The Village Timeline
Dorothy and a Munchkin at the Village's first outdoor street social and film screening, September 9, 2008
2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011
2006
February – GLBT Open House with Diane Holmes and Bank Street reconstruction planners and designers. Approximately 50-60 people in attendance, expressing a clear mandate for a Village area along Bank Street. Glenn Crawford volunteers to be a representative for the GLBT community at Public Advisory Committee meetings.
2007
June – Creation of an online survey to better understand and amass the GLBT community’s vision for a Village, including such questions as, do we need a Village, what would we call it, how would we make it more visible, and what services are currently lacking in the area. Over 350 fill out the survey.
June – Creation of a Facebook group for support of the Village, with well over 500 members.
June 27 – First Public Advisory Committee (PAC) meeting held for Bank Street reconstruction (Laurier to Somerset). Ricky Barnes and Glenn Crawford attended and presented a document that outlines the goals of the Initiative and the initial results of the online Village survey.
Summer 2007 – consultation with Glenn Crawford and Williamson Consulting Inc. regarding the concerns of the of the GLBT community in terms of the Bank Street reconstruction.
August 26 – First presence in Pride Parade, with approximately 25 people walking with the “Village People”. Large “protest” signs created that spelled out “The Village” and expressed reasons why the community should support the Village. Highly successful and popular for publicity.
November 22 – Second Public Advisory Committee (PAC) meeting held for Bank Street reconstruction (Laurier to Somerset). Glenn Crawford attended and presented a revised version of the Village document and the final results of the online Village survey.
2008
January 8 – Third Public Advisory Committee (PAC) meeting held for Bank Street reconstruction (Laurier to Somerset). Ricky Barnes and Glenn Crawford attended and discussed specific issues such as banners and noted that the City’s presentation included opportunities to include such branding for the Village.
March 18 – Public Open House with Bank Street plans (Laurier to Somerset) unveiled – approx. 250 GLBT people show up to ask why there was no GLBT representation in the plans, with another 80-90 people filling out a sign-up sheet expressing their support for a Village.
April 25 – First Queer Spelling Bee fundraiser for the Village collects $370 for the Village, with a full house at Shanghai.
May 08 – Meeting with Diane Holmes’ office to discuss strategy for Village after the Open House and the news that the BIA would put a vote to their membership regarding creating a Village
May 28 – First meeting of the Art Selection Committee for the Public Art bike rack designs to be chosen that will be manufactured and placed along Bank Street. Disappointing lack and quality of GLBT entries.
Summer 2008 – “Purple sticker” campaign launched to approach local businesses and organizations and to encourage them to show support for the Village. At least 20-30 businesses put up stickers, and others were supportive, but a more active volunteer base was needed to mobilise the effort.
June 6 – Bee2: the second Queer Spelling Bee fundraiser, brings in about $250 for the Village. At least 50 in attendance.
June 17 – Second and final meeting of the Art Selection Committee for the Public Art bike rack designs to be chosen that will be manufactured and placed along Bank Street. Only two or three of the thirty final designs could be said to represent the GLBT community.
July 24 – Press release from Bank Street BIA that they will not support the creation of a Village at this time, citing that they want to see branding occurring from the bottom up.
July 3 – Meeting with the Public Art Program to discuss future opportunities for GLBT-themed public art along Bank Street.
August 15 – Bee3: Third Queer Spelling Bee raises another $130 for the Village (half the proceeds went to Pride)
August 24 – Second presence in Pride Parade. $3,000 in sponsorship is raised to offset costs of printing Village t-shirts, stickers and promo-cards that were sold during Pride. About 60 persons walked in the parade and over $1,800 was raised in sales.
September 09 – Wizard of Oz sing-along street social raises over $1,000 with over 200 in attendance. Event forced off Bank Street onto Gilmour due to complaints from Bank Street BIA and Hartman’s. Collected $325 in sponsorship from Scotiabank, whose manager sits on the BIA.
September 18 – First meeting for the Village Initiative Committee.
October 30 – First Public Advisory Committee (PAC) meeting held for Bank Street reconstruction (Somerset to Catherine). Glenn Crawford attended and discussed concerns over lack of banner opportunities, and other options that could be considered.
November 01 – HallowQueen3 fundraiser for Pride and the Village. About $650 in profit raised for the Village, with over 250 in attendance.
December 02 – Second meeting for the Village Initiative Committee.
December 03 – Public Open House with Bank Street plans (Somerset to Catherine) unveiled – community encouraged to skip meeting.
2009
January 06 – Third Village Committee meeting. Meetings follow monthly on first Tuesday or Wednesday of month consistently throughout 2009. Board members include Bruce Bursey (secretary), Ian Capstick (business relations), Glenn Crawford (chair, communications), Hershel Kagan (treasurer), Hayley MacPhee (volunteer coordinator), Marcus McCann (vice-chair, sponsorship) and Bonnie McDougall (community relations).
