Vermont Park Neighbourhood Association Celebrates Sport and Healthy Living August 27

Earlier this spring, the Vermont Park Neighbourhood Association (VPNA) along with Ecole L’Harmonie and St. Agnes School received a Waterloo Region True Sport grant. The purpose of the grant is to strengthen community through sport and is administered by The Kitchener and Waterloo Community Foundation.

The VPNA together with the Waterloo Region True Sports Program, City of Waterloo and Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario, invite the community to an afternoon of fun, sports and healthy food inVermont Park in order to celebrate sport and healthy living this Saturday, August 27.

From 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM people can learn about raising gardens at nearby Ecole L’Harmonie. The initiative is a collaboration between the Association and Patchwork Community Gardens – with funding for the garden coming from TD Friends of the Environment.

From 12:30 PM – 4:00 PM a barbecue featuring healthy food options will run and those in attendance will gather together to play sports in Vermont Park with some of the equipment purchased with the Waterloo Region True Sports grant. Volleyball, badminton, and soccer are on the agenda!

At 4:00 PM the VPNA will be hosting their Annual General Meeting. All are welcome.

COME PLAY WITH US!! BRING YOUR TOYS, GAMES, ART, INSTRUMENTS, AND SPORTING EQUIPMENT

Traditionally held in spring throughout Europe, a Kermesse is a small, neighbhourhood festival usually held in or around the village church grounds. A Dutch-language term that derives from the word 'kerk' (church) and 'mis' (mass), the term Kermesse was also used in English and French.

European immigrants brought this traditional, spring festival to North America, including the mainly-Germanic residents of Waterloo Region. Featuring games, music and food, a Kermesse is a perfect way for a neighbourhood to celebrate spring.

The Vermont Park Neighbourhood Association and the City of Waterloo bring you this unique event. This is a participatory event so feel free to bring your own instruments, games and sporting equipment to share and play with others.

Featuring:

• Street sale (9 a.m. to noon)
• hand-made, traditional children’s games and crafts
• children’s entertainment
• book exchange (bring a book, take a book!)
• popular French & Quebecois culinary favourites by donation,
such as 'merguez-frites' and crepes
(merguez is a spicy sausage, and frites are french fries!)

SPECIAL GUESTS: The Value Village People

Check out the Facebook Page

https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=172186076172161

Vermont Park Winter Carnival Sunday, January 31, 2010 (Weather Permitting – Rain Date: Saturday, February 6) 1:30 – 4:30 P.M. Games with prizes for the kids! Free Hotdogs and Hot Chocolate! while supplies last 8:00 till 9:00 pm, Come back for a Community Hockey Game. Entrance to Park on Margaret Ave. North between Vermont St. and Murdock Ave. Sponsored by the City of Waterloo and the Vermont Park Neighbourhood Association

Community Action Forum Announcement

Invitation to the 2nd Waterloo Community Action Forum
- Focus on Inclusion
What’s been done since April 18, 2008
Opening the space to set direction for 2009
Friday April 17, 2009
9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Hauser Haus
Waterloo Memorial Recreation Complex

Since April 2008 there have been three gatherings to discuss the action people have taken and to plan further action. This has been an opportunity for community members to reflect, share, encourage and challenge each other to follow through on the various ideas that have emerged in discussions. A range of activities have been started as a result of the Community Action Forum.
The Forum will include an update on action taken since April 18, 2008 and will then open the space to new issues and ideas that will frame the action for the coming year.
All are welcome. There is no cost for the Forum event. To keep costs down, we are asking all participants to bring a brown bag lunch. Donations are welcome.
Please let us know if any accommodations are needed when you register.
For registration go to http://focusoninclusion2009.eventbrite.com/ or contact Kim or Susan at the Social Planning Council Kitchener-Waterloo at 519-579-1096 or kim@waterlooregion.org

Howdy Neighbours,

Just a short announcement about our upcoming Winter Carnival


Vermont Park Winter Carnival
Sunday, February 8, 2009 (Weather Permitting – Rain Date: February 15)
1:30 – 4:30 P.M.
Games with prizes for the kids!

Join us for fun, excitement, and
a chance to interact with your community.

Free Hotdogs and Hot Chocolate!
while supplies last

Come back for a Community Hockey Game.
8:00 till 9:00 pm

Entrance to Park on Margaret Ave. North between Vermont St. and Murdock Ave.

Volunteers Welcome!!

http://vpna.blogspot.com/
vermontparkneighbours@gmail.com

Origin of the Kermesse

The Kermesse, or fun fair, traditionally emphasizes French language and culture, if not more generally a cultural heritage. Until the 1960’s the German-Catholic community celebrated the Kermesse in K-W. Still further back in history, it was in celebration focused on the local Catholic parish, held annually on the day the parish was established.
In the French Flanders, in Belgium and in the Netherlands, a kermesse is an annual public event or fair celebrating the patron saint of a village, or in aid of the local school. A tradition which dates back to the Middle Ages, Flemish painters from Brueghel the Elder to Rubens painted kermesse scenes; they became a genre which contributed to the renown of the Flemish school. Religious in origin - kerkimesse in Flemish means“ mass for the church” - the events surrounding the consecration of the church or the feast of the patron saint, were gradually secularized. From the 13th to the 20th centuries, across the different regions, the kermesse became at once, a harvest festival, a day of feasting, a dance in the main square, a funfair and form of popular entertainment, as well as an end of school carnival, rallying the entire community, and involving both the public and private spheres. To this day, in northern France, in Belgium and in Holland, these remain living traditions which reflect both regional variety and cultural unity: they allow people to take leisure in ways that are not strictly governed by commerce but rather by community.

What is the "Kermesse"?

On May 24, 2008 the second annual kermesse will take place on the school grounds of ’Ecole l’Harmonie with the valued participation of the City of Waterloo, the Vermont Park Neighbourhood Association in addition to l’Association des francophones de Kitchener-Waterloo and Ecole l'Harmonie. A neighbourhood wide garage sale will kick-off the event at 10a.m. ( la braderie, the French equivalent of the garage sale) is another medieval tradition! The Kermesse proper begins at 11a.m. and continues to 4p.m.

There will be many games and activities for children plus a book exchange. We are happy to have initiated a collaboration with Worth a Second Look who will be donating prizes. Merguez, frites (fries) and French crepes will be offered for a minimal charge. Proceeds will go towards a community greening project at the school.