Live. Uptown.

A great thing about living Uptown is the diversity of art & culture that is packed into such a relatively small geographic area. Uptown has one of the highest concentrations of artists and art galleries in Atlantic Canada and a wealth of venues for music, theater and culture. Each September, Fusion SJ hosts the annual Harvesting the Arts festival in Kings’ Square that highlights music, food & art from the neighborhood. It’s a fun, free day enjoyed by everyone in the community. There is a music tent set up with sets from  from Quonset, Kristina Trites, December Fallout, Girls Would Kill and many more. Artisans will have their works for sale along with various food vendors. There is also a pile of children’s activities to keep anyone from any age entertained. Come out & enjoy!

Please note that due to the arrival of Hurricane Earl, this event has been moved to Sunday, September 5th from 10am-5pm. Visit www.fusionsj.com for more info.

Candidates for the upcoming provincial election joined a large crowd tonight at the Church of St. Andrew & St. David in Uptown tonight as part of the Make Poverty History community barbecue. Candidates from all parties fielded questions on a variety of issues effecting the Uptown neighborhood.  Great weather helped make for a great evening as well.

Importantly, a big part of the message at tonight’s gathering was how critical it is for all Uptown residents to get out and vote. More info on how to vote can be found at: www.electionsnb.ca

Next Friday, August 27th, Uptown is “getting down” as Fusion presents the 2nd annual Princess Street Block Party. Between 5pm and 7pm Princess Street will be shut down to traffic & fully licensed as guests celebrate the continued evolution of the new “block” dining district in the Canterbury, Prince William and Princess Streets area of Uptown. Tasty treats will be served up and drinks enjoyed from such establishments as Scores Grill, Bourbon Quarter, Happinez Wine Bar, The Canterbury Lounge, Big Tide Brewing, Alley Gria and more! DJ Hawk will provide the tunes as he works turntables. A night not to be missed!

Come celebrate Uptown living at it’s best! More info on Facebook here.

Diversity is such a great part of living uptown! A great crowd was on hand today for the Multicultural Potluck BBQ in King’s Square. The BBQ was presented by Saint John Multicultural & Newcomers Resource Centre Inc.  A beautiful day for fun & friendship under sunny skies in the park!

Wow! There is so much fun lined-up in Uptown this weekend in that is difficult to keep track of it all. Major events include the grand opening of the Canterbury Lounge, the Reunion 2010 Concerts, the Fundy Bay Festival and Marathon by the Sea.

Uptown will be hoping from Thursday to Sunday. Events like this are what makes our neighborhood so great to live in. Come out and enjoy our city at it’s best!

Our friends Judith Mackin & Robert Moore recently had their fantastic Mt. Pleasant home (so close to Uptown!)  featured on the HGTV.ca blog. While it’s not precisely “living uptown”, Mt. Pleasant does have a nice view of the city centre. We’re proud to see our city showcased in such a cool way!

Congrats Judith & Robert for showing us all how amazing living inside the city core can be. A great inspiration for sure!

The “best summer in years” continued in Uptown Saint John this past long weekend with sunny skies and big crowds celebrating New Brunswick Day in the city centre. While many parts of the east coast have been baking in a heat wave much of the past couple months, Uptown has been enjoying near-perfect weather with minimal fog, warm temperatures and a fresh breeze.

Let’s hope this trend continues all the way to Thanksgiving!

Over the last year the street scape in the Princess, Canterbury & Prince William Street area of Uptown has seen an incredible resurgence especially with regards to dining & nightlife establishments. New spots have popped up at Scores Grill, The Canterbury Lounge, Bourbon Quarter,  Alley Gria and Big Tide Brewing to compliment existing landmarks like Churchhill’s, Thandi, O’Leary’s, Callahan’s, Opera Bistro and Happinez.  Rumours also persist about a new restaurant in the works for the old Lemongrass location on Princess. This section of Uptown is becoming so rocking that many are now starting to dub the area “The Block”. A great addition to the Uptown scene for sure!

We are having so much fun with this blog talking about everything cool about living in Uptown Saint John that we decided to expand our presence to Facebook as well.  Look for us at www.facebook.com/uptownhomes as we share photos & discussions about life in Uptown SJ. Spread the word!

Hardly a day goes by now in the Uptown/South End area of the city without new construction or renovations to be spotted going on somewhere in the neighborhood. Recently work has begun on an amazing heritage property on Broad Street. Great to see these old buildings getting new life! We’ve got such great treasures in our own backyard.