By John Bessai –
Every once in a while something surprising happens that brings a warm and fuzzy feeling all over—it may be getting a surprise birthday party or receiving a letter from an old friend. This is how Andrea Jackson of the Bathurst Quay Neighbourhood Association felt when a long-time neighbour made a commitment to help out.
The Westin Harbour Castle Hotel has graciously agreed to host the annual Great Waterfront Garage Sale on Aug. 29 in its Dockside 9 facility.
Catering sales manager Cielo Arena gave Jackson and the BQNA the good news.
“The garage sale is really the only event that includes the full waterfront community and both the York Quay Neighborhood Association and the Bathurst Quay Neighborhood Association, who work on this sale from early spring,” explained Jackson, who serves as treasurer for the BQNA. “We had lost our previous sale location and we were overjoyed that Arena arranged a room for us that opens directly to the lineups for the island ferries! We are hoping that this becomes a long term arrangement and a beneficial relationship between the Hotel and two neighborhood associations.”
Money raised from this event goes first and foremost to the neighborhood associations, and creates their annual operating budgets. “We are also hosting a raffle to donate money to ROOM 13 (www.room13.com) at the Harbourfront Community Centre. As well, any leftover items will be donated to the Ontario Federation for Cerebral Palsy, (www.ofcp.on.ca).
Sale organizers are accepting donations right up to the garage sale date: “Even if someone manages to bring in items during the sale—and we will take just about anything,” says Jackson. “We want chairs, couches, clothes, kitchen wares, music, books, sporting equipment, the list is as endless.”
“Our main goal is to sell everything we have but other than that we would like to make sure the community has an opportunity to connect with each other and showcase the people that live here to the rest of the city.”
To donate items please contact James Russell at james.russell@manksproductions.com or Andrea Jackson at andrea.l.jackson@hotmail.com and they will gladly arrange a time for drop off that is convenient.
The Great Waterfront Garage Sale will be held on Aug. 29 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Harbour Castle Westin (One Queens Quay W) in the Dockside 9 room. The entrance to the room is street level facing the park and the island ferry docks.
For more information, visit www.westintoronto.com, www.bqna.org, and www.yqna.ca.
The Westin Harbour Castle Hotel’s location is unique for Toronto’s main convention hotels and is Toronto’s landmark Waterfront Hotel. The Hotel has been an important fixture physically since 1972 drawing meetings, conventions and business from around the world to its 70,000 square foot facility with 977 rooms.
“We are green friendly, completely renovated, with our lobby powered by BullFrog, have the best gym facilities in Toronto with tennis and squash, pool, and outdoor patio. The hotel also has lots of meeting space in our attached convention centre and the hotel side meeting space comes with views over Lake Ontario as do all of our guestrooms,” stated Arena.