Did you know that Windsor boasts its own style of pizza that it claims is the best in the world? The library has posted a page on the history of it here.

Ontario-wide series of more than 100 outdoor dining events called The Longest Dinner Table that will launch in Toronto. Cuisines will vary by venue, but you can tentatively expect concepts like the longest kamayan dinner table from Tinuno, or a KBBQ table. Prix fixe tasting menus should range from about three to six courses. Ticket prices will also vary from venue to venue, about $30 to $120, with tickets available starting July 1. Participating restaurants will be officially announced in late June. Ultimately, Longest Dinner Table is giving the concepts to the BIAs and restaurants to execute, and will only take a small portion of ticket sales themselves. In Toronto, tables will be set up in streets blocked off by BIAs or in parks. The more bookings a restaurant gets, the more tables they’ll add, with no set upward limit.

Edmonton will spend $12 million this year on COVID-specific initiatives to help the city cope with the pandemic, city council agreed Wednesday. The funding includes tax relief for businesses in 13 areas of the city and $1.3 million to support vaccination operations at the EXPO Centre.  It includes nearly $6 million to install ultraviolet air-purification technology in Edmonton Transit vehicles.

The local business improvement area connected with Black people in the fitness industry (yoga instructor, baseball coach, track athlete and boxing coach). On the Parkdale FitPlay Instagram account, these instructors take turns demonstrating how to do exercises with proper form. Instagram link: https://www.instagram.com/parkdalefitplay/

How it works: Community members are encouraged to visit designated public park locations and participate in self-led physical exercise and play, inspired by the FitPlay letter key. Each letter of the alphabet, A to Z, is associated with a simple exercise most can perform some variation of safely. E.g. A = 10 high knees on the spot.
Participants self-select a word or phrase and perform the exercises associated with each letter. E.g. P A R K D A L E = 10 squats, 10 high knees on the spot, etc. Mix up your FitPlay by choosing a new word, a new park  or a new challenge each time and invite your Parkdale friends and neighbours to do the same.

The St. Lawrence BIA and OLD Town have launched a support local campaign. Save & upload receipts of $25 or more (excluding delivery and tip) from local businesses February 8 – April 5, 2021, for multiple chances to win — $500 is for the shopper and $500 for a local business.  In addition there is one grand prize of $2K to be split with local business. Prize money is donated by BMO bank

The program designed to bring growth to the core of the city, eligible projects must be built in a defined “Centre City” area. The incentives include freezing property taxes until 2027. The intent of the program is to provide financial relief for construction projects in the city’s core that might not be able to proceed without that support.

Three new temporary washroom spaces in Winnipeg opened their doors Tuesday as part of a City of Winnipeg project to make it easier to find a bathroom for people experiencing homelessness. The project, called Places to Go, features three bathroom spaces at 473 Selkirk Ave., 345 Portage Ave. and 26 Osborne St. The locations were chosen in consultation with End Homelessness Winnipeg and other community stakeholders. “The Places to Go strategy is about profound human dignity and making sure that Winnipeg’s most vulnerable among us have access to basic human rights and necessities.

Each box lets the purchaser support over a dozen local businesses and helping them and their family have a better holiday season as well. There are two options: pick up or local delivery.

This includes:

• implementation of 25 “winter stations” designed to allow Montrealers to enjoy the city’s outdoor public places — including squares, parks or vacant spaces near commercial hubs — during the winter. The winter stations were designed in collaboration with local architects and designers and are part of the city’s effort to encourage Montrealers to buy local, as the downtown stations will be situated near shops.
• winter activities in Montreal parks and beyond. This will include winter markets, but also winter sporting activities in almost every major Montreal park beginning in December. Since sports-related activities are prohibited in COVID-19 red zones, the city is allowing for outdoor play by making cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, tobogganing, ice skating and fat biking available. Montrealers can borrow equipment for free.
• heated areas and restrooms will be available to allow Montrealers to warm up after a day of activities.
• parks will also offer an outdoor “ocean” expedition presented by the Biosphere, to allow Montrealers to observe the birds, flora and fauna of the area.

Activities can be booked online through the city’s website. More details will be made available in the coming weeks on the city of Montreal’s web portal.

The campaign, created by ad agency The Local Collective, spans three blocks and features more than 50 storefronts along Roncesvalles Avenue papered up with signs that say “For Lease.”

Plaid Friday, the local alternative to ‘Black Friday’. The annual event to encourage people to spend their dollars locally, have some fun wearing plaid and to celebrate the diversity and creativity of local and independent businesses is taking place this Friday in Prince George. The fifth annual Plaid Friday campaign for Prince George will look a little different in 2020 as organizers adhere to all COVID-19 public health restrictions. This year all you have to do is put on something plaid —pretty much the uniform of northern B.C. – and shop locally.

In the Downtown Eastside, Hastings and Powell streets are lined with vacant storefronts, dogged by the area’s social issues. The City of Vancouver is aiming to create policies that could potentially help reverse this trend.

