James North Supercrawl: Be there

This Friday night, James North will play host to Art Crawl on steroids. You can't miss this!

By Ryan McGreal
Published October 08, 2009

Feature

The James North Art Crawl, held the second Friday every month, has grown organically for a few years now, expanding and enriching itself month to month as James North has expanded and enriched itself.

James Street North Supercrawl
James Street North Supercrawl

These days it goes far beyond a coordinated set of gallery openings and encompasses live music, restaurants, boutiques, crafts, the Art Bus, the famed Art Crawl upstairs after-parties and more. Tomorrow's event, the first annual Supercrawl, promises to be the biggest event yet.

On Friday, October 9, 2009 from 7:00 PM to 11:00 PM, James North will close to vehicular traffic between Cannon and Wilson to make room for three live music stages featuring some amazing bands, public art installations, food stalls, booths and more.

Events

The evening promises to be jammed with events worth seeing, and is expected to attract thousands of Supercrawlers.

Main stage

2nd stage – on James

Dr Disc stage (behind 20 Wilson Street)

Afterparties - 11:00pm onwards

C + C Music Festival Presented by CFMU and INDI101, This Ain't Hollywood

Hidden Pony Records @ SU, Sonic Unyon building

Beauty Industries Electronic Stage, Harvest Moon Restaurant Concert Hall ("Red Mill"), 80 James St. North, 2nd Floor

New Harbours, Christ's Church Cathedral on James

Ryan McGreal, the editor of Raise the Hammer, lives in Hamilton with his family and works as a programmer and writer. Ryan volunteers with Hamilton Light Rail, a citizen group dedicated to bringing light rail transit to Hamilton. He is also is the city editor for H Magazine. Several of his essays have been published in the Hamilton Spectator. Ryan also maintains a personal website and has been known to post passing thoughts on twitter.

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By UrbanRenaissance (registered)
Posted October 08, 2009 15:27:30

Kudos to the organizers for planning what sounds like an amazing night of art, and changing people's preconceptions of what Hamilton's downtown is.

My girlfriend and I have been trying to go on one of these Art Crawls for months, but every month it seems that something comes up on the 2nd Friday preventing us from going. Hopefully everyone going has a blast and maybe we'll see you next month...

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Raising the Hammer and user name character limits since '09 (A.K.A. Ryan Danks)
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By reuben (registered) - website
Posted October 08, 2009 15:36:01

same with us, urbanrenaissance. every 2nd friday this summer we have been out of town or unable to find a sitter. we only made it out to one crawl (for an hour or so) this past spring.

we will be at supercrawl for sure.

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By race_to_the_bottom (anonymous)
Posted October 08, 2009 15:39:27

Rain or shine, I wouldn't miss it for the world!

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By Thor (anonymous)
Posted October 08, 2009 15:41:33

@race_to_the_bottom

Good news: the weather forecast for tomorrow gets better and better. This morning the forecast said it was going to rain all night, now it's down to "a few showers" and then cloudy. The Rain Gods approve of arts-based revitalization, woohoo!

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By Perseus (anonymous)
Posted October 08, 2009 16:09:29

Great to see this! I was starting to worry that RTH wasn't supporting the street-level arts event of the year!

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By jason (registered)
Posted October 08, 2009 18:08:44

This is going to be an amazing event. Perseus, I've been meaning to write a piece on this for weeks, but the darn H1N1 got in my way for the month of September. Kudos to Ryan for picking up my slack (as usual).

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By FenceSitter (anonymous)
Posted October 08, 2009 19:25:32

It will be cool.

Pencil the 2nd Friday of the month on your calender with the words Art Crawl and then nothing will come up because you already have plans.

I often take my 2 kids (3 and 5) on the crawl. Bring yours along too.

To those first timers (and everyone else), have a great night at SuperCrawl. See you there!!!

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By Crawler (anonymous)
Posted October 08, 2009 19:55:27

Great idea to combine the James North Art Crawl and the C+C Music festival. Both are wonderful home grown events and combining them will see great attendance for sure!

We are still not numerous enough to fill every fabulous event, all the time...but soon we will be...

I also would not miss it...for those of use who have been attending the art crawl for a couple of years now (is it a couple or a few???)...this is truly a wonderful time...

Hats off to all the visionaries that knew this could work and become!!! Loose Cannon, Mixed Media, The Print Studio, Artist Inc. Blue Angel, You Me...some of the pioneers who believed..I take my hat off!!!!

Who'd a thought we'd be here...you did...

