Comments on The Burd Report: I hope the rain keeps away today

Thank you Deb for at least responding honestly to ...

2009-08-09T21:36:26.276-04:00

Thank you Deb for at least responding honestly to my Sidewalk Sale response. As for your admission that your judgment of the event is based on what it was 5 years ago, I do suggest that perhaps your critique of it may be somewhat out of date and you might be surprised by what it offers now.

Nevertheless, all comments and particularly suggestions are more than welcome because I am encouraging the events committee to reinvent this event based more on what customers would like to see than what works from a logistics point of view. So let 'er rip!

I'm a little late responding to Manfred's ...

2009-08-09T11:51:52.860-04:00

I'm a little late responding to Manfred's challenge, and I don't have much to suggest either. While I used to eagerly look forward to the event, I don't think I've attended now for at least 5 years.

Blame that mostly on a bad back although it hasn't kept me away from the Roseneath Fair, where I take my grand girls without fail each and every year. Can't really compare the two events, but I know at Roseneath the midway and the farm animals are both big draws for our family and the sidewalk sale doesn't have either.

I think the merchants here deserve a lot of credit for keeping it going. I'm sure it must be a huge amount of work and it seems to rain every year which can't help.

But if it was more lively, with a few rides for the kids, and good bands playing a variety of music like at the Harvest festival, that would be a start. Buskers maybe, with jugglers, magic acts for the kids, some Punch and Judy type plays, that sort of thing.

Having worked on the even in past years, and knowi...

2009-08-02T16:47:53.023-04:00

Having worked on the even in past years, and knowing the full range of complaints that besiege the organizers, it's no wonder that the event has morphed into what is is at this time.

The problem, as I perceive it, is that the organizers direct most of their efforts to satisfying the concerns of the participants rather than actually defining the event to address their target, the shoppers. In part, that's because their target is so varied in its expectations, that go from one extreme to the other, it becomes almost impossible to satisfy any one segment without antagonizing another.

So I ask you, Deb, what do you recommend? What would your plans for the event encompass? The organizers are all ears and I will certainly pass on your assessments and vision for inclusion in next years discussions. Heck, if you want to make a personal pitch, I'd even arrange that because that would make a good start at addressing customer satisfaction. Feel free to respond right here.

Of course "music" is a very subjective t...

2009-08-02T10:58:41.748-04:00

Of course "music" is a very subjective topic, until we can agree on a "Cobourg Genre" we should ban it all
ben

Great to see King Street closed and people sitting...

2009-08-02T09:24:22.839-04:00

Great to see King Street closed and people sitting in the sidewalk patios of the restaurants without having to inhale the exhaust fumes of the passing traffic and to listen to the superloud mufflers of our younger citizens.
But, all this potential peace and quiet was destroyed by the twanging and wailing from inferior loudspeakers, which often competed with each other.
Can't we do anything without "music" in this town. Pull the plug!

Deb, looks like our little boy's club has reta...

2009-08-01T10:44:54.660-04:00

Deb, looks like our little boy's club has retained the crown for now. Whew !

According to the news Toronto City Council is only...

2009-07-31T18:48:04.249-04:00

According to the news Toronto City Council is only now getting close to voting on the strike deal.

Two of the right wingers walked out this morning shouting the odds because they had conflicts of interest but somehow thought they shouldn't have to leave and blamed the Mayor for allegedly forcing them out.

Another one rose to claim that democracy, along with residents of her ward, were all being cheated somehow because Councillors were being urged by the Mayor to vote in favour of the contract. She wanted to keep the strike going and apparently didn't care what the costs, or the health and safety issues, would be. Huh?

Miller's voice was quavering with emotion as he pleaded with Council to look at the numbers and vote yes. I've never seen him this intense about anything before, it was quite a sight.

I can't imagine them voting no on this deal, it would be insane. For any of the Council to think their citizens would thank them for screwing it up now is simply unbelievable. Can they be that stupid?

Stay tuned folks, we'll know soon whether Toronto City Council is made up of even bigger buffoons than our own!

I can't comment on Trenton's sidewalk sale...

2009-07-31T12:41:26.256-04:00

I can't comment on Trenton's sidewalk sale, but I do agree that ours has lost its punch over the years.

The street in the mid 70s was packed with carnie rides, various games of chance and cheap food as well as the merchandise spread out on tables. It was crowded then, people everywhere looking for bargains and fun that went on until late in the night.

The Cobourg Meat Market cooked the best and cheapest burgers and dogs, far tastier than the out of town concession stands. Their pop was always the coldest too.

It went on for years like this until our betters decided it was just too seedy, and once they all but eliminated the midway to clean things up the fun was over.

Now it's kind of like going to a school Christmas bazaar - very tidy and rather dull. Sort of like the Waterfront Festival, which has also had its guts removed in favour of tasteful, refined pleasantries that don't offend the sensibilities of our town leaders.

Ah, the good old days, always better in retrospect I suspect.

The Cobourg Sidewalk Sale may be a dying instituti...

2009-07-31T08:50:49.445-04:00

The Cobourg Sidewalk Sale may be a dying institution Ben, but any "event" Cobourg puts on is far more "classier" than Trenton can do. We recently attended the Trenton Sidewalk Sale and it was pathetic. In one booth they were hocking drug paraphanalia and in another they were selling t-shirts with such slogans as..."I CAN'T REMEMBER YOUR NAME SO I'LL JUST CALL YOU ASSHOLE" or "FACEBOOK GOT ME LAID". Imagine that a few short blocks away is St. Peters school which, no doubt have posters in their hallways promoting "DARE" or "Just Say No To Drugs"! I can't imagine what it would be like to be a parent of young children attending this farce. I wrote the honourable Mayor, Johm williams a letter of complaint and received a phone call from him apologizing for this transgression. Count your blessings Ben, that this sort of irresponsibility doesn't happen in Cobourg! Here is a Youtube link of last years sidewalk sale for all your readers to watch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RLYMHSo1_U

I'm waiting for the strike to end before I mak...

2009-07-31T08:19:43.910-04:00

I'm waiting for the strike to end before I make my annual summer trek through the downtown. Spend a little coin. Quite aside from all the pros and cons, merits, etc. of this protracted fandango , the city has taken quite enough body blows, thank you. Still my big city to love, and I do.