Spider photo supplied by Jim LaMorte
One of the things that came out strongly in our discussion at the GVPN Annual General Meeting on November 18th was the hunger that is out there in the general public (and on our board and within our membership) to actually DO placemaking rather than just talking about it. So with the coming of winter less than two weeks away here is a simple Placemaking Challenge. Are you willing to take it on?
Here’s the background: at a meeting a few months ago former board member Molly mentioned that Jim LaMorte had put up a spider in a tree in front of his house. I asked Jim about this and here’s the story.
“For Halloween two years ago, I tried to think of an addition to our fairy garden that was interactive — something the kids would enjoy. I happened upon this spider at the thrift store and hooked it up to a string-pulley on our big chestnut tree.
The kids loved it, especially when they could surprise their parents and friends by dropping it on their shoulders. When I removed it after Halloween, several kids on our block demanded its return.
It’s been an attractant ever since, including use by kids living on adjacent streets. Part of the community now.”
Now maybe a spider isn’t right for the winter holidays, so what could you DO instead – how could you bring winter traditions into placemaking – maybe a snowman, or celebration of the night sky? My guess is you might discover something appropriate at a thrift store or maybe in your own or a neighbour’s storage. Please send us your photos (to info@victoriaplacemaking.ca) or write a blog post for us on how you met the December challenge (https://victoriaplacemaking.ca/blog-for-us/). Stay tuned for January’s challenge!
Guest Author Bio
Susan Martin Susan is a lifelong learner who takes her lessons not only from academia but from the people, places and nature she encounters every day as she gets around her neighbourhood and city on foot or transit. Since October 2020 she has been helping to support those sheltering in Victoria’s parks and wants to see placemaking enhance public spaces for everyone, not just those lucky enough to have a home in the ‘nice’ part of town. Susan is also deeply concerned about climate change and believes that in walkable, welcoming and human-scaled neighbourhoods people will have lower emission lifestyles not because they are consciously deciding to do so but because it just makes sense and is safe, easy and less expensive to bike, walk or roll rather than using a car.
