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Big Day Downtown 2011

Last year I was lucky to be one of the bloggers chosen by the Downtown Halifax for Big Day Downtown where people were given $100 to spend and write about the experience. My first Big Day Downtown was a lot of fun and this year the twist is that you need to try something new. They kicked things off with a packed reception at the newly opened dessert bar The Middle Spoon on Barrington with lots of local bloggers enjoying the sweets and fancy drinks. Halifax and the surrounding region has quite an interesting blogosphere.
Not wanting to wait very long with a $100 card burning a hole in my pocket, I asked my son John if he would like to come to downtown Halifax to try some new things. So on the afternoon of Friday, August 19 we got in the car and left Wolfville for Downtown Halifax.

Just Us! Coffee

Our first stop was at the Just Us! Cafe on Barrington to have a bit of a snack and plan the day. The something new part was having John with me since it wasn’t my first time at the cafe. But I did try a cinnamon bun there for the first time (it was delicious) and had a cup of strong, dark coffee to go. John had a Propeller Ginger Beer along with a ginger cookie. All this cost just $10.58 including the tip, which left $89.42 to spend.
Wandering down Barrington scouting out other places to go in the afternoon sun it made me realize that there are a lot of business in the downtown area. While Freak Lunchbox is quite tempting and there would definitely be candy that was new to both of us, it’s a relatively familiar place, so we decided to pass by. We sat down outside in the sun and John suggested going to the Discovery Centre to check out the exhibits there, but since we came in to the city late in the afternoon there wouldn’t really be enough time to do it justice. One thing that John did want to get were some new headphones which lead us to Scotia Square.

The Source

Looking in the guide to downtown shops we saw that there was a Source on Duke Street, but it didn’t seem familiar. Wandering over it became obvious that it was in Scotia Square, where I’ve enjoyed a few suprisingly affordable meals in the excellent food court (the highlight is Ray’s Lebanese Cuisine). So in we went to The Source and looked at headphones which just happened to be on sale. After some thought and comparisons John decided that he wanted some new earbud-style headphones. He chose ones that were hot pink so they’d stand out. With the tax the heaphones were $11.95. Now the remaining funds were $77.47 as we went back out into the sunny afternoon and walked back up Barrington in search of stuff for me.

The North Face

One of the shops that opened recently downtown is The North Face, which sells clothing and outdoor equipment. I’ve liked their clothes and bags and was keen on seeing the store. It was compact with friendly and helpful employees. There were some great clothes and neat bags (but I probably have too many bags for different things, so that wasn’t really an option) as well as a comprehensive range of colourful sleeping bags as well as tents. Maybe some footware? I’m ok for outdoor shoes and sandals, but new socks would be perfect. Looking through the different styles some solid hiking socks stood out which cost $20.50 after tax (leaving $56.97). Then it was time to go to another outdoor store on the same block in Mountain Equipment Co-op.

Mountain Equipment Co-op

Last time for Big Day Downtown one of the stops was Mountain Equipment Co-op, so there needed to be some justification for returning. The big change in the store is a renovation and the expansion of the bike section which includes selling bicycles in addition to the parts, accessories and clothing. The staff are serious outdoor adventurers and have solid, practical advice that helps you make the right choice for any activity. While I very much want to get a new bike from MEC, that would go over budget, but there are many affordable things related to biking in the store. One thing that I’ve never used while biking are gloves. After a few recent long bike rides I noticed that my hands were sore, so perhaps gloves would solve this problem. There are a range of gloves available, so I tried a lot of them on and eventually settled on some fingerless gloves made of a light and comfortable material. The cost of the gloves came to $21.85 which brough my remaining funds to $35.12.

DeSerres

I lack drawing ability, so I don’t usually go in to DeSerres on Barrington to buy art supplies. But I remembered that they did have a range of Moleskine notebooks which I love. Maybe there would be a notebook that would be good for John? We went in to the clourful store and looked around at notebooks and found a small music notebook. Since John is writing music and practicing playing the piano, it seemed a logical choice to buy a Moleskine Pocket Music Notebook. It’s the standard small notebook Moleskine with 8 staves ready for music to be composed within. After paying $19.55 for the notebook we were left with $15.57 on the card.