March 17 – Bonnie McDougall and Glenn Crawford attend CCCA meeting to discuss the Village in the hopes of securing their endorsement for the Village. Some questions raised, but overwhelmingly positive support for most members.
March 20 – Queer Quarrel (Family Feud spoof) fundraiser held at Shanghai Restaurant with China Doll. Dixie’s Drag Divas versus The Ottawa Knights Leather Lovers. Raised approx. $200 for the Village.
April 14 – Build Our Bank event held at Café Paradiso. First gala event for the Village raises awareness and approx. $2,000. Covered in Citizen’s event pages. Overwhelming positive feedback for event. Performances by the Sexual Overtones, Dan Valin, Glenn Nuotio and DJ Jason Pelletier, with appearances by China Doll and the Ottawa Knights.
April 29 – 11th annual Taste for Life. Village Committee members hosted in five different restaurants in the Village area and raised just over $5,400 in individual donations alone for Bruce House and the Snowy Owl AIDS Foundation.
Early May – CCCA board votes to officially endorse the Village. “As the Centretown Citizens’ Community Association (CCCA) celebrates its 40th anniversary, it continues to pride itself in its support of a vibrant and diverse community in Ottawa’s Centretown”, says Shawn Menard, President of the CCCA. “The Association and the Village share a common goal in making our community inclusive and welcoming to all. We look forward to helping the Village becomes a reality.”
May 28 – Swirl and Twirl 6 held at City Hall. Village one of four benefiting charities and raised over $2,000 for the Village, despite less ticket sales than previous event.
June 15 – Glenn Crawford installs rainbow window decals along all windows on both Somerset and Bank Street at the Second Cup. First ever Village-sponsored rainbow signage.
June 24-25 – Two flags are installed on the corner of Bank and Gilmour on the façade of Bridgehead Coffeehouse, organized by the Village. These are the first rainbow flags installed in the Village area with the Village Committee’s support.
July 6 – Window decals installed on windows of After Stonewall—the third Village-sponsored rainbow signage in the area.
August 8 – Out Ottawa Golfing Group’s 3rd annual Charity Scramble Golf Tournament benefits the Village and the Mood Disorders Ottawa.
August 19 – Gay-ting Game spoof of 70’s game show, The Dating Game, with China Doll and Glenn (Gay Smiley) Crawford. Small amount raised for the Village and for Capital Pride.
August 25 – The Village installs a third rainbow flag, this one on the Lisgar façade of YSB’s Young Men’s Emergency Drop-in Centre. YSB organizes a press conference, with YSB’s Alex Munter, The Village’s Ian Capstick, and a young gay man who had lived at the drop-in speaking to the press about the importance of the flag as a symbol of safety, acceptance and inclusion.
August 30 – The Village does Pride. Third consecutive presence in Pride parade, with official Village banner, 2009 Village t-shirts and 30-40 walkers. Village sells 2009 Village t-shirts as well as 2008 wearable stickers.
September 10 – Mamma Mia sing-along street social – Village’s 2nd annual outdoor film screening, takes place on Gilmour between Bank and Derby Streets.
September 25 – Village installs an outdoor leather pride flag on façade of Wicked Wanda’s, the first of its kind in Ottawa.
October 7 – Marcus McCann and Hayley MacPhee step down from Village Committee. Lee Callan (volunteer coordinator) and Jenn Farr (public art) join committee.
Late October – Venus Envy installs a rainbow flag above their front door, with assistance from the Village. This is the fourth and final rainbow flag installed by the Village in 2009.
November 3 – Nick Sont joins Village Committee as new events coordinator. Jenn Farr steps down as public art coordinator in late November due to health concerns.
Late November – Bank Street BIA installs “Better than Ever” dark blue banners on every lamppost along Bank from Wellington to the Queensway. Signs are very difficult to read, hard to see and easily damaged from wind. After less than a month, many banners have fallen off or ripped from wind damage.
November 24 – Window decals installed on the doors of Silver Snail Comic Ltd. A windsock was later purchased and placed in their front window. This makes three locations with the 6” tall rainbow decals in the Village area.
December 5 – Village sponsors Gallery 101 event, 101 Frames: Pride, by purchasing 10 tickets at $10 each, and donates tickets to valued volunteers and sponsors.
December 14 – Gerry LePage of Bank Street BIA contacts Glenn Crawford of the Village, the first contact the two have had since approximately two years. LePage expresses concern about the BIA’s failed banner campaign and expresses an interest to work with the Village on a new campaign in the spring.
