2016 – it’s time for an update! It’s been five years since we photographed Main Street from 2nd all the way to 33rd. That’s 62 complete blocks of Main Street frontage – a moment in time from the summer of 2011 as the neighbourhood was bracing for a future that included condo towers on Main and Broadway, increased gentrification and a community in flux.
In 2012 we launched our project website and posted one block a day in the spring – East in the morning, West in the evening. We held a photo show at Bean Around the World on Main/20th in November 2014 with the assistance of Rita and Len at Vernissage Photography & Exhibitions and Amanda, the proprietor at Bean Around the World who has been incredibly supportive of this project (and whose café is celebrating 15 years on Main this year!). You can see some prints on permanent display at the Bean while you wish them a happy birthday.
On that note, did you know archival prints are available for any of the images on this site? If you have a favourite place or memory of Main Street and one of our shots captured this, contact us for pricing options and hang an image of Main Street in your own home or business.
Main Street in 2011 was a little different than it is today. In some places, it hasn’t changed at all. Some sections of Main remain mostly as they did five years ago, and for many years before that. But some blocks have seen incredible change in this short period. Old buildings torn down, new structures in their place and changes in tenancy as new businesses, living spaces and people come to call Main Street home while others bid farewell.
We’re preparing to revisit some of these significantly changed blocks in the coming months, photographing them as we did before with an honest, straight portrayal of the street as it exists in a time and place. This time it’s Summer, 2016. We’ve also gone back into our archive and selected additional shots for each block – you’ll find those updates mixed in on their respective block posts throughout this site.
Thank you for viewing our project and connecting with us on social media (instagram + twitter), commenting on our blog images, and Sharing Your Main. We appreciate it! Now, let’s continue this dialogue as the great communities of Mount Pleasant, Riley Park and Little Mountain move forward into the future.
{Disappearing} Main Street 