Some of North America’s best ribbers will be bringing their game, competing for “best ribs” and “best sauce”, with winners being announced daily. Trophies, too. All you need to bring is your appetite. And, of course, a toothpick.

Lots of music, singing and dancing. Daily karaoke contests! Be sure to check out the vendor booths for unique wares and product services.

Here’s what you need to know:

Dates & Times:

Friday, July 31: 11:00 am to 11:00 pm
Saturday, August 1: 11:00 am to 11:00 pm
Sunday, August 2: 11:00 am to 11:00 pm
Monday, August 3: 11:00 am to 6:00 pm

Location:

Thomson Memorial Park (east side of Brimley Rd., north of Lawrence Ave.). For a map to the park, click here.

For complete details about Scarborough Rotary Ribfest 2009, click here.

A couple of pre-Ribfest photographs taken inside the park earlier this week:

[Show as slideshow]

[View with PicLens]

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Spent some time spinning around the Cherry Beach Sports Fields; the WATERFRONToronto revitalization project at Port Lands is quite impressive. Very soon Toronto soccer and lacrosse teams will once again be playing on elite sports fields.

I thought I’d share a few pictures of what’s interesting off-field on a chilly March afternoon.

Look what’s docked just north of the fields:

Why, it’s a pirate-themed ship just waiting to be boarded! It may look like an abandoned ship has sailed into Toronto Harbour, but I’ll bet you a treasure chest full of gold that warmer weather will bring out this ship’s crew.

See you on board, matey!

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What’s In A Toronto
Neighbourhood Name?

Some Toronto neighbourhood names are entrenched; others are more recently coined and only time will tell if these names will endure, or fade away to be replaced by those considered more meaningful as neighbourhoods evolve.

The Map of the Week folks have taken on the ambitious task of creating a comprehensive map of Toronto neighbourhoods. There’s nothing static about this map, as we all have the opportunity to send them back to the drawing mapping board with our comments and suggestions.

I know this map will be useful in my work as a Toronto real estate agent. And I know I’ll refer to it often when I want to figure out exactly where I got lost on my latest bike ride throughout the City.

It’s irresistible! Let me know if you agree.

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175 Reasons to love Toronto – Toronto Star

Toronto gets this party started – National Post

Note: Be sure to check out the slide show “Toronto over the years”. I especially love the picture that shows a liquidation sale on Spadina Avenue; some things never change!

5 Things you need to know about: The city’s $250,000 celebration – National Post

Celebrating 175 Years – Globe and Mail

Toronto’s 175th Anniversary – City of Toronto web site

Toronto 175! – CityNews

And my contribution is “Are You Moving To Toronto? Check Out Lauren’s Top 10 List of Useful Things To Know!”

So tell me, why do you love Toronto?

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I especially loved the scene on the sailboat where Hubbell and his buddy J.J. played “The Best …” game (you know: best year, best touchdown, etc.). And Barbra Streisand didn’t sing on camera. Everyone wins!

Best Of Toronto

I think I’m addicted to “best” lists. It’s a fun way to find out about new places and things. It’s also a great way to find out who shares your opinion or who is sadly misguided (yes, reviewers, that would be every Top 10 Movies of the Year list).

Just wanted to alert you that Toronto.com has issued its 2008 Best In the City awards. Check out who and what makes up the City’s Best based on reader votes. Your vote, perhaps? My personal favourite is the Odds and Ends category: Best Way to Prove You’re a Torontonian, Best Place to Kill a Rainy Afternoon, etc.

Congratulations to this year’s winners, and I hope you enjoy the honour roll!

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Think you know which Toronto neighbourhoods have the greatest concentration of licensed pooches? Yeah, The Beaches, we’re looking at you!

Find out how your neighbourhood ranks by checking out Where the dogs are, Map of the Week’s latest gem.

In fact, just check it out period. Map of the Week is an amazing collection of maps that illustrate life in Toronto and the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). Those little markers can certainly tell a story.

And how interesting is that map on Toronto homicides? I can’t tell you the number of conversations I’ve had regarding the fact that, sadly, crime happens everywhere. The markers don’t lie! Yet, it’s unfortunate that some buyers will automatically rule out neighbourhoods that offer still-affordable housing, as well as multi-million dollar homes, simply because of a perception that crime only happens is these areas. Cuz I’m thinking those markers look a tad heavy in Toronto Central. I’m just saying.

