One of Ottawa Streets' favourite antique shops is hosting a sweet spring auction!!! Geoff from Steeltown Pickers has gathered up his favourite finds with great care and scrutiny to bring the best of the best to collectors and bargain hunters at the Pickers Spring Auction on May 23rd . You can expect to see original art, antique furniture, collectors items and other vintage oddities. Collectible tin toys, vintage maps, suitcases, vanity desks, chairs, slot machines, oil paintings, model radios and more treasures than you could imagine are all up for grabs. Visit their Facebook page for a full photo gallery of all these unbelievable finds! The auction starts at 1pm sharp, but you can preview the items available and participate in advanced bidding between 11am-1pm. The Pickers Auction accepts cash, Visa, MasterCard AND debit, to make taking home your pick...
You may have already noticed a new face at the Ottawa Street BIA, or at least noticed the new blog posts popping up on our site. Meet Lauren Olson, the new BIA Marketing and Event Coordinator! Lauren started working with the BIA early this May, and has been chomping at the bit to get more blog posts up, engage on social media with all our Ottawa Street Shoppers and Merchants, as well as support events like the recent Sew Hungry 2015, the upcoming PanAm Food Central event in July and the fall Sidewalk Sale! Lauren has been involved with social media and marketing for over a decade in roles requiring promotion, recruitment, event planning, web design and media communications for non-profit and community-oriented organizations and is very excited to be on Ottawa Street during this vibrant time. You can come...
Wes Fletcher of Wick'd Wax Creations at 203 Ottawa Street North is more than just a Chandler. No we're not referring to the ubiquitous 90's sitcom character. 'Chandler' is the correct vocational title for professional candle makers! "Wax is my medium, instead of say a paint brush," explains Wes, who considers his work to be artistic and more deeply involved than some may realize. Wes has been on his grind making custom candles and wax treasures for 25 years. "I started from the ground up…" he pauses, adding, "…scraping wax off the floor of a honey barn." He laughs, because he knows it doesn't sound glamorous. He opened his shop on Ottawa Street three years ago, but there's a twist - 13 years ago, Wes was employed in the exact same location for Joe Glow Candles. "It's a little strange,"...
Whether you're a hardcore fitness enthusiast looking to increase the effectiveness of your workout, or if you've never set foot in a gym and are looking for something you can start using at home, Maxam Fitness at 303 Ottawa Street North has what you need. Sue and Al Moffat are the couple behind this massive and bright location, and have been in the business of fitness for 30 years. They started out on Ottawa Street, moved locations a couple of times and came back to the street 8 years ago. "Big spaces in Hamilton are hard to find," explained Sue, who keeps an impressively large inventory. "We also love this area. It's a good fit!" Maxam manufactures their own equipment in Ontario, which means they can guarantee the highest level of quality control. Everything is made with Canadian regulated steel,...
He's got grit. The kind of grit that comes with hard won experience. Do you know Dave Sanders, the face behind Renegade Tattoo? You know, the shop at 183 Ottawa Street North dolling out ever-evolving artistic window displays and storefront live performances from acts like The Vaudvillian? Well, he started tattooing when he was only 16. "I pieced together a Walkman motor, a Bic pen and a fork to make my first machine," he bemused. "It was a thing from nightmares! But, I built my professional life out of that awful Walkman motor contraption." Dave creates original, detailed and compelling pieces on skin, but he's also sold over 250 canvas paintings. With experience using airbrush and other techniques, anyone coming to see him for a consultation is guaranteed to get something original and versatile for their bod. To boot, he's...
In Fine Feather Yoga's Helena McKinney has an awesome blog, and we especially loved her post about the month of May being full of possibility! We've reblogged it here, but don't forget to bookmark her website too! Located at 219 Ottawa Street North, this lovely yoga studio runs an intimate practice space that accomodates up to 25 people. Follow on Twitter and Facebook! Expressing Possibility May, in its definition means expressing possibility and it couldn’t be said any better. This month has all the potential opportunities you provide it with. The possibilities for love, health, happiness, joy and gratitude are endless if you are open to receive. Love is a powerful, active life force and can be a vehicle for transformation. Choose the energy you wish to hold and do things that nurture this energy. Go for a walk in...
