Old Town appreciates Esplanade decorations

After years of seeing The Esplanade between Parliament and Jarvis Streets looking forlorn during the Holiday Season, surrounded with the dazzle of the Toronto Christmas Market and festive decorations on a few streets north, I did not want to see yet another year of the “dark tunnel.”

Requests for festive decorations were answered with the explanation that no funds were available for this area.” It was time to take action and that included forming the Decorations for The Esplanade Committee.

First stop was going to Ginkgo’s Floral. 222 The Esplanade, to inquire about a decoration for the posts. The owner, Wolf Koenig, put together a beautiful holiday wreath and was kind enough to give us a discount.

The committee, with a package in hand that included a picture of the decoration on the post, began knocking on doors. We emphasized that each donation would receive a decorative sign noting their business.

I am pleased to say that we exceeded our expectations, with the hard work of the committee and Wolf’s wreath. At last, The Esplanade was part of the Holiday Season. Thank you to all the businesses and individuals for their donations. We’ll be back next year—bigger and better!

— Susan Bates