Hope you enjoy the Map of the Week blog! And look for my upcoming Google Maps of various Toronto neighbourhoods. Will your neighbourhood be featured?

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Be sure to bring your appetite!

Yes, some of North America’s best ribbers are In The House and there will be great food for everyone. Ribbers are competing for “best ribs” and “best sauce”, with winners being announced daily.

Lots of music and singing; you’ll have a chance to become Scarborough Idol if that is your destiny. Enjoy the midway rides, skill-testing games and be sure to check out the unique wares offered by vendors and crafters.

Dates & Time:

Friday, August 1: 11:00 am to 11:00 pm
Saturday, August 2: 11:00 am to 11:00 pm
Sunday, August 3: 11:00 am to 11:00 pm
Monday, August 4: 11:00 am to 6:00 pm

Location:

Thomson Memorial Park (east side of Brimley Rd., north of Lawrence Ave.). For directions to the park, click here.

For complete details about Scarborough Rotary Ribfest 2008, click here.

But what you really need is … insider information. As a native Torontonian, I’m happy to oblige.

Before we begin, a nod to Dustin Luther of Rain City Guide, who inspired this post during his informative blogging seminars at this week’s Realtor Quest 2008, Canada’s largest real estate tradeshow. I go for the information, of course, but you’ve gotta love the trade booth jelly beans and bubble gum.

Useful Things To Know
About Moving To Toronto

And now I offer you my Top 10 Toronto jelly beans in no particular order of delicious:

1. Pronunciation is everything. How you pronounce the city’s name will identify you as a local, or not. A pronunciation of “toe-RON-toe” or “tuh-RON-toe” pegs you as a visitor. Locals have several slurry options such as “tuh-RON-oe” or “TRON-oe”. Mine’s in bold. But no matter how we say it, we all call it Home.
2. It takes 12 coats to live in Toronto. No kidding, I can’t stress this enough. On any given day, your coats and jackets will be either too warm or not warm enough. And you can’t prepare in advance, you’ll simply have to live in Toronto for a year and collect the outer wear that works for you as you go along. You can resist, but you WILL be a member of the “Coat of the Month” club.
3. The Leafs fall in the spring. No, not those leaves, the ones that lace up in the fall and break our hearts EVERY spring. It’s been 41 years since Lord Stanley’s Cup came home to Toronto; you wanna be a Maple Leafs fan, you’ve gotta want it bad. But, on the bright side, you will never be alone in Leafs Nation. Oh, what the heck: Go Leafs Go!!
4. Toronto is magnetic and attractive, and there’s a study that proves it. The Conference Board of Canada study looked at the features that magnetize or make cities attractive to workers. Because if you can’t attract, you struggle. Toronto scored an overall “A”, second only to some other city in the overall ranking of attractiveness. So if you’re not magnetic, you better be good looking; no bringing down our stats, eh!
5. Torontonians love their bikes. We must; there are over one million cyclists in the city. All wearing Spandex. If you’re into bikes, a great way to familiarize yourself with the City is to ride with the Toronto Bicycling Network (TBN). With over 900 members it’s Canada’s largest recreational cycling club. This club is serious about the cycling and serious about the fun. I’m a native Torontonian, and I’m amazed at some of the streets and trails I’ve discovered while on some of the rides.
6. Torontonians can’t stop talking about the weather. See Item #2. Master the following two mandatory phrases and you’ll be able to carry on a casual conversation anytime, anywhere: “It’s Not the Heat, It’s The Humidity” and “It’s Not The Cold, It’s The Damp”. My out-and-about observations indicate we can take the cold better than the heat, but that could just be my personal bias. Which reminds me of my Grade One teacher who said that Canadian children should be used to the cold and able to walk to school (as she pulled into the teacher’s parking lot in her Buick).
7. It always rains on Victoria Day.
8. Torontonians also talk about taxes. A lot. And with good reason. On a positive note, Toronto home owners pay the lowest residential property taxes in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and we get quite a bang for our buck. However, our lower tax rate causes upset in other areas, and plays into that whole Toronto as Centre of the Universe thing. On the downside, there is a newly-introduced Toronto municipal land transfer tax that has caused controversy. Toronto real estate agents lobbied aggressively against this tax, and we were able to get a break for first-time home buyers. If you are thinking of buying a house in Toronto and would like more information on these taxing matters, click here, here and here.
9. We’re no longer blase about the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). In the early days of the TIFF, we were pretty laid back about the actors and celebrities who’d show up to promote their work. The focus and interest related to the WORK. No big (or excessively big) fuss was made over the Hollywood stars; Torontonians took it all in stride and I kinda think the artists liked it that way. But today’s warped culture of celebrity has changed everything. So if you plan on taking in some of the festival events, be prepared to get caught up in some crazy.
10. Toronto is close to other interesting places. Drive about an hour-and-a-half in any direction (except due south, think about it!) and you will be in some of the most beautiful areas in the world: Niagara Falls, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Hockley Valley, Village of Elora, Kleinburg, Prince Edward County, and on and on. People come from around the world to enjoy the autumn colours and it’s right in our backyard.

