DBIA Featured Post: Thin City Skate Shop

For some people, a hobby is just a hobby. For others, it is a way of life and can evolve into much more than a simple interest. Josh Johnson, owner of Thin City Skate Shop located at 410 George St N., is one of those people who took his hobby to an entirely different level.

An avid skateboarding enthusiast for over 12 years now, Josh grew up in an era where Peterborough had a smaller go-to skateshop in Breeze which many people in the hobby will remember. It was the hub for skating enthusiasts in the community but sadly closed down roughly eight years ago.

After that, the market changed with larger big brand stores moving in and seemingly taking over. At the age of 20, Josh decided to do something about that. Starting out with a loan from Community Futures, Josh opened Thin City in May of 2011 and hasn’t looked back since. Known for custom ordering and set ups of skateboards, longboards, snowboards and scooters, Thin City has become what could be considered the local authority on all things board sports in our great city!

Offering plenty of experience and advice in all things board sports, Josh has turned his small shop into a great setting for local hobbyists to check out. With a smaller sized shop comes a smaller inventory, but that hasn’t stopped Josh from having a large catalogue to choose specialized parts and most brands that you can think of to order in at a moment’s notice. If he doesn’t have something on hand in the shop, chances are that he can order it in in no time. This also includes clothing that he has in his retail set-up.

Coming soon, Thin City will also be opening up an e-commerce online shop that will make them even more accessible to its clients, allowing it to reach out into the community and abroad even more.

Thin City is proud to carry a few local consignment companies in stock and loves carrying Canadian brands in an effort to support Canadian board sports. Josh wants his shop to be as accessible as possible and to be the shop run by locals for locals with experience and knowledge to share—without the big chain store feeling to it.

Still an avid skateboarder himself, Josh and his store Thin City are proud to put on a few events at our local skate part every year. The “Open Season Burn” and “Shred Fest” have been huge hits amongst local boarders and he plans to continue expanding these events and promote what he considers the greenest mode of transportation and fun around.

On top of these events, Josh has also been involved with city council meetings in an effort to
legalize skateboarding in the street, and has even written for Concrete Wave Magazine on the topic of Peterborough and skateboarding over the past few decades.

So, if you’ve ever been interested in board sports, or are looking for a more local feel when shopping for your next ride, we suggest you head down to Thin City and talk to someone with all the knowledge you could ask for!

For more on Thin City Skate Shop (410 George St. N.), go to:
Website: ThinCitySkateShop.com
Twitter: @thincitysk8shop
Facebook: ThinCityLongboard
Phone: 705.775.5664

For more on Downtown Peterborough and the Downtown Business Improvement Area (DBIA), click here.

—By Aaron Elliott

Some Classic Staff Pics: Queen Elizabeth Public School To Celebrate 75th Anniversary

On Saturday, October 26th, Queen Elizabeth Public School (located at 830 Barnardo Avenue) will be celebrating their 75th Anniversary. To honour this occasion, they'll be hosting an Open House from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. that day. Current and former staff and students are of course invited, as well as the community. Come by and check out the classrooms and memorabilia on display from decades past. 

If you have any items you think that would make a great addition to the festivities to showcase that day from your time at Queen Elizabeth Public School, call 705.742.6331. 

To learn more about this upcoming event and check out classic student/teacher photos from the past (see a few below), check out their Facebook page. 

Staff 1972-1973

Staff 1985-1986

Staff 1980-1981

[Contributed by PtboCanada's Julie Morris]

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DBIA Featured Post: Plush Boutique

Anchored directly in the middle of downtown Peterborough’s “Fashion District”, you will find The Plush Boutique at 384 George St N. Locally owned and operated by Mike and Shelby Watt, Plush is the second of three stores this successful entrepreneurial couple has opened on George St (the others are Flavour Fashion and Save Our Soles). Coming from out of town to study at Trent University, Mike decided to stay and put down roots. After opening Flavour in 1999 to a great response, he would open Plush Boutique as a store for young professionals looking for quality clothing that makes them stand out in a crowd.

Offering brands and styles not found anywhere else in the city, the aim of the store is to specialize, be exclusive, and offer quality clothing that not only shows impeccable craftsmanship but respects the heritage of the brand being presented.

As the face of the brand, you will find Mike at one of his shops at least 3 to 4 days a week. When he isn’t on the floor advising on style, he is in the office or on the road finding new looks that suit each of his shops. His always friendly and welcoming staff is specially trained to help with detailed looks that customers are trying to put together. Often you will find Plush holding “fit clinics” for brands where brand reps will be on site to provide info to interested buyers. These are always a hit.

Plush is also involved with charity work in giving proceeds of sales at various times of the year to various local causes. As a locally owned business, Plush realizes the value in assisting the community it operates in and working to sustain it while pushing for growth in all aspects. Buying local has a very deep meaning for everyone involved.

