The Downtown Paris BIA launched a new series, called Saturdays in Paris, on Saturday, January 4, 2025.
Rubyyy Jones of Big Cityyy Arts, who has partnered with the BIA to help design the numerous events taking place every Saturday over the next 12 weeks, said that the initiative aims to bring a variety of free events, activities and workshops to the downtown to get people out and about during the cold winter months.
“Last year, the BIA applied for funding from the Hamilton Halton Brant Regional Tourism Association with the idea of not only getting people out in the community during the winter months, but also in anticipation of the upcoming Downtown Dig,” said Rubyyy Jones. “It’s a way to remind people that while lots of things are going to be happening downtown, we’re always going to be doing our best to be offering exciting and enriching things during that time.”
Jones said that while the events have been designed with local community members in mind, it’s also a way to engage visitors from outside of the immediate region as well.
“It’s great that people in Paris or the surrounding county can wander down and discover fun new things, but we’re also hoping to engage those out-of-town visitors too. We’re really hoping that people will see something they like and make a day out of it with a plan to visit the area and see what we have to offer here,” said Jones. “The best thing about Paris are the little shops, boutiques and small businesses that exist here and I think because there’re so many great things about downtown Paris, sometimes it’s easy to forget about those businesses that are so, so vital to us as a community so it’s also a great way to learn more about our local entrepreneurs too.”
With three months of activities planned, Jones said that each month has been designed with a specific theme in mind.
“January is all about arts and culture, February is all about food and drink, and then March will really focus on recreation,” they said.
Upcoming events taking place every Saturday from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m.:
- January 11 – Paris Poetry Pop-up
- January 18 – Downtown Paris Art Crawl
- January 25 – Roving Murder Mystery
- February 1 – Downtown Food Sampler Tour
- February 8 – S’mores and Songs
- February 15 – Mystery Sip Scavenger Hunt
- February 22 – Grand Mac and Cheese Competition
- March 1 – Paris Walking Tour
- March 8 – Chill Moves: yoga, Qigong and Tai Chi
- March 15 – Photo Treasure Hunt
- March 22 – Dance Dance Dance
- March 29 – The Paris Winter Games
As well, Jones said that each Saturday, there will also be events taking place at Wincey Mills with Lisa Franklin, owner of Forest and Folk.
“Lisa will also have something going at Wincey Mills every Saturday so if you’re not a mac and cheese fan or maybe you don’t want to be outdoors that day, you can always check out something artsy and creative happening there.”
Franklin said that while many of the events are activities, she’ll be working to keep as many of the works that are created during the series as she can.
If someone wants to leave their work, I’ll definitely collect those bits and pieces and display them here so people can still come back and see what they’ve created,” said Franklin. “I think that’s a nice way to sort of have our participants splashing their mark on the community, you know?”
Kicking off this past Saturday, the afternoon was all about drawing, sketching and live art making, and despite the frigid temperatures, a host of residents and visitors alike braved the cold to tour around the downtown.
Five shops, including One Sixty One, the Gem Marketplace, Rebel and Royal, El Thrift and the Paris Wincey Mills Co., each had live models rotating through their shops, with drawing materials provided, effectively allowing artists to stop in and try their hand at drawing the live models.
Paris resident Patti Giroux, one of the artists who set up in the Gem Marketplace, said that overall, she’s excited about the initiative and is looking forward to having new activities to enjoy.
“Usually by the time the evening hits, I’m tired and I don’t really want to go out so it’s nice to know that there’s going to be things planned throughout the afternoon and I find that this is really giving me something to look forward to,” she said. “It’s so great because you get the opportunity to see what you have in town and it’s nice that you don’t have to commit to anything, you can just drop in and check it out with any pressure.”
Kimberly De Jong’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.The funding allows her to report rural and agricultural stories from Blandford-Blenheim and Brant County. Reach her at kimberly.dejong@brantbeacon.ca.
