Ship arrives at Queens Quay, collects booty ($100) luckily no pirates to be seen

Saw this press release move through earlier today. Shipping season arrives at our harbour.

The Toronto Port Authority is pleased to announce the arrival of this year's first ocean-going vessel into port via the
St. Lawrence Seaway this week.
It's another sure sign that Spring is here, and the TPA will mark the occasion by honouring Captain Yang Sibing of the MV Wigeon with a beaver hat
in a traditional ceremony that dates back 148 years. The Wigeon, a 22,790 metric tonne vessel operated by Montreal's Canfornav Inc., is bringing a cargo
of sugar to the Redpath Sugar facility from Colombia.
The storied hat used in the ceremony originally belonged to Captain John Hooper Meade, who immigrated to Canada from England in 1828. Capt. Meade
became a successful Toronto merchant and landowner with holdings on Centre Island as well as a hotel and two steamer vessels. Made by Christies Hats of
London from silk and beaver pelt, Capt. Meade donated the hat to mark the occasion in 1861. His grandson, Captain John Allen, was Toronto's Harbour
Master from 1925-30.
The ship's captain will be "crowned" with the antique hat by TPA Harbour Master Angus Armstrong in a photo opportunity. Earlier in its history, the hat could be worn by the captain of the first spring "saltie" in port for 24 hours, but this tradition was discontinued after several mishaps in which the custodians of the hat felt the need to celebrate by overindulging in downtown taverns.
The captain will also receive the traditional $100 cheque (the amount has not changed in approximately 80 years) and a commemorative briefcase.

Friday, May 1, 2009
10 a.m.

Photo of the week: Redpath

Redpath plant, on Queens Quay East.

That the smell of molasses? No, it's Sugar Beach

As mentioned in last week's post on the East Bayside project, we promised to shed a little more light on the two public spaces to be formed on the shore of Queens Quay East. Above is a rendering from the Waterfront Toronto site of Sugar Beach.

More pictures of the project over at the designer for the park. You can see them here:


This firm also designed the now quasi infamous HTO park, with the sand and yellow umbrellas. A picture QQL snapped a few weeks ago in the middle of winter:



Here's more about the Sugar Beach Park, from the Waterfront Toronto site:

The 1 hectare Sugar Beach park located at the foot of Jarvis Street across the slip from the Redpath Sugar factory is slated for completion in 2010. Designed by Claude Cormier Architectes Paysagistes of Montreal, Sugar Beach is the second urban beach along Toronto’s waterfront and is inspired by the successful HtO urban beach park & Toronto’s Cumberland park. The design is composed of three spaces; an urban beach with brightly coloured umbrellas, a water’s edge promenade and thoroughfare, and a muti-functional event plaza space. The plaza space will also accommodate the public music events Corus Entertainment is expected to host.

Speaking of Sugar plant, there was a story in the Toronto Star recently about worries the Redpath plan would be a bother to residents of new condos that will be built on Queens Quay East. http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

Quoted in the Star.

"Our concern is, while we can make the plant reasonably quiet, ships are not quiet," says Jonathan Bamberger, president of Redpath Sugar, a 50-year-old facility at the foot of Yonge St., smack in the heart of a rapidly developing section of Toronto's waterfront.

"When the ship comes in it might turn around, it might arrive at 2 in the morning. The horn blows, the cranes move," he says, adding, "It's not good to have condominiums right next to something that is a 24-hour operation outside."

Noise complaints seem to be a common complaint of the waterfront community.