If you’re familiar with Kingston’s food scene, you’ve probably seen the Enright name listed in one of the many menus around town. The Enrights pride themselves on their sustainability, ethically-raised cattle and providing the best quality beef to Kingston’s finest restaurants.
Every summer they invite the community behind the scenes to experience their product in an intimate setting at their Crop Circle dinner. Continue reading
Co-working spaces are becoming more and more common as more people decide to embrace their entrepreneurial spirits and launch small businesses. These spaces fill a niche, by providing a place that offers more than a home office can as well as a community of like-minded people.
There is a new co-working space in Kingston, Venture Club, offering that and more. The new space on the corner of Queen Street and Barrie offers reception service, printing services, meeting rooms, fast internet in full furnished spaces to those looking to rent an office space. Continue reading
When I arrive at Enright Cattle Company‘s property, I am greeted by Kara and Darold Enright’s 9-year-old son, Corben, “If you’d like to head over to those three ladies, they will help you get ready for a tour,” he instructs politely with a smile. This is farm life. Everyone, no matter how young, plays a role in the magic that happens here.
I am arriving with friends for the Crop Circle dinner event. It’s exactly what it sounds like, a dinner hosted in a crop circle on the farm. After a tour of the farm, an explanation of how the cattle is raised, a glimpse (and feel) of their leather bags made from their hide (in an effort to not waste any of the animal), we are escorted through the tunnels of corn and met with boards of charcuterie featuring the classic Enright summer sausage and bresola (marinated in red wine) on our way. Once we turn the final corner the beautiful dinner setting is unveiled, long tables dressed with fresh flowers, hay bales covered in handmade quilts for seating. It’s the perfect farm dinner setting. Continue reading
If you’re a plant-lover you’ve probably already stepped into The Jungle, a new shop on Wellington street, serving up all of the beautiful green plants you can think of. In celebration of upcoming #DKShopfest – a time to celebrate our amazing downtown businesses – owner Melody Morrison shares why she opened her shop and what she loves about being a Downtown Kingston business owner.
Keep up with Kingston: Tell me why you wanted to open The Jungle?
Melody Morrison: I opened The Jungle to fulfill a dream of owning my own business since I was a little girl. The store allows me to be creative in design and be surrounded by plants all day long. It’s a place for me to connect with others that love plants and design just as much as I do. Continue reading
Let me preface this post by sharing that I am terrible at floating in big bodies of water. I tend to tense up and don’t find it calming in the slightest. When Immerse Spa opened, the person in me who loves trying new health trends loved this concept and the other person in me who panics in deep water was not really down. I was conflicted. But the more I read about the health benefits, the more intrigued I was to give it a try.
If you haven’t heard of Immerse Spa (located on Gardiners road) yet, let me share a few details with you. First, it’s locally owned (#supportlocal), and the concept is that an hour floating in the 7 x 4 foot epsom salt bath dome will rejuvenate you to the equivalent of a 4-6 hour sleep and help melt away stress. It also helps detoxify the body, increases blood circulation and helps manage chronic pain, among other benefits. Sounds pretty good, right? I decided to take advantage of an opportunity to give it a try. Here, I share my experience with you. Continue reading
This post was originally written March 2017
When I started my series featuring Kingston’s female entrepreneurs, “The Boss Ladies of the Limestone City,” I knew Kingston had incredibly talented women helping to make it the awesome city that it is. In fact, according to a recent poll, Kingston is the second best city in Canada to be a woman with high numbers of women in senior management roles. Continue reading
One of Kingston’s finest restaurants, AquaTerra, is getting ready to host its 5th annual Winemaker dinner. This very popular event involves a five course dinner paired with wine from an Ontario winery. This year the dinner will take place on Friday January 26 from 6-9pm. Executive Chef Brent McAllister will be working with Thomas Pennachetti of Niagara Peninsula’s Cave Spring Cellars to bring guests an incredible meal with top notch wine. Proceeds from the upcoming dinner will benefit The Grand Theatre Foundation.
Tickets are already almost sold out! If you truly love indulging in a five star meal and amazing wine, tickets are $190 per person plus hst with a small fee of $14.
Brent was kind enough to answer a few questions via email about the dinner and what guests can expect. Continue reading
Kingstonians! Blue Canoe has a new production running at the Baby Grand until January 21. They will be performing musical comedy The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. If you’ve had a chance to see past performances by these very talented young actors then you already know that you’ve got to see this show. If not, I can tell you from experience that this group of young people are incredibly talented and I always enjoy seeing them on stage.
Artistic Director, Maddy Scovil, took the time to answer a few questions about Blue Canoe and the musical comedy. Continue reading
Toronto artist Fiver aka songwriter Simone Schmidt will be performing at the Calvary United Church on Friday, January 12. The show is being co-presented by the Skeleton Park Arts Fest in a collaborative effort with the Prison4Women memorial.
She will be performing form her new album, Audible Songs From Rockwood – a series of songs based on the experiences of women housed at Kingston’s Rockwood Asylum for the Criminally Insane between 1854-1881.
I sent Simone a few questions via email about her experience reading through the asylum’s archives for two years and turning that experience into an album. Learn why she chose these archives to write about, how this experience made her view our current mental healthcare system and her thoughts on these patients’ experiences.
Keep up with Kingston: What drew you to these particular archives?
Was the plan always to turn it into an album?
Simone Schmidt: I read an article in the newspaper at random, while doing research about detention and incarceration in Canada. Somehow got onto this article about how the women inmates at Rockwood Asylum for the Criminally Insane were housed in the horses stables as an interim measure for 12 years while prisoners from the Kingston Pen were building Rockwood as it stands today. It rattled me to think about and I wrote a song right away. That was back in 2012, and so I sang that song for a few years, and every time I sang the song, I would wonder about what life was really like for the people there. Information about Rockwood hasn’t been widely published (though a great writer, Kathleen Kendall is releasing a book about it in the next few years), so archival research was the only way to find out. And yes, it was always with the intent of writing an album because I’m a songwriter and that’s my way. Continue reading
Stage musical A Passage to Bollywood will be coming to The Grand Theatre on November 25. This vibrant show has traveled all over the world from China and Germany to Turkey, South Africa, US, Bahrain and Israel. Award winning director and choreographer Ashley Lobo took some time to answer some of my questions about show. Read below to learn about A Passage to Bollywood.
Keep up with Kingston: I read that you moved back to India in 1998, what brought you back?
Ashley Lobo: I left India for Australia because I wanted to train in international dance as there was no formal education system for it in India. I went back to India in ’98 because I thought it was important to start up a dance school so others could have the opportunity that I did not have.
Continue reading
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