I FINALLY remembered to pull out my phone to shoot some shots to share of the downtown core this week! This post is for Wednesday Walk challenge championed by our friend
@tattoodjay and the Make me Smile Collaboration challenge lead by 
@elizacheng. The basic idea is going for a walk, taking pictures, sharing stories and making people smile.
This Weds, we are warming up for the 
My walk started out at our gallery office as I am hanging art, finishing preparations, and cleaning up for our grand opening. Adding a little green to the office for some ambience and oxygen. Also, we have invited local artists to use our space as a downtown art gallery where we will help them sell their pieces commission free. Gotta support the arts and we get cool decorations while doing it!
We have had our doors open a while but used the office as a bullpen and hangout space 'til now. We have the sign up and are about to peel the Coming Soon style sticker off the window to let the light and public in. We like to help local businesses build their own marketing mechanism in the aim of keeping the money spent in town to support the local economy.
Just down the road, you can see some of our neighbours and only the line of parked cars can get in the way of the colour. One of the neat things about this area is every business is unique and there is not a chain or franchise in sight.
One of them is https://blackswanbrewing.ca/ which followers of my beer blog will recognize well. The oldest of the new wave of local craft breweries and partially responsible for my obsession with IPAs.
You can see some of the direct neighbours we have. A newer cafe, one of the best beer patios in town, our clients https://thedenstratford.com/ and a sushi restaurant I haven't actually visited in years. I should.
In preparation for any dogs who visit our open house on Friday, I crossed the street to The Barkery https://thebarkery.ca/ for some of their inhouse made treats. We are helping the downtown BIA with an initiative to make the downtown area more friendly for dogs so people feel welcome bringing them down.
A bit further down the road, we are approaching the town square and one of the most popular watering holes for sports, billiards, patio and mostly watery beer.
The square was revitalized a few years ago and now it is somewhat of a busy spot for locals and tourists. Shops and restaurants of all sorts and even plenty of parking as well.
Even the lawn chairs and picnic tables are made locally and offer a place to relax, have a picnic, or even enjoy a beer like in Europe with the relaxed drinking rules remaining from Covid.
City Hall stands tall in the middle of it all with the freshly redone rainbow sidewalk of inclusivity. Some of the rednecks are not happy about the message but there is a vocal minority who is visibly fighting for equality no matter how many 4x4s burn their tires out over the walk.
Some neat old buildings have lined the square over a century and now are home to many locally owned shops. Not too much traffic compared to the big city and a nice home for businesses like Sound Fixation https://www.soundfixation.ca/ the record store owned by my friend Trevor.
August is probably peak tourism time in a town that boasts the Stratford Shakespeare Festival attended by thatre lovers from around the world. Some photo sessions are goin on as people take in a play, visit a restaurant, do some shopping and wander around our quaint little town.
Looking north, a few more shops and restaurants closer to the main intersection. You know you are in a small town when there is a main intersection!
It wouldn't be summer in Canada without some oppressive road construction right in the middle of it all. They don't wait til the offseason because winter comes relatively quickly and better to work outdoors when it is nice. There are 2 season here. Winter and Construction.
Headed back through the square, the #beerologist in me felt compelled to pause and take a pic of another favourite tap room of mine. Heritage Hops is the place I pick up 21 Haze IPA https://heritagehopsbrew.com/products/21-haze-east-coast-ipa often when I have 30 minutes to burn or room in the fridge.
Perhaps the biggest draw to the area are the 4 big theatres each with their own productions going on. Our office is only a few doors down from The Avon Theatre which is the most central and is set up almost like an opera rather than the stage protruding into the crowd like the other theatres. So many great shows here and I usually catch them in the offseason.
One last peak up a side street with mercifully low traffic we generally enjoy. We have a couple clients on this block with real estate veteran Lauren Francis https://www.laurenfrancis.ca/ on the left and Indian restaurant Raja https://rajastratford.ca/ on the right. Might as well put up some juicy Hive backlinks to the websites we created for each of them!