Burrito Jax

By now we both were hungry and one place that we haven’t tried, but heard nice things about was Burrito Jax. Would I be able to find good veggie options there? The answer was an emphatic “yes”! The restaurant is compact with music playing and limited seating, but burritos are designed to be mobile and with the lovely weather it was nice to walk around outside with a delicious meal in my hand. I had a veggie burrito stuffed with just about everything (when presented with options I just kept saying “yes”) and John had the pulled beef burrito. Our meal ended up costing just $14.59 which brought the remaining money down to just 98 cents, so it was very close to meeting the goal. Burrito Jax doesn’t take credit cards, so I couldn’t use the card to pay for it, which meant that there was some money still left on it for a future, bonus adventure.

AlFresco FilmFesto

The final thing for this Big Day Downtown was always going to be seeing Groundhog Day as part of the Summer of Murray program of the AlFresco FilmFesto (organized by the Atlantic Film Festival). It’s a wonderful outdoor screening of films during the summer. This year they’re celebrating their 11th year with 5 films all featuring Bill Murray. We arrived early on the Waterfront beside the Seaport Farmers Market and set up our chairs as the space in front of the inflatable screen filled with people. I’d been to AlFresco before, but on this day I was sharing John’s first screening of one of his (and my) favourite films with Groundhog Day. For all of the AlFresco screenings the weather was amazing and it was no exception for this screening. It got a little cool, but with the right clothes and some fresh popcorn it made for a perfect end to the day. I picked up a t-shirt for John and me and paid the suggested donation of $5 for admission for a great night of entertainment with hundreds of other people outside.

Discovery Centre

The $15.57 remaining on the card needed to be spent, so a week later on Friday, August 26th John and I went to the city again to learn and have science-based adventures at the Discovery Centre. The admission for John and I was just perfect for using up the remaining money on the card, and we went in to explore the exhibits with the new theme of Too Small to See. We looked at carbon nanotubes, assembled a molecule by working together, and magnified all sorts of things to see what they looked like up very close. In addition to the exhibits that change, there are a range of permanent activities that are a lot of fun. We made giant bubbles, went in to the Ames Room to have some optical illusion fun and John played the Slap Organ. It was fun to go around and learn about science in a interactive way in the heart of downtown Halifax.

AlFresco FilmFesto 2 – Rushmore

Since we were already in the city, we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to see another film outside, so we set up our chairs again for the final AlFresco Summer of Murray screening and watched Rushmore. We were hoping that Bill Murray would show up to sit in his reserved chair, but it remained empty. Seeing Bill Murray would have definitely been something new. It was the first time that John had seen Rushmore and he really liked it. It’s one of my favourite films and seeing it on a big screen outside with a appreciative audience was quite amazing and a perfect end to the summer and my second Big Day Downtown.
John and I thank Downtown Halifax for the opportunity to explore and enjoy the downtown and to share it with you. We’ll definitely be back for more fun.
What adventures have you had downtown in Halifax?

September 6, 2011 2011, bigdaydowntown, downtownhalifax, halifax, summer

Big Day Downtown

Living in Wolfville is wonderful, but every now and then it’s nice to get into Halifax for some shopping and eating in a big and vibrant city. A few weeks ago I was given the opportunity to participate in a promotion for Downtown Halifax. The deal was that a number of bloggers would be given a $100 gift card and they would spend the money in downtown Halifax and share their experiences. On Wednesday, August 4, my Big Day Downtown happened and it was documented with my new iPhone 4 (with the pictures in my Big Day Downtown set on Flickr). While I could probably have stretched things out to a whole day, it turns out that one my special talents is being able to spend money rather quickly. In thinking about the day there were a few places that seemed to be good to check out along with a balance between food, drink and more tangible and permanent things. It took about four hours for my solo foray through the streets and shops on an afternoon with a little bit of rain that seemed timed just about perfectly with the times I was inside in shops.