Learn more about Mike Watt and Plush in this video.

For more on Plush (384 George St N.), go to:

Theplushboutique.blogspot.com
@plushbtq on Twitter
Facebook.com page
Phone: 705.741.1812

For more on Downtown Peterborough and the Downtown Business Improvement Area (DBIA), click here.

—By Aaron Elliott

61 Awesome Things About Peterborough In 2012

There was so much awesome about this city this year. In no particular order really, here's 61 of them (we had to cut if off somewhere)...

1. Peterborough Lakers winning the Mann Cup. Best in Canada baby!

2. Red Pashminas, which empower women locally and globally.

3. Trent's LipDub video, a great showcase for the university.

4. Doug Tilley's comedy, whether it's his "singing" or tweeting or... what's next Tilley?

5. Bandwagon episodes. Now in its 2nd season, which launched with Sloan.

6. Wild Rock celebrating 20 years in the downtown. And making the decision to stay in the downtown when they could have moved.

7. PMZ, Peterborough's TMZ celebrating local "celebrities".

8. I'd Rather Be In Peterborough tees. Community spirit.

9. Spanky's annual ping pong tourney for Movember. Spanky's offering a place to play ping pong in town.

"Call Me Maybe" 10. The city rallying behind a teenager's right to play basketball on his own driveway.

11. Philanthropy month in Peterborough showcasing all the people doing good in the community. #bethechangeptbo

12. The new downtown nightclub ARIA, which rivals Toronto's finest.

13. St. Peter's high school students dressing as superheroes during Head of the Trent regatta.

14. Peterborough Cycling Summit. Bike this city. Let's make it as bike friendly as possible.

15. Elton John concert, the one where he actually played Peterborough—not his cancelled one.

GPA EDC's Dan Taylor at Creative Cocktail16. The Peterborough Calendar Girls naked truth campaign raising awareness about the affordable housing shortage here.

17. Breakfast Television broadcasting live from Peterborough. Great coup for our city.

18. Carrie Underwood and Mike Fisher at Gerti's. (We don't believe they had the polo sandwich, but it's excellent.)

19. Carly Rae Jepsen at Musicfest. Peterborough singing "Call Me Maybe".

20. Final photo of PCVS students and staff together. This city will never forget the impact this school had, and its legacy.

21. A canoe portage in downtown Peterborough.

22. The Taste of Downtown. So much great food down there. And great folk.

23. The Dragon Boat festival.

24. The Hootenanny on Hunter. It's a hoot.Mike Watt

25. The Gilmour Street Garage Sale. Epic as always.

26. Hunter Street, one of the best streets anywhere for food, drink, shops, live music, theatre, festivals, hot dogs, great vibe.

Rick Mercer at PCVS27. Maryam's Monsef's story about how a city and school saved her life.

28. Peterborough dog pictures.

29. Rick Mercer's Rant on PCVS.

30. Rick Mercer's visit to PCVS, in video and pictures.

31. Noah Leslie—aka @pennyboynoah, who raises money for the Salvation Army Toy Drive each year.

32. Pete Dalliday's unbelievable shot. Believe it.

33. Someone canoeing on a Peterborough street. Canoe Peterborough.

34. Koski.

35. The PeterTweeter awards. Twitter's where it's at. Amazing Twitter community in town. (Follow us here.)

36. Mike Watt's how-to plaid video. Hilarious.

37. Creative Cocktails—here's the one from Market Hall.

St. Peter's superheroes38. Jonny Trash DJing at Spanky's. Best DJ around.

39. The Peterborough web series Grimwell.

40. Petes Insider, giving us the inside goods on the Petes organization.

41. The excellent Canadian Canoe Museum. We're lucky to have it. And let's move it downtown by the waterfront.

42. Electric City Live, which covers the local music scene in Peterborough. Great name, great site.

43. The Art School of Peterborough. Creativity. Imagination.

44. Mike Judson, who went homeless on the streets of Peterborough for 48 hours to raise awareness about the problem here.

Silver Bean45. Peterborough Police for serving and protecting this community, and embracing social media by joining Twitter this year.

46. Rachel Seaman and Ashley Brzozowicz, who competed in the Olympics this summer (Ashley won a silver in her sport, rowing). The tees

47. Downtown Peterborough. Embrace it. Vital. Make it sustainable. Build a city from its core.

48. Silver Bean Café, beauty spot on the river.

49. Our friends at The Wolf and Kruz FM, huge supporters of Peterborough and us. And the always smiling Carol Edwards there, who lets us in through the out door.

50. Three Loonies, for Kawartha Food Share.

51. The return of the Wire Awards. Special night at Market Hall putting spotlight on amazing music scene in Peterborough—one of the best anywhere in Canada.

