City gears up to celebrate all things local on 519 Day
More businesses and groups are adding their creative ideas and support to Friday’s celebration of all things Windsor — 519 Day.
For music and arts fans, the Part Art, Part Party event in the downtown art alley behind Five Ten (510 Pelissier St.) begins at 5:19 p.m., and Elite Piano Studios (3315 Banwell Rd.) is hosting a free concert at 7:30 p.m.
WindsorEats is hosting a Friday Night Lights free evening bike ride/pub crawl that departs from Willistead Park at 8 p.m. On Ouellette Avenue downtown, Toasty’s Grilled Cheese and Salad Bar is selling its original grilled cheese sandwich for $5.19, and the Windsor-themed products at Pushers will be 30 per cent off.
Organizers say 519 Day — cel- ebrated on May 19 in reference to Windsor’s 519 area code — is a celebration of Windsor and its local businesses.
“It’s a day to say, hey, celebrate!” said Yvonne Pilon, president and CEO of WEtech Alliance. “There’s always reason to celebrate.”
To help the City of Windsor celebrate its 125th birthday, BB Branded is giving out “WIN CITY” onesies to Windsor’s May 19 newborns. Gabriel Zajar, the newborn son of Joseph and Andrea Zajar, joined the party Thursday when he was seen modelling the custom outfit at Windsor Regional Hospital’s met campus.
Begun years ago as an art party on Maiden Lane, Pilon said 519 Day “snowballed” into this year’s larger event.
“We don’t celebrate our local companies — we can never celebrate them enough,” said Pilon. “This is just another day to just bring people together to showcase some new businesses.”
Detroit’s 16-person, pedal-powered pub on wheels, the HandleBar, will be giving away a free ride and tour of Detroit to the winner of a social media contest hosted by 519 Day organizers.
“Detroit has reached out to us,” Pilon said. “As Canadians, we’ve embraced Detroit a lot, and it’s nice to see Detroit embrace us.” It should be a big weekend. “We’ve got a long weekend, the Memorial Cup, Windsor’s birthday and, in addition, we’re celebrating 519,” Pilon said. “I imagine the downtown streets will be packed.”