Second annual Jane's Walk

By Cecilia Nasmith

For the second year, Cobourg will be part of a global festival of free volunteer-led walking conversations known as Jane's Walk – after the writer, urbanist and activist who inspired them.

Jane Jacobs's seminal 1961 book The Death and Life of Great American Cities introduced ground-breaking ideas about how cities function and evolve that have become common sense for the architects, planners, policy makers, activists and city builders of today.

At Monday's council meeting, Dora Body expanded on the contributions of this visionary who moved to Toronto from New York in 1968 with a quote - “Cities have the capability of providing something for everybody…only because…and only when…they are created by everybody.”

The memorial Jane's Walk was begun in Toronto in 2006 by a group of her friends and colleagues as a way to honour her life and activate her ideas, held on the first weekend of May each year (to coincide with her date of birth on May 4, 1916). From 27 walks in Toronto the following year, it has become an international movement with more than 2,000 walks last year in 500 cities across 87 countries around the world, participants sharing stories and discovering unseen aspects of their communities and connecting with their neighbours.

That included two in Cobourg, on the history of Monk's Cove and the past and promise of Brookside. There will be four this year.

11 a.m. - Author and photographer John McQuarrie shares the history of the harbour and Victoria Park, starting at the Marina Building (103 Third St.).

1 p.m. - Sustainable Cobourg founder Gigi Ludorf-Weaver discusses Lessons in Sustainable Living in West Cobourg, starting at the clock tower on New Amherst Boulevard (in New Amherst Village).

2 p.m. - Filmmaker Micol Marotti discusses Cobourg in film and TV, starting at the Canadian Women in Film Museum (212 King St. W.).

3:30 p.m. - Body (Chair of the Ecology Gardeners) offers a program called Down by the Boardwalk: The Ecology Garden, West Beach and West Headland, starting at the Ecology Garden (116 Hibernia St.)

5 p.m. - Meet at Taps and Corks (70 King St. W.) to share stories of the day.

Participation is free, but registration is recommended – visit cobourg.ca/janeswalk

For more information about the walks, visit cobourg.ca/janeswalk