→I went on a Jane’s Walk this past Saturday. Which, yes, was May 2nd, the day after May Day. But May Day activities always tend to be on and around May 1st, rather than rigidly occurring only on the first day of May. Jane’s Walks are like that, actually. The official online voice and portal for Jane’s Walk stuff, janeswalk.org, says that the walks are scheduled on the first weekend of May to coincide with Jane Jacob’s birthday, the urbanist for whom the event is named. A nice coincidence, her birthday intersecting with the annual re-birth of fine walking weather.
And was the weather ever nice this year! Our walk started at Todmorden Mills, a historic site and cultural site in Toronto’s Don Valley you can learn a bit about here. It was sunny, warm … spectacularly unlike winter!
After thinking about more than just the great weather, I concluded the timing of Jane’s Walks was more than coincidence: it was a little serendipitous. May is usually when Spring really happens in Toronto, after some false April starts. And the start of May was a traditional time for community Maypole celebrations of the renewal and vitality of the new season, to paraphrase Britannica.com. Such traditions are still recognized, but largely eclipsed by the May Day of labour demonstration, inaugurated in 1889 to promote international labour solidarity, and commemorate the Chicago Haymarket Riot of 1886. I noticed plenty of news about May Day protests this year, and see that The Guardian collected reports on the day onto one of its online pages. (Look for The Workers’ Festival by Craig Heron and Steve Penfold for insight into the Canadian history of May Day and Labour Day.)
Jacobs spent much of her life in Toronto, her activism was community-rooted, and included engaging in protests or demonstrations. The start of May does seem to be the perfect time for Jane’s Walks!
Our walk was historically themed. The walk took group members forwards in time from European settlement of the area beginning in the 1790s, through to the building in the 1890s of the residential neighbourhood included in the walk. The presence of memory interested me during the walk. One building we stopped beside had been modified several times since originally constructed as a school for the district. There was no plaque informing us of this (just our well-informed and clear-speaking guide). Back down at Todmorden, though, I took pics of two historic markers.
I wonder how important a historical perspective is for the Jane’s Walks as a whole? Is it a minor component of the interpretations most guides offer during their walks – a sort of inevitable angle of discussion? Or is it much more important?
What does seem clear about Jane’s Walks is that they are catching on. Begun in Toronto in 2007, there were more than 1,000 Jane’s Walks in 2014, “across 6 continents, 25 countries,” and in “134 cities,” according to the website. Part of the reason must be the successful efforts of the Project Office, but these walks are clearly meeting a demand for knowledge about local places, community interaction, and, well, a reason to go for a walk. Perhaps this now global trend will last and we will be able to add Jane’s Walks to the traditions of early May. It’s already a good fit!
