A postcard snapshot of a place we call Vaughan

Dan Hoddinott, Managing Editor

We take a magical ride through Vaughan, or at least the spirit of Vaughan, in this our mid-summer issue.

Starting on the cover, which shows the installation of pieces for the new sculpture garden at the McMichael Canadian Art Collection in Kleinburg, we tour the elements that form the foundation of what we consider a great city of the future.

There is art and there is heart.

There is a police force with officers who enforce the rule of law and reach out in compassion, all in the same shift.

There is a political culture that, for better or for worse, is recognizably Vaughan.

There is a population welcoming summer’s relaxed mood in its own surroundings, and fully part of the wider national celebration of the country’s founding at the same time.

There is talk about near-to-home fashion designers — just in time for Canada Day — and there are tips on front-yard landscaping to beautify your digs, and to connect you to your street in a most neighbourly fashion.

And, since all our life’s a circle, there is something for drivers looking to hit the streets in style, and a drive down memory lane with the story of the genesis of the Kleinburg Nashville Tennis Club.

I’m sure you’ll enjoy Tristan Carter’s story (pages 14-15) of the ride-along he had recently with York Regional Police officers out of 4 District in Maple. Carter’s deadpan sense of humour (sometimes I think he should be arrested for it) shows up in his story, but he tells of some touching moments too, and he did come away duly impressed.

Near and dear to my heart is a moment we captured at the two-day Ride to Conquer Cancer bike trek between Toronto and Niagara Falls. It was also the most popular posting on VaughanToday.ca in June.

Told in a single picture, it is a record of how Concord plumbing supply company Noble put together a team of 82 cyclists for the 200-km ride and raised $315,773.95 to go toward cancer research.

The many names hand-written under the heading “Who We Ride For” on the poster their supporters waved is what first drew my attention. (You can see it better in the photo reproduced on page 26 than in the online image.)

Once you’ve watched cancer  snatch away people you know, and then come for those you love — and continue to creep into the most personal circle of your world, that’s when you recognize the magnitude of the gesture.

Team Noble, comprised of management and employees,  along with some family members and business associates, appointed themselves exceptionally well, and their motif — a plunger fastened to the top of the riders’ helmets — became a watched-for item by the pit stop crews.

The mid-June ride raised $17.5 million. Team Noble’s contribution was third highest.

Another notable corporate gesture by a Vaughan-based company last month saw Kidde Canada (a fire safety products company) deliver 1,000 battery-powered smoke alarms for Slave Lake, Alta. residents returning to their fire-ravaged homes after a wildfire that raged there in mid-May.

Life in the city. A time capsule of what it means to be living or working in Vaughan at this moment in time.

And now it’s the middle of summer. We’ve had a full year of checking off things we’ve had to do. This is the time to devote to things you can do, things you want to do, things you would have done, if only…

It’s summer. Go ahead and live.