52. Gallery in the truck. A moving gallery. Great concept. Love it.

53. PtboFinds and PtboProps.

54. Kawartha Turtle Trauma Centre.

55. The DBIA's new website by BrandHealth. Excellent.

56. Lois Tuffin, the news diva of Peterborough and the Kawarthas. Never shy about expressing her opinion.

57. Fleming's Student Volunteering Club, students with a sense of community pride.

58. Funny hashtags. E.g. 6,000 people went without power for a couple hours, and #ptboblackout began trending on Twitter in Peterborough. Sample tweet: "I wonder how many babies will be conceived during this blackout #ptboblackout" 

59. John Leacy's mural art around town. Gabby's wall, Spanky's wall and more.

60. Natas Cafe, the epicentre for Peterborough's amazing people.

61. All our readers and followers on Twitter and Facebook. You rock.

Here's to a great 2013!

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A Look At Tango In Peterborough's Fashion District

Désirée Fawn in her funky storeDésirée Fawn, who has been the new owner of Tango since April, invited PtboCanada to the shop in Peterborough's Fashion District to take a peek at all that it has to offer. Located at 366 George Street North, it is a must-stop when shopping downtown for something new to add to your closet. Tango prides itself as being "carefully curated to fit your lifestyle, body, and budget."

The store is welcoming and beautifully laid out with the works of Jackson Creek Press and Lucky Jackson on display, all of which gives this little downtown gem a sense of community and shopping local.  

Désirée strives to find unique clothing and accessory lines that you can't just walk into every store and find. Through various online resources, blogs and recommendations from her suppliers, the store is filled with brands that have a unique style, feel and look to them.

A few little updates around the shop - new shelves!

Désirée has been thrilled with the popularity of Yoga Jeans she sells. You have to try on a pair to truly appreciate how comfy and amazing these jeans really are. More styles, colours and sizes will be arriving at the store soon so be sure to check them out.

Take advantage of Tango's current promotion by buying a gift card for a friend and in turn you end up with savings for yourself in the new year. 

To find out more about Désirée and the shop, visit Facebook, Twitter or the Tango website. Holiday hours are Monday/Tuesday 10 to 6, Wednesday 10 to 5, Thursday/Friday 10 to 8, Saturday 10 to 6 and Sunday  12 to 5.

[Contributed by PtboCanada's Julie Morris]

Tip us at tips@ptbocanada.com. Follow us on Twitter @Ptbo_Canada (hashtag #bethechangeptbo) or Like us on Facebook.

Get Your "I'd Rather Be In Peterborough" T-Shirt This Month & Donation Goes To Movember

Buy one of these tees this month to show your community spirit, and $2 from every sale goes to Movember. These tees have been spotted in NY, Peru, San Diego, Apsley—and of course Peterborough! Tweet Pete Dalliday or email him to find out how to purchase one.

Tip us at tips@ptbocanada.com. Follow us on Twitter @Ptbo_Canada (hashtag #bethechangeptbo) or Like us on Facebook.

St. Peter's High School Students Bring It With Superhero Outfits During Head Of The Trent Regatta

We spotted a superhero team at Head of the Trent Saturday (September 29th) at Trent University that spectators loved—"Go Justice League!" shouted a few cheering fans. The team is composed of Grade 12 St. Peter's students Owen Barker (3rd seat, as Spider-Man), Sam Lapum as Robin, Trevor Leahy as Superman, Matt Lapum as Batman, and their coxie Emma Arsenal. "We had the option to either row in Peterborough unisuits, or go with our superhero ones," says Owen. "We decided to stand out and have a little fun with the crowd. This was a last minute decision, but judging by the crowd everyone seemed to enjoy the suits! To bad we can't wear them when competing for our school this coming spring!"

[Head of the Trent Regatta]

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30 Craft Market At Library Could Be The Perfect Day For Purchasing Mother's Day Gift

Be sure to stop by the Peterborough Public Library on Saturday May 12th between 12 p.m. - 5 p.m. for the opportunity to check out many local artisians and crafters at the 30 Craft Market. 

[Contributed by PtboCanada's Julie Morris]

Tip us at tips@ptbocanada.com. Follow us on Twitter @Ptbo_Canada (hashtag #bethechangeptbo) or Like us on Facebook. 

Great Plaid Men's Wear Is 40% Off Right Now At Zellers

As Zellers liquidates their inventory, plaid wearers rejoice as clothing is now 40% off.
There are also a select few Peterborough Petes clothing still available too.

[Contributed by PtboCanada's Evan Holt]

Tip us at tips@ptbocanada.com. Follow us on Twitter @Ptbo_Canada (hashtag #bethechangeptbo) or Like us on Facebook.