‘Forgotten places, ordinary places’
Urban
tering by the elements — to retain vestiges of their former selves, explained Kerry Delaney, the group’s assistant organizer.
“ These are, indeed, forgotten places, ordinary places that were perhaps paid no notice during the time of their use,” said Delaney, 31, a provincial civil servant.
“ It’s great to see the history of these buildings. You never know what you’ll find when you go into some of these places.” The group originally formed in cyberspace on meetup.com, a site where people with similar interests meet. Interested in meeting new people, Hoy came upon the site in February and discovered there were a handful of others like herself who enjoyed venturing into the unknown. But they weren’t an active group, so she began organizing monthly outings to give members a chance to explore Toronto’s urban landscape.
Since the inaugural outing when five people braved the ice floes of Lake Ontario on the ferry and wandered through Ward’s Island in winter, membership has swelled to more than 250, and the group has ventured as far as Buffalo and Parry Sound.
Despite the group’s size, there are typically only about 30 per outing. The group meets twice monthly, once for an outing and then again for a social gathering, often at local bars, where members swap pictures and plan their next destination. The group is an eclectic mix of people between the ages of 18 and 40. Among them are students, artists, film producers, civil servants and a science journalist. The reasons they have for joining are as varied as the members themselves, but there is one common thread: the desire to experience something beyond the everyday and to seek out the world and explore a corner of it that most people only glimpse in passing. But unlike some other urban exploration groups, often referred to simply as UE, this one isn’t guided by the drive to “ infiltrate” or trespass, said Hoy, pointing out this group really is about exploration. No one’s ever been hurt or charged on any of the outings. But there are some members who show up for outings with much more than the recommended flashlight and steeltoed boots.
Stuart Urquhart, 26, one of the more hard- core members whose gear includes a respirator and two- way radios, said he’s driven by the desire to “ go places people normally won’t go.” One of the photos in the exhibit shows Urquhart in a gas mask entering one of the morgues of the Whitby psychiatric facility from an underground tunnel.
“ That was one of the most dangerous,” said Urquhart, a warehouse worker who also does outings with other UE groups. “ I was walking through the tunnel and there were steam pipes on either side and support beams holding it up.”
Urquhart, who was in the reserves for two years, shrugs when asked why he does it.
“ There’s a drive in me to explore,” he said, smiling. “ I like doing things I’m not supposed to, something where there’s an element of danger.” Information about joining the group is available at www.urbanexplor.