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News 2008
From the December 2008 Newsletter:
WINTER CAMPFIRES
In winter there are lots of birthday-and-skating parties, at the rink-side campfire near the smaller bake-oven. The rink house can’t be booked for birthday parties – it’s open for everybody, not permitted out privately – and even the campfire circle is not closed to drop-ins when there’s a party. Even so, a campfire-and-skating party seems to work very well for celebrations. To book a campfire by the rink, or at the two other park campfire sites, speak to the recreation staff at the rink house, or e-mail staff@dufferinpark.ca.
From the November 2008 Newsletter:
Thursday November 13, 6 - 7 p.m. World Town Planning Day campfire and meeting
Urban planning students Katherine Sparkes and Eldon Theodore have set up a park campfire meeting for planners, to discuss how Dufferin Grove Park evolved into a park where people can often meet around food. Other park users interested in the topic are welcome to drop in to the campfire and contribute. Do you think the park has too much going on in it? Let the urban planners hear your views.
From the October 2008 Newsletter:
CAMPFIRES
In October there are two small-group campfire locations – centre path and south path. The centre path fire circle is in the middle of the park, and the south path fire circle is beside the cob courtyard. The park’s recreation staff book the cooking fire times. They also give fire safety training and are available to help start/end your fire. You can reach them at 416-392-0913 or email staff@dufferinpark.ca.
CELOS regularly maintains and provides grills, a cast-iron stand (if you want to cook more than marshmallows or hot dogs on a stick), pots and pans for campfire permits. Suggested donation of $10 for upkeep. Park staff will give you water, pails, and a shovel. You have to bring your own wood and be quiet and respectful of park neighbours.
From the August 2008 Newsletter:
CAMPFIRES
For the summer and fall, there are two small-group campfire locations – centre path and south path. The centre path fire circle is in the middle of the park, and the south path fire circle is beside the cob courtyard. The park’s recreation staff book the cooking fire times. They also give fire safety training and are available to help start/end your fire. You can reach them at 416-392-0913 or email staff@dufferinpark.ca.
CELOS regularly maintains and provides grills, a cast-iron stand (if you want to cook more than marshmallows or hot dogs on a stick), pots and pans for campfire permits. Suggested donation of $10 for upkeep. Park staff will give you water, pails, and a shovel. You have to bring your own wood and be quiet and respectful of park neighbours.
From the January 2008 Newsletter
WINTER CAMPFIRES
So far this year there haven’t been many campfires with hot chocolate beside the rink, to keep warm by when it’s too full in the rink house. The staff had to stop making them when they became a hangout for bored youth with various kinds of trouble-making on their minds. They’ll try again now that the holidays have come and gone. Birthday skating parties can book campfires (since no party can book the inside of the rinkhouse – too crowded). Get in touch with rink staff (staff@dufferinpark.ca, or 416 392-0913, or talk to them in person) at least 48 hours before you want your campfire – that’s the rule since last year’s proliferation of formal protocols.
It’s been exactly a year since Parks supervisor Peter Leiss suspended all campfires and then re-instated them with a much more complicated protocol that has added layers of bureaucracy. There are 171 e-mail exchanges about the campfire struggle, posted on the “problems and follow-up section” of the dufferinpark.ca web site, and there may be many more internal ones that park users never saw. All this for a procedure which is almost identical to what has worked well for 13 years!
When CELOS asked to see the draft protocols and the internal e-mails that resulted in so much extra bureaucracy, they were told it would cost them $1700 for staff to get that information out. Another appeal to the Provincial Commissioner, sigh….