You know what, we just MIGHT be the centre of the universe! What are you waiting for?? Start packing!

A bit of back story:

This list was conceived as a publicity ploy by the then little-known Lake Superior State University. Introduced in 1976, the banishment list is released on New Year’s Eve, traditionally a slow news day (sadly, perhaps not so much these days).

To participate, you nominate the word or phrase that you would most like to see purged from the language. The University accepts submissions (word plus reason for banishment) throughout the year and then publishes their annual list on New Year’s Eve.

Toronto Real Estate Blogger Salutes Personal Favourite

Yeah, you and I know the words and phrases; we’ve heard them, we’ve mentally rolled our eyes over more than a few, and perhaps embraced one or two as our very own. The list amuses, but I’ll admit I’m rather relieved when my most-used words and phrases don’t make an appearance in any given year.

In anticipation of the 2008 list, a salute to my personal favourite from 2007:

BOASTS — See classified advertisements for houses, says Morris Conklin of Lisboa, Portugal, as in “master bedroom boasts his-and-her fireplaces — never bathroom apologizes for cracked linoleum, or kitchen laments pathetic placement of electrical outlets”.

Heh! That hits home with this Toronto real estate blogger as I often wonder if real estate agents actually read some of their over-the-top listing descriptions. The thinking seems to be “Let’s include every tony phrase we’ve ever heard of whether or not it makes sense”. Phrases like, “the living room speaks to …”. Seriously? The living room can speak? Does the kitchen know? Or, “Escape to your backyard oasis …”. What? You will be held hostage in your own home at some point?

Are You a Toronto Word Watcher?

I hope you enjoy the list as much as I do. If you’d like to send me an email with your personal favourite from 2008, please do.

Have fun welcoming in the New Year, don’t drink and drive, and don’t forget that the TTC is offering free rides starting January 1 from 12:01 a.m. till 4:00 a.m.

And we all know that happens only once a year!

http://www.portorangejuice.com/2007/12/12/janis-gagliardi-port-orange-realtor-has-been-memed/

And Now Toronto Knows!  

Without further ado, here’s my not-too serious five:

I wear these boots in the winter. They are sensible shoes, the type of shoes I swore I would never, ever wear. They are my beloved Blunnies, the most famous Australian boots you’ve never heard of. I LOVE them. They are waterproof, comfortable, and I hope they last forever.

I saw Elvis Presley perform (I was kinda young!). I love his music to this day. It was a really fun evening, I’m glad I had the sense to seize the day and get on the bus.

I am very particular about the type of purse I carry. A friend nicknamed me Big Purse Lady; if it can’t hold my Starbucks mug, a sandwich, several apples, my latest book, camera, cell phone, and several pounds worth of loonies and toonies rattling around the bottom, it can’t be my purse.

I love to read, but everybody that knows me knows that.

I am addicted to television. When people say there’s nothing to watch on tv, my jaw drops in disbelief. When we were kids, families had only one tv in the house, so it was simply awful when the set had to go out for repairs. And it was always for a week. Longest week in my life!

Thanks, Janis, for asking me to come out and play!

So now I’m running through the snow in my Blunnies, looking for who to tag next and it’s:

Diana Blue at www.myrtlebeachwave.com

Sara Brosier at www.kunacountry.com

Denny Oh at www.sandiegoh.com