December 15 – XL: 40 XLent Years – Village chair, Glenn Crawford, celebrates his 40th birthday party at Mercury Lounge. Over $100 raised for the Village, with over 100 attendees, DJ’s and karaoke.
2010
January 22 – Bash’d Bash – The Village teamed up with Lambda Foundation and Toto Too Theatre to sell tickets and host a charity cocktail party after this special performance of the off-Broadway smash “rap opera”. Sold out event with over $650 in proceeds going to each of the three charities. Paul Dewar, MP was a special host, and the two playwrights/actors joined the party after the performance.
February 3 - Window decals installed on the top of the storefront windows of One In Ten, and also along the bottom of the door to Gallery 101, bringing a total of five locations with the 6” tall rainbow decals in the Village area.
February 8 – The Village hosts its first annual Village People Appreciation Party for valued volunteers, sponsors and supporters at the Buzz Restaurant. Approximately 25 people attend, including Paul Dewar, MP Ottawa Centre and Diane Holmes, Councillor Somerset Ward. Gerry LePage of the Bank Street BIA RSVP’s but does not attend.
February 18 - Glenn Crawford, Kerry Beckett, Grant Cobb and others invited to form a banner subcommittee advisory panel for the Bank Street BIA after the first banners they installed in November 2009 were ill-designed and destroyed by wind damage. After two-to-three meetings held to advise the BIA on what to include in their second set of banners, the meetings ceased to continue and as of June 2011, no new banners have ever been installed.
March 9 – First planning meeting for a Bank Street Grand Re-opening party held by Bank Street BIA, with members from community groups, City council, police and emergency staff, businesses and the Village in attendance. Date set for party is Sunday, August 22 during Capital Pride’s opening weekend.
April 15 – Build Our Bank 2 held at Café Paradiso. Approximately 80 attendees enjoy performances by Fabien Malenson, Carmina, the Sexual Overtones, DJ Jason Pelletier and a live auction with MC Kerry Beckett. Tickets sales, monies received from the auction and a title sponsorship by Character Salon help the Village raise over $2,000 in profit from the event.
May 17 – Stroked Ego opens on Bank Street between Nepean and Lisgar Streets. Store offers customers home décor and accessories, shaving products, cufflinks, underwear and men’s fashion accessories such as ties, belts and hats.
July 7 - Email sent to Grand Re-opening party organizers, including the Village and Capital Pride, that the BIA, after months of planning, is suddenly changing the date of the party from August 22 to the 15th. After a Special Events Action Team (SEAT) meeting, where it was clear the BIA was not prepared to run the event, the board decided to cancel the event indefinitely, to the frustration of everyone involved.
July 29 – New rainbow flag installed at the 415 Gilmour building on the corner of Bank and Gilmour Streets. The co-op residential building is owned by Centretown Citizens Ottawa Corporation.
August – Centretown Community Health Centre unveils a set of murals decorating the building’s outdoor pillars. Directly beneath their sign, a small rainbow flag is painted amongst other signs of peace and diversity.
August – PTS receives two rainbow flags that they eventually install in their windows on the Imperial Building at the corner of Bank and Cooper Streets.
August 15 – Window of Wilde’s smashed by Richard Cormier in response to a sign saying” Put a smile in your ass with our anal douches.” Wilde’s owner harassed by Cormier and receives little support of response from police or community. Chair Glenn Crawford contacts David Pepper of the Ottawa Police Service to see if something can be done to speed up the process of a possible restraining order.
August 29 – Capital Pride parade 2010. The Village leads the parade with Chair Glenn Crawford, who was selected as Grand Marshal of the parade. During the parade, which included a rainbow-coloured VW wagon, large bundles of rainbow coloured balloons, drag queens and kings and other Village supporters, the prototype Village signs are introduced to the public for the first time. During the outdoor festival and info fair, attendees are given an opportunity to vote on the street signs, with almost 500 ballots filled. Another 650+ votes were gathered online.
September 16-23 – A prototype Village street sign is temporarily installed by the City of Ottawa on the north-west corner of Bank and Gilmour Streets. Ballot boxes are placed in Bridgehead Coffeehouse, One in Ten and the Second Cup where the public and store owners could vote on whether they support the signs or not.
October 01 - Village’s third film screening held in Jack Purcell Community Centre after delays due to inclement weather on original screening date of September 16. Attendance low due to confusion about the postponement, though attendees enjoyed the BBQ and screening of Priscilla regardless.
October 25 - Ottawa elects Jim Watson as Mayor, who has openly supported the Village designation. Councillor Diane Holmes retains her seat for Somerset Ward.