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By JonC (registered)
Posted October 08, 2009 20:03:50

I think this is year four.

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By highwater (registered)
Posted October 08, 2009 20:36:46

Crawler wrote:

We are still not numerous enough to fill every fabulous event, all the time...but soon we will be...

Barring a torrential downpour, I think attendance for this event will exceed expectations. Virtually everyone I know is going (or wishes they could), and I'm a deeply uncool West Hamilton soccer mom.

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'bumper to bumper experience'
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By jason (registered)
Posted October 09, 2009 10:10:15

well folks, bring your umbrellas tonight. I've taken a gander at my plethora of weather sites and it's ain't looking good.

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By michaelcumming (registered) - website
Posted October 09, 2009 11:32:50

Can't wait for the Supercrawl. It will be a blast. My wife Cornelia is planning an impromptu art event. I can't tell you how good I feel when I attend these Art Crawls. I'll be the guy with the Olympus SLR taking pictures of the lady in the green rain coat.

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By D.E.A.R. (anonymous)
Posted October 09, 2009 14:18:27

My 1st time out tonight. Thanks for organizing. Not sure who to thank but kudos!

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By Capitalist (anonymous)
Posted October 09, 2009 14:39:02

Stuff like this is long overdue for the downtown. It is a unique reason to bring people to the core.

Whoever is organizing this should win the Nobel Peace Prize!

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By Dave Kuruc (anonymous)
Posted October 09, 2009 15:24:20

Free maid oft he mist rain ponchos at Mixed Media tonight - kidding!

Hope to see lots of you out tonight - there will be lots of dry spots and warm gallery space. A little rain won't hurt you - the after parties look promising too!

supercrawl dot ca

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By jason (registered)
Posted October 09, 2009 15:45:11

well said Dave. Other cities don't fold up like a cheap suit when a little rain or snow comes. It'll just make the experience a more memorable one!

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By Dunce (anonymous)
Posted October 10, 2009 10:05:48

Comments with a score below -5 are hidden by default.

You can change or disable this comment score threshold by registering an RTH user account.

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By JonC (registered)
Posted October 10, 2009 10:36:48

That wasn't exactly a downpour, a rain jacket kept me dry enough. But I suppose there is always something to complain about. I suppose a better question might be, who organized an awesome street party. Followed up with a "Thank you".

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By Michelle Martin (registered) - website
Posted October 10, 2009 11:16:13

"Who is the genius that decided to have what would have been a good event in the middle of October, our rainy season?"

Who is the genius who blames other people for the weather?

Life is what you make it. Wish I could have gone, rain or no rain.

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"Do not look at the faces in the illustrated papers. Look at the faces in the street." G.K. Chesterton
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By LL (registered) - website
Posted October 11, 2009 13:32:54

For better or worse, I think the Supercrawl has tangibly increased the process of change that's happening downtown.

New urbanists better realize that the change is not "all good". Otherwise, activists would not have had to organize against SOME elements of the arts community who were waging political attacks against sex workers.

If no change happens, and we let the local ruling class worship asphalt, Hamilton will be dead in 20 years. If art and urban renewal is all we're doing, the Hammer is just going to be another sterile yuppie ghetto in 20 years. If we do art and urban renewal, plus tenants unions, a worker action center, a cyclists union, urban farming/permaculture, and neighbourhood associations that are about democracy, not property values - then Hamilton will be a socially relevant place in 20 years.

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LL believes that the problems of the city reflect deeper social contradictions
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By Active (anonymous)
Posted October 11, 2009 16:43:58

The inmates are running the asylum!

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By grassroots are the way forward (registered)
Posted October 12, 2009 02:56:18

I enjoyed the evening. Saw some art, crafts, music, bought some vegetables. Learned there is a ghost walk coming up at worker art and heritage. Enjoyed a lecture and the music after.

I agree with LL, we need to focus on other issues as well, so it is democratic and all the voices are at the table.

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Those from the grassroots can affect change
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By Really? (registered)
Posted October 13, 2009 13:08:30

Great Time (despite the Rain)!

Even got some out-of-towners and suburbanites to join me; all had a great time!

Kudos to everyone who put this together! Great Job!

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By Ryan (registered) - website
Posted October 13, 2009 13:16:56

We had a great time. (I'm a bit ashamed to admit that this was my first Art Crawl - I just haven't been able to make it any other months!)

The crowd on the street was quite respectable given the steady rainfall and chill air, but the real action was inside the galleries and shops, every one of which seemed to be packed with people.

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"Common sense is that which tells us the world is flat."
--Stuart Chase
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