Jane's Walk comes to Montreal this year, and Mary will lead two in Outremont.

In May 2007, a year after Jane Jacobs died, her friends in Toronto began a tribute to her--free walks led by people passionate about a neighborhood in honour of the urban pioneer and great champion of the walkable city. Since then the Jane's Walk idea has spread across the continent. This year there will be more than 20 cities participating, and Montreal will probably have about a dozen individual walk, all taking place on May 2 or 3.

The Centre for Urban Ecology is the organizer in Montreal. So far walks are set for Mile End, Milton-Park, NDG, la Petite Patrie, the Gay Village, St. Henri-Tucot interchange area, Villeray and Ouotremont, with some neighborhoods getting more than one walk. Since this is a citizen's initiative, the walks will probably be quite eclectic.

Among them will be two in Outremont led by me, one in French on Saturday May 2 and a bilingual French-English one on Sunday May 3. The title is: From Dr. Beaubien's Farm to Bernard Avenue Bling. Both will begin in Parc Beaubien before winding around the neighborhood where I've lived for ages. We'll go past the remnants of one of the first farms in the area, go along an old Amerindian trail (Côte Sainte-Catherine Road,) past some truly lovely big houses, check out the eruv and some much more modest housing before ending up along the Bernard Avenue shopping street. Then those who want can picnic in Parc Saint-Viateur, either feasting on a lunch they'd brought or on goodies bought at one of the restos on Bernard. Sign up here.