A final farewell, embracing the future
The Centre for Social Innovation hosting Honest Ed’s goodbye bash
A group of volunteers had a mission when they got keys to the city’s most famous bargain department store in the first week of February.
Toronto For Everyone didn’t want to just throw the “first, last and only farewell” to Honest Ed’s as we knew it. The group wanted to imagine what inclusive city building could look like moving forward.
Honest Ed’s “was one of the first businesses in the city that thought about how to incorporate philanthropy,” said #TO4E co-producer Hima Batavia, 32.
“A big part of it is, yes, saying goodbye to a physical building, but how do we bring those values forward?”
It was more than a store but a place that welcomed everyone, said co-producer Negin Sairafi, 31. “How can we extract that, bottle it and use it throughout our city building in the future?”
These are just a few of the questions being explored during the event’s eclectic programming, which runs Feb. 23 to 26.
“We’re in the mad-dash stage,” says Adil Dhalla of the Centre for Social Innovation, which is bringing more than 300 volunteers and 40 artists together to host the bash and city-building experiment as part of the Toronto For Everyone project, before the building is demolished.
The event launches Thurs. Feb. 23 with the Ed Lives! opening night party, featuring an open bar, food and live sign painting by the original Honest Ed’s sign painter, Douglas Kerr.
Tickets are $259, with proceeds going to a just-announced Toronto For Everyone Fund.
Dhalla says monies raised will “support education for people who want to learn about how to be an ally for marginalized communities” and to support those who are working to make Toronto the most inclusive city in the world.
As for the other programming, it will be a busy weekend with thousands of Torontonians expected to take one last look at a living urban legend.
Giving fresh meaning to Ed’s old slogan “come in and get lost,” a free, immersive art maze will take over the west building.
Art, dance, film and installation plans have been started in earnest as the days wind down to the big show. Dance performances by Kaeja d’Dance will take over the sign maker’s studio and executive offices on the third floor, while an interactive “opera of light” from Dreamwalker Dance Company will illuminate most of the second floor.
The Soft City, a local collective known for their plush cityscapes, will be building a big, felt Toronto to play with as well.
Six multi-disciplinary artists have also created what they’re dubbing an Ed’s-hibition or an “installation experience” created during a weeklong residency in the space, which will include a true-to-life, lit-up marquee.
“It’s not every day that artists get to come together and collaborate in one of the most iconic buildings in our city,” said artist-in-residence Romana Kassam, who is one part of “The Honest Six.”
Over the course of all four days, a “town hall for all” Community Hub has invited more than 50 individuals and organizations to animate discussions on city building, bike lanes, gentrification, diversity and displacement in Toronto.”
In true Toronto form, a speakers’ corner will be there to capture footage and fans.
That’s just a taste of what’s happening. More information on all programming and tickets to the event are available through torontoforeveryone.com.