Skip to content

Friday is HOPE in the Street

Event starts at 4 p.m. on Friday.
20160613 hopeonstreet ro
Emily Elsasser, Lakeside Hope House event coordinator, welcomes Guelph to Friday's Hope in the Street party on Cork Street.

An entire block of Cork Street in downtown Guelph will be a street party on Friday, as the second annual HOPE in the Street happens.

The event is put on by Lakeside HOPE (Helping Overcome Poverty Everywhere) House, a charitable agency affiliated with Lakeside Church. HOPE in the Street is a way of fostering bounds of friendship and understanding between the city’s marginalized citizens and those who are more fortunate, event coordinator Emily Elsasser said.

Out on the street Monday afternoon, Elsasser excitedly visualized what would be in place come Friday. The event starts at 4 p.m. and runs until 11 p.m.

Pointing down to the end of Cork where it meets Wyndham Street, she said that’s where the food trucks will be. They’re new this year. Up from the trucks, she said, there will be the booths of about eight artisans and food vendors.

Elsasser runs directly across from HOPE House’s main entrance to a parking area behind Bits Bikes & Boards. This, she says with a sweeping gesture of the arms, is where the main stage for the live entertainment and music will be.

And pointing across the street to a Lakeside Hope House courtyard, she pictures the beer gardens that will be set up outside.

She gestures to a side door into the basement of the former Norfolk Street United Church, now part of Lakeside. In the event of inclement weather, the contingency plan is through that door, she said.

“Hope in the Street is a fundraiser and a community event where we are going to welcome summer in style,” Elsasser said, as she sat in the large common area inside the building, where lunch is served each day to those in need.

“We have it kicking off just a few days before the official start of summer. We’re shutting off Cork Street and we’re going to have lots of food, lots of music and entertainment, and a beverage section.”

The event helps bring awareness to HOPE House and the many programs it offers for those living in poverty, including its food market (a food bank), a free clothing bureau and low cost hair salon, and its daily café, to name a few.

“Because we are still a relatively new charitable organization we are always doing things to raise awareness about who we are, what we do, and the clients we serve,” she said. “And this is also largely a fundraiser.”

Admission to the street party will be by donation at the gates, and by request throughout the evening, and funds will also be raised through beer garden sales, she said. Four different breweries will be involved. Artisan and food vendors are paying a small fee to participate.

“It’s a way of bringing everyone together,” Elsasser said.

The unofficial mantra of HOPE House, she added, is that the opposite of poverty is not wealth, but rather community.

“What we really strive for here is creating that open, welcome environment where it doesn't matter what your background is, or what your going through, everyone deserves a smile, everyone deserves a handshake, and everyone deserves a hand-up,” she said. “We really work hard to create that safe space where everyone from any walk of life is welcome, and will be treated with the dignity and respect that every human being deserves.”

There was rain during last year’s event, and that kept the numbers down to about 400. This year, Elsasser hopes for clear skies and well over 1,000 visitors. The forecast calls for highs of 27C during the day on Friday with those much sought after clear skies. 

 “The funds will go to different areas of our programming,” she said, adding that the food market and daily café require a considerable amount of revenue to operate. The charitable organization has also begun a $250,000 fundraising campaign to add a dental clinic to its offerings.


Comments

Verified reader

If you would like to apply to become a verified commenter, please fill out this form.




Rob O'Flanagan

About the Author: Rob O'Flanagan

Rob O’Flanagan has been a newspaper reporter, photojournalist and columnist for over twenty years. He has won numerous Ontario Newspaper Awards and a National Newspaper Award.
Read more