"We teach, we make, we geek" is the unofficial mantra at Prouse Pottery and Soap Co. Nick and Jennifer Prouse started their business (a delightful melange of two seemingly unrelated interests) ten years ago, having spent the last two at 116 Ottawa Street North. If you're expecting to just walk in and see a bunch of nondescript pots, you haven't met this dynamic, zany and warm duo. "We're a pottery and soap shop with a geek flair," explained Nick, who started out as a potter, then moved into soap-making to try to relieve a bout of eczema. It worked, and he and Jennifer looked into what they had to do with Health Canada, which regulates all cosmetics and soaps, and the rest is history. The Prouses run pottery classes with a twist - they provide classes according to YOUR schedule....
One of Ottawa Streets' favourite antique shops is hosting a spring auction in less than two weeks! Geoff from Steeltown Pickers has gathered up his favourite finds with great care and scrutiny to bring the best of the best to collectors and bargain hunters at the Pickers Spring Auction on May 23rd . You can expect to see original art, antique furniture, collectors items and other vintage oddities. Collectible tin toys, vintage maps, suitcases, vanity desks, chairs, slot machines, oil paintings, model radios and more treasures you could imagine are all up for grabs. The auction starts at 1pm sharp, but you can preview the items available and participate in advanced bidding between 11am-1pm. The Pickers Auction accepts cash, Visa, MasterCard AND debit, to make taking home your pick as easy as possible. The proceeds from all food and baked...
Did you know that 337 Sketch Gallery hosts Monday Night Drawing with a life model every Monday evening from 7pm to 9:30pm? Galleriest Anne Becker has been hosting these sessions weekly for about a decade on Ottawa Street North. The exercise is designed to improve hand and eye coordination, and the sessions are geared toward artists who already have some drawing experience, as there is no direct tutorial. That being said, many of the attendees are art teachers themselves. "If you need help, there is some help available," Anne clarified, adding that having experience is not necessarily a prerequisite to enjoy or participate in the session. So what can you expect if you're a newcomer? "The first half hour we do warm up gestures, then we break," Anne explained. "Afterwards, the model takes a pose and holds for the last...
With Mother's Day just around the corner, it seemed like we ought to drop a few gift tips. Forget gift cards (that's so impersonal) and don't you dare even look at appliances. Breakfast in bed and macaroni necklaces aside, Mom's always love feeling stylish. Orangetree Boutique (190 Ottawa Street North) has you covered. Every item in the boutique has been selected with incredible scruitny, showcasing only brand new and you'd-never-know-anyone-wore-it consignment items that are sure to be a hit. There is so much to choose from, but we narrowed it down to a few of our favourites to get your imagination going. First things first - the dress. We picked this MySquare maxi dress, in dark coral, because the cut and colour is flattering on all body types and skin tones. The v-neck is just the right amount of flirty,...
One of Ottawa Streets' favourite antique shops is hosting a sweet spring auction!!! Geoff from Steeltown Pickers has gathered up his favourite finds with great care and scrutiny to bring the best of the best to collectors and bargain hunters at the Pickers Spring Auction on May 23rd . You can expect to see original art, antique furniture, collectors items and other vintage oddities. Collectible tin toys, vintage maps, suitcases, vanity desks, chairs, slot machines, oil paintings, model radios and more treasures than you could imagine are all up for grabs. Visit their Facebook page for a full photo gallery of all these unbelievable finds! The auction starts at 1pm sharp, but you can preview the items available and participate in advanced bidding between 11am-1pm. The Pickers Auction accepts cash, Visa, MasterCard AND debit, to make taking home your pick...
