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  3. 2025 Pocket Change Eco Fun Fair + Community Potluck Dinner
When
–
Where
Phin Park
115 Condor Avenue, Toronto, ON
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2025 Pocket Change Eco Fun Fair + Community Potluck Dinner

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The Pocket’s annual Eco FUN Fair rides again June 1 this year, with a potluck community dinner to follow. Our Eco Fun Fair attracts many hundreds of people from The Pocket, the Danforth community, and across the GTA. It is a great day to enjoy the outdoors, meet friends old and new, and take part in a wide variety of fun and inspiring activities, all dedicated to protecting and celebrating our beautiful planet.

Date: Sunday June 1 (rain date: June 8)
Time: Eco Fun Fair: 1-5pm; Community Potluck Dinner to start at 5:45pm. (including live music by Magda Baraczka - more details about the dinner below)

ECO FUN FAIR DETAILS & SCHEDULE

Exhibitors and Home Energy Zone - open 1-5pm

  • See below for complete list of exhibitors.
  • In the Home Energy Zone you can talk to installers of greentech products like heat pumps and windows/doors, retrofit consultants, and community homeowner support groups. Get stamps on a passport for a change to WIN a free home energy audit and consultation from Goldfinch Energy! 

Big Tent Speakers Series approximate schedule:

1:20 - 2:15p Meet the Pocket's Elected Representatives (Paula Fletcher, City Councillor, Peter Tabuns, MPP, and MP and Minister of Environment and Climate Julie Dabrusin) + Special Presentation Honouring our Founders, Paul Dowsett and David Langille

2:15 - 3:15p Walter H. Kehm: "How People, Public Parks, and Nature Intersect to Make Magic." Don't miss this fun, highly interactive, all-ages talk by an amazing speaker. Walter H. Kehm is the internationally renowned visionary and team leader behind parks such as Tommy Thompson, 1970s Ontario Place, Trillium Park and many more iconic landscape architecture projects around the world. Walter Kehm's book Accidental Wilderness is the definitive guide to the history and ecology of Tommy Thompson Park. Children and youth welcome (we're saving the first few rows for you!).

3:15 - 4:15 Interview/Case study, "A 100% Electric Home for $15,000: One Pocket Family's Journey" featuring interviewer Jake Miller (Toronto Home Energy Network), and panelists Sarah Grant (Goldfinch Energy) and Adam (Pocket homeowner).

Above: Landscape Architect Walter H. Kehm

Eco Activities for Families and Kids

  • Performances:
    • Storyteller Sage Tyrtle is giving two performances: 3:30-4pm for younger kids, 4:15-4:45 for older ones; all ages are welcome at both. Sage is an award-winning storyteller and writer whose work lives at the intersection of craft and raw humanity. Sage is a Moth GrandSLAM Storytelling Champion and contributor to NPR, CBC, and PBS. They’re equally at home on stage, on the air, or giving workshops where writers uncover stories that resonate deeply, unexpectedly, and often unforgettably. We're so pleased to welcome Sage to our Eco Fun Fair.
    • Also kids, youth and families: don't miss Walter Kehm's talk in the Big Tent at 2:15pm! See details above
  • Face painting from 1-4pm

Above: Storyteller Sage Tyrtle

Bike Activities

  • Bike Swap and Sale - bring a bike to donate, exchange or sell, or come get a new one. Bikes for all ages.
  • Bike Safety Check station from Cycle Toronto
  • Try out an e-bike on our track, with Zygg

Other Activities

  • All-Ages Clothing Swap - SEE FULL DETAILS HERE Note: There is now only one drop-off option remaining, on event day, starting at 11am. Maximum one bag of clothes per person. Clothes in good condition only (no rips/stains), and shoes and accessories are not accepted for the swap.
  • Plant Swap - bring your extra seedlings and plants
  • Plant-Based Cookie Sample Station! (while supplies last). With plant-based food tips & info from VegTO
  • Plant-based BBQ and concession stand (and water bottle refill station)
  • Grid Outage Show and Tell

EXHIBITORS

Home Energy Zone:

Other Exhibitors:

COMMUNITY POTLUCK DINNER DETAILS

Come dine with us outdoors and enjoy some great entertainment - all welcome! 

Please arrive @ 5:40pm with your dish; dinner will start just before 6pm Bring your own reusable cutlery and plate. Water bottle refill station available and some beverages (juice, pop, sparkling water) available - pwyc.

Bring a pot-luck dish to share and a serving spoon/implement for it if needed (label your container/implement so you can find them again to take home). Vegan/vegetarian contributions welcome! Suggestions for dish distribution:

  • Last name ending in A-G - bring a dessert!
  • Last name ending in H-0 - bring a main!
  • Last name ending in P-Z - bring an appetizer, salad, or side!

FEATURING: Music by The Pocket's own Magda Baraczya! (6:15p approximately)

Magda Baraczka is a multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, accompanist, and vocal and piano educator - and a rising star in the Toronto jazz scene. Now starting her third year of jazz voice studies at the University of Toronto, she was recognized as a U of T Scholar when she first entered the Faculty of Music in 2023. She has also been awarded the Chau Family Scholarship in Music (2024) and a JAZZ.FM91 Mary Alice Stuart Scholarship (2025). Magda has appeared at the Rex Hotel Jazz and Blues Bar with her University of Toronto small ensembles and the Angela Pincente Jazz Orchestra, and at The Emmet Ray as the Magda Baraczka Quartet. We are thrilled to have her performing at our Eco Fun Fair this year.

 

Questions, or want to volunteer? Email us at [email protected]

Community Dinner, 2024 Pocket Change Eco Fun Fair

A big thank you for their support: Pocket Community Association, Donna Lee, and Toronto Home Energy Network

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