Glebe Annex ‘Party in the Park’ chilly but lively
Photos: Gabrielle Dallaporta
By Sue Stefko
In most articles about parties, yoga and other outdoor events hosted by the Glebe Annex Community Association (GACA), we note how lucky we were to have incredible weather. Sadly, this was not the case for our Party in the Park 2024. After a long spell of amazingly beautiful weather, Saturday, September 7, the planned party date, was dark, cold and rainy, with significant rainfall throughout the day. Fortunately, the next day, our planned rain date, was dry, although cool and windy. Temperatures topped out in the low teens, but with winds gusting to almost 50 km/hour, it felt colder. Of course, as luck would have it, the day after the party, the temperature rose back to around 30 and stayed there for the rest of the week!
However, partygoers did not let cool, windy weather dampen their enthusiasm, as more than 50 people coming out to enjoy the good food, the company of neighbours and the entertainment provided by magician Tyler. We were fortunate that our previous generous sponsors agreed to sponsor us again – Abbas Grocery, McKeen Metro, Loblaws Isabella, Massine’s Independent and the Farm Boy at Metcalfe. However, we were also thrilled to receive a grant from the City of Ottawa’s Civic Events funding program. This allowed us to put some special touches on this year’s event, including Tyler, who wowed the crowd with his strolling magic show. It also allowed us to offer some fancy desserts from the Nutty Greek Bakery and pizza from Farinella. While it was clear that our longstanding tradition of hot dogs and crepes could not be beat, the pizza and dessert were popular additions.
The grant was notable, as the only other time we received a grant from this program was in 2020, and we all know what didn’t happen in 2020 – parties! This year, we were relieved to both receive the grant and be able to use it. One upside of picking this particular weekend, we witnessed free flyovers of fighter jets that were at the AERO Gatineau-Ottawa Airshow! We tried to take credit, but sadly no one believed that we ordered them especially for GACA’s Party in the Park.
As always, our attendees ranged in age, background and length of time they had lived in the neighbourhood, ranging from a few days to decades. All were welcome, and all mingled seamlessly. People were able to catch up with old friends and to make some new ones. Bringing our community together is precisely the point of having such get-togethers and it is also one of GACA’s core mandates, so we consider this year’s party “mission accomplished.”
The Party in the Park kicked off a busy fall season for GACA, with a community clean-up occurring later in September and Halloween in the Park returning after it was met with overwhelming community enthusiasm in our inaugural launch last year! The Halloween event is not so much a party as much as an opportunity for GACA to create a spooky atmosphere, offer some Halloween treats and, weather permitting, invite the neighbourhood to come out and have photos taken at our outdoor photo booth. It was a huge hit last year, with more than 100 participants, including children, adults and pets. While we plan to hand out Halloween treats no matter what the weather, the photo booth is dependent on having no rain because of the sensitivity of the photographic equipment. However, we are confident and hopeful that we can get back on track with our near perfect weather record this Halloween night. We hope to see our community come out again in large numbers to share in the scary fun!
Sue Stefko is vice-president of the Glebe Annex Community Association and a regular Glebe Report contributor.