People bring Village Square Park and Main Street to life for First Thursdays

(Nicole Chilton-Jones with her son Reece. Photo Stittsville Central)

Thursday evening was a first for First Thursdays taking place in Stittsville thanks to Nicole Chilton-Jones introducing this new event to our community. In Chilton-Jones’ homeland of South Africa, the First Thursdays evenings were introduced to bring the community back to the city centre to support local artists, markets and restaurants while at the same time, solving the problem of crime in the core of communities.  The evenings are now being held in Cape Town and Johannesburg with much success.

Local residents turned out to Village Square Park to take in the outdoor market and activities taking place. Local businesses also participated by keeping their doors open later to allow residents to walk, shop and dine along Main Street.

(First Thursdays market at The Barn. Photo: Barry Gray)

(This is what fresh looks like. Photo: Barry Gray)

(Brenda – owner San Jose Foods. Photo: Stittsville Central)

There was a mini-market at The Barn with vendors and fresh produce being sold. Brenda, owner of San Jose Mexican Foods, was serving up her homemade tamales. Councillor Glen Gower held his ‘Councillor’s Chat’ and was giving tatoos to everyone with his new Stittsville slogan – ‘#GetInvolved‘. Garfield the cat at Re-Read Used Books played host by greeting customers as they came to browse and shop. Up the street at The Jack Ketch, the patio was crowded with patrons enjoying Kevin’s BBQ’d meals and Brew Revolution were on ‘tap’ serving up their brews for tasting before they open in July. Quitters was packed with barely a seat in the house and further up the street, JoJo’s Creameria were serving up cones for what could be said was a perfect summer evening to enjoy ice cream.

       (Clockwise – getting a tattoo, Councillor Gower having a chat with residents, vendors at the park and Brew Revolution serving up at The Jack Ketch. Photos: Barry Gray)

First Thursdays is a great occasion to bring community members together, make some new friends and to support our local businesses on the first Thursday of each month.

Nicole was pleased with the evening and now that summer is unfolding, “she has some other ideas on activities she will be bringing to this evening of community spirit”.

First Thursdays is unbound from a schedule or structured tour – you can plan your own agenda to take in the pleasures and treasures of Stittsville.