1. Use empty retail spaces and 1st & 2nd floors to encourage independent shops and to incubate a recycle, repair and regenerate artisanal industry to create a healthy mix of well-designed work/live spaces.
2. Use available micro spaces to set up pocket parks, as in cities such as Tokyo, Barcelona and San Francisco.
3. Convert more streets to pedestrian use only, widen pavements on shared streets, and create better links to public transport.
4. Strengthen alliances with other like-minded groups in Bradford to engage with Council to ensure a generous level of consultation well before important planning decisions are made.
5. Work with community groups in Bradford to create activity spaces that can be enjoyed by all the city’s communities.
6. Join with other groups to exchange ideas and learn from experiences.

This group has created a local currency so that the contributors’ investment can be returned directly to participating businesses. This currency will be available in paper or digital form through the Wyse Wallet app. 
The project will consolidate the achievements of the commercial arteries and allow citizens to participate concretely in the recovery by investing in hyperlocal entrepreneurship. Let us be # solidairespournosartères!

It is also a chance for downtown business owners to draw an audience.

Called Gerrard East Market, it comes with two decks, picnic tables, umbrellas, an outdoor screen showing sports, lighting and 22 tonnes of sand.

It’s a program any business can benefit from no matter where the are in their COVID-reopening journey. The strategy focuses on employees as advocacy champions because when employees feel able to come back to work safely, their positive attitude will inspire customers to return. Business owners and managers must make good on that promise and commit to an appropriate action plan that keeps their workplace safe. Employees are given an option to play a big role in our initiative, too. Through simple how-to’s Employees are invited to record a 10-20 second video about the steps their workplace has taken to protect them, which the program will share on social media channels to help promote the business.

Are you interested in creating (or hosting) a pop-up but are not sure where to start?

In the wake of COVID-19 Wallplay has created a toolkit on how vacant spaces can be repurposed for public good. Wallplay has been facilitating pop-ups since 2013, we helped pioneer the “vacant space as pop-up venue” model and we are excited to share what we’ve learned.

Support local businesses and enjoy a unique, personalized experience with the people you care about, all from the privacy of your home. When you book a party, you will customize your event by choosing the number of participants, type of cuisine, and tour theme.

Each meal includes an appetizer, entrée and side dish, which you and your guests will savour as your tour guide takes you on a virtual adventure to learn about local art, architecture, history and more.  Celebrate your graduation, create a fun first date story, or just get together with your friends after a long spring apart!

Ottawa’s small and locally owned businesses are woven into the fabric of the city. To help support as the local economy reopens, useful links and resources are assembled on this page.

1. #MyOttawa Pass is Ottawa’s very own local savings passport, complete with an impressive collection of discounts and offers from businesses across the city.
2. Shop Ottawa is an online directory of local businesses, products and services.
3. Local Eats Ottawa offers a compiled list of Ottawa restaurants offering food delivery or pickup.
4. SavourOttawa.ca is a one-stop site on how to buy locally produced food and beverages in the Ottawa region.
5. Together-Apart.ca is a resource for the residents of this city to find local spots to order from and support.
6. Edible Ottawa to ensure that local food communities remain strong.
7. Love Local Delivery to order from Ottawa’s best independent, locally owned and operated food businesses! Easy Scheduled & On-Demand delivery provided by dedicated, carefully vetted and smart-serve trained drivers.
8. And links to local BIAs that offer detailed information on local business offerings

Run a restaurant or food service business? Have questions about reopening and operating safely during COVID-19? Join us Wednesday, June 10th 10AM – 11:30AM for a FREE Q&A session. The expert panel includes the Chief Medical Officer for Island Health and the BC Restaurant and Food Association. These sessions are co-hosted by the Downtown Victoria Business Association and Community Micro Lending. As we adjust to living and working with COVID-19, we’re offering two sessions to help businesses reopen and operate safely: Two webinars planned:
Restarting Restaurants & Food Services on Wednesday, June 10th 10AM – 11:30AM
Restarting Retail on Thursday, June 11th 11AM – 12:30PM

These posters are meant to be put up in downtown shops to communicate in a friendly way physical distancing rules, how many people allowed in a store at one time, and other changes that are in effect during COVID19 times.

Grimsby’s Downtown Improvement Area (DIA) board – with support from the Town of Grimsby –is helping frontline staff. Every business in the DIA area will receive two face shields – with an option to acquire more – to help with employee and customer safety. These shields were made by a local retooled business

From Toronto’s Roncesvalles BIA, these signs can be put in the window of shops to clearly show their services

This grant will support the purchase of required safety equipment which must be installed prior to re-opening. Businesses can apply to receive a maximum of $500. Under the program, only commercial property and business owners within the Business Improvement Area (BIA) will be considered.

This is real-life representation of the Riverside BIA Directory, a colour-coded live map which indicates in real time what level businesses are operating at. The colour codes are the same for the map and signs. Green indicates a business that’s open but may have reduced hours and offerings, yellow means a business is open online or via phone only, and red means the business is closed for now.

City of Brampton compiled list of federal and provincial funding opportunities for local businesses to take advantage of for economic support during COVID-19 pandemic.

Downtown Kingston BIA provides resources regarding the local businesses and how they are adapting and how to support businesses that remain open in some capacity.