November 10 – Chair Glenn Crawford meets with Councillor Diane Holmes to discuss results of City of Ottawa street sign survey. Despite the overwhelming support of almost 1,200 respondents, compared to only 30 no votes, no firm decision to install the signs permanently has been made by Holmes, mainly due to concerns of an additional survey being conducted by the Bank Street BIA.
November 19 – First meeting with Village members and representatives from organizations and individuals from or serving the HIV/AIDS community to plan a multi-year project to design, create and fund an AIDS Memorial in Ottawa. Sub-committee members for the memorial include David Hoe, Christiane Bouchard, Ron Chaplin, Jay Koornstra, Barry Deeprose, Richard Naster and Michael Burtch.
November-December – Shore-Tanner and Associates begins survey of Bank Street businesses asking about a theoretical bike lane on Bank Street and the Village designation, as a response to the City of Ottawa’s survey, which showed overwhelming support for the Village. Bike lane topic is raised first, despite the fact that the City of Ottawa has never intended to create a bike lane along Bank Street, only on Laurier Avenue. The Village discussion is described as “controversial” by the surveyor even before the subject is broached, and no discussion or explanation about the street signs, which is the only measure the Village has asked for, is brought up.
November-December – Store owners from One in Ten and after Stonewall receive bizarre anonymous letters, purported to be from local churches and written by Jesus Christ, condemning all homosexuals for their “sinful lifestyle”. All the churches named denounce the letters.
2011
January 8 - The Village teams up with Gallery 101 to show screenings of the short film “A Fire in My Belly” by David Wojnarowicz, after the film was removed from the Smithsonian Institute’s groundbreaking exhibit of art documenting the GLBT civil rights movement and people in the United States, due to pressure from religious and right-wing groups and politicians. Crowds were much larger than expected and a third screening had to be added to the evening to allow everyone to see it. Most attendees were puzzled by the controversy created by the right-wing after seeing the film.
January 18 – The second annual Village People Appreciation Party held at the Buzz Restaurant. Attendees include Dixie Landers, Diane Holmes and several other volunteers, sponsors and supporters.
February – Three new rainbow flags are installed on the second floor of the building on the north-west corner of Bank and Cooper Streets that is the new location for One In Ten and Scottie’s Spot. Both stores also ask for the Village’s rainbow-striped window decals. Scottie’s Spot part-owner Wayne Robinson is quoted in Xtra Ottawa that sales have doubled since the flags were installed.
February - The Village’s Ian Capstick voted Xtra Ottawa’s Political Activist of the Year.
February – Stroked Ego receives an LED light from the Village as a new, innovative way to show their rainbow colours.
February 22 – 2nd AIDS Memorial meeting. Discussion centred around a plan of action from Debbie Hill at City Hall, which outlined many points where decisions surrounding the project will need to be made, including location, funding, design concept and a call to artists, etc.
March 23 – Barry Nabatian presents the results of the survey he conducted on behalf of the Bank Street BIA, which cost approximately $50,000. Out of 76 businesses in the Village area surveyed, 14 support the Village, 39 oppose it, and 23 are “indifferent”. Patrick Gauch of Rogers Video, Councillor Diane Holmes and Glenn Crawford all question the results and how the survey was conducted. Questions raised were why the survey was deemed necessary, why an additional question of a theoretical bike lane was added, whether businesses understood what the Village was asking for and why the topic was discussed as “controversial” even before the subject was raised. Gauch and Kevin Martin of Stroked Ego become full BIA members, and Martin also is created BIA Liaison for the GLBT community.
March 29 – 3rd AIDS Memorial meeting. Lise Turpin of the Snowy Owl AIDS Foundation announced as Co-Champion. Further discussions around possible locations, budgeting, name and logo.
April 20 – Meeting with Chair Glenn Crawford, Jay Koornstra and Jo VanEvery to discuss ways to begin funding for AIDS Memorial. Concepts discussed included conducting a feasibility study, hiring someone to scout for locations, hiring someone for corporate sponsorship and/or grant writing, etc.
May 12 – Build Our Bank 3 – The Village’s third gala event, held at Café Paradiso. Entertainment includes Karen Oxorn, Marcie Campbell, DJ Ashley Gauthier and the EgoMen as servers in colourful underwear. Live auction raises over $600 in donations alone. BIA members Kevin Martin, Stephen Tanner and executive director Gerry LePage attend for the first time, along with Diane Holmes.
May 25 – Chair Glenn Crawford attends a “Diversity” mural meeting at the BIA office. Mural design for the south-facing side of Staples on Bank and Waverley by Mirage Murals presented, which includes a large rainbow flag and a lesbian couple with a child on the upper right-hand portion of the design.
May 25 – Marroush International Shwarma, located beside The Flamingo Bar, becomes newest recipient of the Village’s rainbow-striped window decals.
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