The first stop was at the restaurant Morris East for some lunch. With a wood-fired oven, there was a high probability that one of the options for the meal would be pizza. I chose the quite reasonable lunch 1/2 pizza which gives you half a pizza and organic greens with a sherry Dijon vinaigrette. The pizza was the simple, basic and delicious tomato, fresh mozzarella and fresh basil. It was quite amazing and my plate was clean after a few minutes, which gave me the chance to accept the suggestion of the wood-fired s’more along with a coffee. The s’more was quite a lovely and perfect way to end the lunch, leaving me happy and full and ready to explore more of the downtown.

One of my favourite places to browse and find cool stuff downtown is Carbonstok on Barrington Street. Filled with quirky gadgets and things for the home and kitchen, there is a range of products for any budget or mood. Keeping the limited budget in mind, it was good to look at the small and inexpensive things. A wide range of lomographic cameras along with film and various little things for displaying images always catch my eye. I picked up a package of 3 rolls of ISO 400 colour negative film that will be used in one of my 35mm film cameras. To keep stuff on the refrigerator (or maybe on the cubicle in the office) a package of 8 small and strong magnets. They’re great for holding a lot of things up and these new ones will supplement the magnets as you always need things to hold paper and postcards and notes and photos.

When the challenge of shopping downtown was first presented, one place that went on the list first was Trident Booksellers and Cafe on Hollis Street. With the motto “The Senseless Pursuit of Excellence”, it’s a gem of a cafe snuggled alongside a great used bookstore. The atmosphere is cool and it’s a relaxed and welcoming place to shop or spend time catching up with friends. There is wi-fi and comfortable chairs and tables with a laptop-free table at the front where I sat and wrote a manual tweet to respect the more technologically free vibe at the table. Needing some coffee beans for home, I went to the back where there are containers of freshly-roasted coffee beans. The roasting is done on site and you pick out the beans and weigh them yourself before bringing them to the counter. To perk me up while there I had a cappuccino which is one of the best ones you can get anywhere. Sitting down and sipping the cappuccino while I added up what I had spent and thinking about where to go next was very nice.

When I need to get things for outdoor activities my membership in Mountain Equipment Co-op always comes in handy. The store on Granville Street is a regular stop and it is a challenge to not buy too many things when I go in. With two floors of outdoor equipment, clothing, footware, bags, tents, kayaks, tools, and gadgets it’s a different experience every time. But today I was focussed and knew that I wanted to get one of the $12 cotton t-shirts that are organic, good looking and comfortable. Knowing that I had about $30 left before going in to MEC, there was the possibility of getting something $18 or less. Close to the checkout I saw a very cool Gerber Curve Mini-tool that is small with a knife, bottle-opener, file, and set of screwdrivers. A tool like that is quite useful to always have along with your keys.

Knowing that the allocated budget was just about done, a detailed calculation showed that there was about $1.86 left to spend, so I went over to Barrington to get some penny candy at Freak Lunchbox. The store is small and packed with colour, candy, and chocolate. It’s a quirky place where every possible treat desire can be fulfilled. The plastic bins along with wall have a wide range of snacks that you put into a plastic bag. I choose a small amount of candy and only needed to add a little bit more to get to the total that I wanted. With a bag of candy in hand and the realization that there was a lot more that could be explored, it looked like it was time to call it a day.

But even though the budgeted money was all gone I decided to spend a bit of my own and walked over to Taz Records on Market Street to browse through the aisles of vinyl there. This was a bit of bonus downtown shopping since I don’t really get to spend a lot of time in Halifax especially in the downtown area. With a wide range of music you can spend a lot of time in Taz looking for things, but after walking around for a while I settled on The Black Keys album “Attack and Release” and Regina Spektor’s “Begin to Hope” (which had a bonus disc with other songs on it).

With a bag full of stuff and a couple of records I felt happy and grateful to Downtown Halifax for giving me the opportunity to explore, shop and share my adventures.

August 9, 2010 bigdaydowntown, downtownhalifax, halifax, shopping