Jane’s Walk – A few different Golden organizations have gotten together to bring a national event to the community.
Ryan Watmough, Executive Director, Golden & District Community Foundation, approached the Town’s Planner and Colleen Palumbo, Museum and Archives Manager, Golden Museum, in regards to co-hosting a Jane’s Walk.
Jane’s Walk is a movement of free, citizen-led walking tours inspired by Jane Jacobs. The walks get people to tell stories about their communities, explore their towns, and connect with neighbours.
Jane’s Walk was founded in 2007 as a living, walking commemoration of Jane Jacobs and her legacy. Jane Jacobs (1916–2006) was an American-born writer and activist best known for her writings about cities.
Her first book, The Death and Life of Great American Cities (1961), was a critique of the ideas of modernist city planning and building, and offered a new vision of diverse, fine-grained cities made for and by ordinary people. After moving from New York City to Toronto in 1968, she published six more major books.
Jane was pivotal in saving Greenwich Village and Soho in New York City from a major highway project and then became a key figure in a similar demonstration against the Spadina Expressway after relocating to Toronto.
Some of the ideas Jane is best known for include: eyes on the street, mixed uses, small blocks, population density and form follows function.
The annual Jane’s Walk festival takes place the first weekend in May to commemorate Jane’s birthday. After her passing, in 2006, there were seven walks in Toronto. Ten years later, over 1,000 Jane’s Walks took place in 212 cities around the world, spanning 36 countries and six continents.
The Golden walks will take place Sunday, May 7, at 10 am and noon and will take about 90 minutes. The theme is Getting Around Golden’s Past, Present & Future. Below is the descriptor on the Jane’s Walk website:
Take a walking and rolling tour with local hosts to learn about the Golden of the past, what projects are underway and share your ideas for improving a sense of belonging throughout the community.
Starting and ending at Purcell Coffee (now Wandering Fern Cafe) on 9th Ave N, we will stroll through the historic downtown, down along 10th Ave N, over the highway bridge.
Then, across to Kumsheen Park, the Civic Centre, and Masonic Hall, before crossing back 10th Ave S, visiting one of Golden’s many lanes; down the newly-improved Kicking Horse River dike; over the pedestrian bridge to Centennial Park and the Whitetooth Brewery; down 8th Ave N and back to the start.
