Did you need another reason to love living in Waterloo Region? How about the completely awesome Grand Porch Party that lit up a core neighbourhood Sunday afternoon with something like 33(!) music acts? Dreamt up and made real by Tenille Bonoguore and supported by her husband Tony Reinhart and no doubt lots of other volunteers, this totally free event really blew my hair back.
There were a lot of people taking over the streets.
Loved the chalk.
Serious neighbourhood participation.
Loved Silvia Dee + The Boyfriend…
on Menno St.
+1 for Hank Williams covers.
Bravo to the sponsors! Would love to see “The City of Waterloo” in this list. Did we get on board?
Richard Garvey playing to the shaded crowd.
Tenille designed these really cool shirts. I gotta find one of the man-sized white ones locally. Just couldn’t haul it around with the cameras too.
Couldn’t find names for these happy guitar players anywhere. Fill me in readers: they were at 69 Roslin.
People, of all ages…
and porches of all descriptions. Glen Soulis (and pal) at 53 Menno St. I could be totally missing on the credits here. Realized today I’ve mostly shot indoors, low (but even) light events. Super-photo-challenge today to shoot mixes of bright sunshine and deep shade. Aperture Priority and Manual today, just trying to get something usable. No ND filters, but I reckon they don’t help in radically mixed light levels anyway.
Sam Nabi at 34 Menno. Hey, many of the performers are listed here, so you click through to their sites and buy their stuff.
Meta! Caught H. shooting pics, which through some unknown series of events were deleted.
31 degrees Celsius today, no rain. Beautiful.
Failte & Company were playing 62 Euclid…
and sounded…
great.
Funny to think that tomorrow, this bustle…
will be replaced by this quiet, but what remains is my new appreciation for this great neighbourhood. That, and the affirmation (and I rarely use that word) that a small group of people can make a really positive impact in the community. Thanks for the invite, Tony.
Happy making,
DW
You are awesome. These pics are gorgeous.
What a wicked Sunday!!
H.
Thanks for the comment, H. Much appreciated.
DW
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Great photos Darin. Sorry I missed seeing you for our regular community event chat!
And you know what…I have to admit, I got a little squirmy about your wish to see the City of Waterloo among the list of sponsors. To me, the beauty of this event is that it is dreamed, organized, led, coordinated, hosted, promoted, loved and beloved by citizens and neighbours who just want to do cool stuff in their neighbourhood with and for others. I love the simplicity and freedom that comes with a non-corporate event.
We’ve become so dependent on outside supports that we’ve forgotten how to do real community led and community led initiatives anymore. I wholeheartedly support the Grand Porch Party in keeping it real.
I know the City is supportive of the event and helped out in creative ways, but the best thing the City of Waterloo can do for the Grand Porch Part is…. let it be.
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