Toronto — distilled to its essence

Just off Lake Ontario, with the CN tower and a collage of skyscrapers hovering above, this former industrial area melds the corporate and cultural in a historic setting. Walking through the Mill Street entrance, you’ll immediately get the picture, as did virtually everyone I encountered, by either posing for a camera, or employing one, sensing the significance of it all.

This uncommon center was once a distillery, one of the world’s largest, beginning in 1832 when James Worts operated a windmill to mill grain. Partnering with brother-in-law William Gooderham, they formed the Gooderham & Worts Distillery, and by the 1880s it was the world’s largest distillery of alcoholic beverages, before being sold to Hiram Walker in the 1920s.

When Prohibition began in Ontario in 1916, the law prohibited the “selling of liquor for beverage purposes,” not its manufacture, fueling the idea that drama was inherent in distilling. Gooderham & Worts distilled on, shipping its product around the world. Eventually, though, the last rum barrel rolled out of the distillery in August 1990.

By 2001, the distillery had become mainly rubble when Matthew Rosenblatt and Cityscape, collaborating with Dundee Real Estate Development, began to re-create the area into something that people, a local or a tourist, would return to, Rosenblatt says.

Viewing business as art, and intent on establishing a neighborhood where you “get a sense of the city’s culture,” Rosenblatt and his cohorts have taken 44 buildings, the largest collection of Victorian industrial architecture in North America, and incorporated business, retail and artist spaces into a setting that exudes small-town charm. Walking these streets is akin to visiting an amusement park, and not having to pay for the rides, as the visual feast is entertainment enough.

For here is found , a 36-foot-tall sculpture by New York’s Dennis Oppenheim, is The Distillery’s Trinity Square centerpiece. Oppenheim views it as a combination of sculpture, architecture and theatre, explaining it “derives content from an association with early distillery images,” and “evokes the extraordinary drama inherent in the distilling process.

2012 World Cup Schedule Set

The 2012 edition of the World Cup mountain bike series will comprise 10 events in nine countries on three continents.

There will be seven rounds for each of the traditional mountain bike disciplines: Olympic cross-country, downhill and four-cross. Next season will also see the introduction of the cross-country eliminator, in which several rounds will go towards a final ranking. This format of racing will also be included in the 2012 UCI Mountain Bike & Trials World Championships.

As in 2011, the 2012 World Cup will open in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. Traditional venues such as Scotland’s Fort William, Mont-Sainte-Anne in Quebec, Canada, Italy’s Val di Sole and La Bresse in France are included on the calendar.

However La Bresse, known for its downhill course, will host an XC round in honour of Julien Absalon, multiple World Champion and double Olympic Champion, who lives just 15km from the venue.

A new triple event will be organised in Val d’Isère in France, site of the 2009 World Ski Championships. This will be the final cross-country event of the World Cup season, and the last time racers will meet before the 2012 London Olympic Games.

Meanwhile, the final downhill and four-cross events will take place in a new venue, the Hafjell Bike Park in Norway, which hosted the 2010 European Championships.

Other venues for the 2012 Mountain Bike World Cup are Houffalize, Belgium, returning to the calendar after one year’s absence, and Nove Mesto na Morave in the Czech Republic, which hosts an event for the second time.

One round in North America, remains to be confirmed.

The Dominion of Canada, with Newfoundland and an excursion to Alaska

Annual report - Entomological Society of Ontario

The manual of statistics, stock exchange hand-book

Canada, an illustrated weekly journal for all interested in the Dominion

Picturesque Canada: Grant, G. M. Quebec