We can stay about 90 minutes, till 6:30pm.

The weather will likely be warm and humid, but there are plenty of shady spots around the statue where we can hang out and talk.

Feel free to bring food, drinks, protest banners, etc.

This meet-up is free and informal, so come with a desire to meet other locals, hang out, and enjoy good conversation.

This is the first time I’ve done a Toronto meet-up (first time in Canada too), so I have no idea how many people will show up. Around 15 people have expressed interest so far.

Rachelle’s Show

Rachelle will be performing her Toronto Fringe play, unADULTeRATED me, on Sunday at the Tarragon Theatre (located at 30 Bridgman Ave, corner of Bridgman and Howland, entrance is on Howland). If you’d like to attend her play before the meet-up, you’re welcome to do so. The play starts at 3pm and ends at 4pm. Just be aware that it’s a very adult show, so don’t bring your kids to it. This play won the Best of the Fest “Most Daring Show” award at the 2010 London Fringe last weekend.

Tickets for the play are $10 each and can be purchased at the door up to an hour before the show. The Theatre seats about 100 people.

If you decide to attend the show, don’t be late… not even a couple minutes late. They won’t let you into the theatre after 3pm, even if you’re a member of the press wanting to review the play.

It’s about a 30-minute walk from the Tarragon Theatre to Queen’s Park, less than a 10-minute drive. I don’t know the subway routes, but you could probably take the subway too.

I’ll be at the show, but I probably won’t have much time to chat while I’m there. I’ll be helping Rachelle set up before the show, take down the set after the show, and then we’ll head over to Queen’s Park together for the meet-up.

I’ll also be at Rachelle’s 8:45pm show tonight (Saturday) and at her Monday night show at 10:45pm.

Hope you can make it to the meet-up. I’m excited about it because it’s our first meet-up ever outside the USA. 🙂