Category Archives: Park Oven
Reopening: Open Ovens Return!
Hello!
Our small group of volunteers have been working on plans for an oven revival this season.
We will begin with a few set open oven times, expanding access beyond that as plans firm up and capacity increases.
We appreciate your eagerness to get involved and make use of this wonderful community resource.
Please watch this space for updates and trust that we are working towards a return to the vibrant park gatherings we all love!
🔥 🍕 🌳
Spotlight: Hawthorn Elementary Bakes Bannock and Raises Over $300 for PACO
Recently, students, teachers and some parents from Hawthorn Elementary School in Dartmouth made a visit to the Park Avenue Community Oven. Over the course of a morning and afternoon, the entire school came out to bake bannock in the oven as part of their end of year celebrations.
We could not be more thrilled to hear about the great time these civic-minded students had baking bannock in the oven.
The school also took up a collection for the community oven and were able to raise over $300! That is enough money to provide firewood for every event at the oven for the next 2 months!
Generous community backing such as this more easily allows the Park Oven to continue to offer our inclusive venue for the enjoyment of citizens and visitors of our neighbourhood. We appreciate Hawthorn’s commitment to our next generation and for supporting volunteer organizations such as our own.
Have you visited the oven and have a story to share? Drop us a note at paco@dartmouth-oven.com. We would love to hear from you!
Open Bread is FINALLY here
There was once a dream that was baking bread in the Park Oven, you could only whisper it. Anything more than a whisper and it would vanish.
Well, the dream has finally come true.
Starting, Sunday, June 30th we will be setting aside a dedicated time once a month to bake bread in the oven. Having a dedicated time is extremely important as the ideal temperature and configuration of the oven for baking is vastly different than during our regular Open Oven (which caters to the cooking of pizza at extremely high temperatures).
Head over to our Open Bread page to find out all the details!
Thursday Open Oven IS BACK!!!
We’ve had so many people ask about when this would be back that we are excited to finally announce the return of our popular Thursday Open Oven for the 2019 season.
12 to 3 pm every Thursday until the end of August our summer interns Olivia and Kate will be lighting and hosting Open Oven.
Thank you to the Downtown Dartmouth Business Commission for sponsoring this great summer activity for the 4th year!
Want to know more? Check out our Open Oven page.
Notice – 2019 Annual General Meeting
Hi Friends and Volunteers,
This is a notice of the Annual General Meeting of the Leighton Dillman Park Oven, Garden, and Orchard Association.
The AGM will take place on Saturday, June 29th at 10 AM, at the Park Oven on Park Avenue in downtown Dartmouth. Should rain be in the forecast, it will be postponed to the following Saturday, July 6th, same time and place. The rain notice will be posted on our website no later than 24 hours before the meeting is to start.
We hope to see you there!
Board of Directors
Leighton Dillman Park Oven, Garden and Orchard Association.
Celebrating Food & Volunteers at the Park Avenue Community Oven (VIDEO)
WARNING, the following video will probably make you hungry! The footage was recorded in Autumn 2015, during the last time the original Park Oven was used before being rebuilt. The video highlights our amazing volunteers as well as the versatility of the oven. Watch as our volunteers prepare pizzas, bake hand-pressed tortillas, cook in cast iron pans and roast meat directly on the coals!
Annual General Meeting
AGMs are a very important annual event for any society or association. They offer an opportunity for interested members, citizens, and other stakeholders to receive an update on the overall health of the organization.
It is very important that all volunteers (volunteers are association members) attend the AGM and play an active role in governing the direction of the association. Any member of the community is welcome to attend the AGM as well. However, only those who have a garden plot or who have volunteered with us within the last year of the AGM are eligible to attend as voting members.
2017 Annual General Meeting Details:
Date: Saturday, June 24th
Time: 3:15 PM
Location: Starr Room, Alderney Gate Public Library (located on the 2nd floor)
Rebuild, 2016 Season Launch Update
Spring ‘s here! With the warmer weather upon us (almost) we’re gearing up for our 4th full season of baking in the park. Given the necessary rebuild of the oven last fall though we’ll be launching a month later than usual in order to complete the final stages of work on the oven.
We’ve scheduled a work-day for May 7th with participants in the first phase workshop around demolition and building to be on hand as we complete the outer layer of the oven. Affording time for the materials to cure/dry, we’re hoping for a soft launch and our first open oven of the season by June. As we ramp up for the season the volunteers are working to plan an official season launch for early July.
Among other work underway is planning for the urban orchard, reservations of garden plots, construction of accessible garden beds and the development of a new and improved website. Stay tuned for more information in the coming month.
2015 Spring season soft-launch: Saturday, May 2
On Saturday, May 2nd PACO will host our first Open Oven of the season. After a long (lonnnnnng) winter we’re excited to kick off another season of baking in the park. During a recent inspection of the oven Tim confirmed what many of us suspected – our crack has grown. While it’s been around since the beginning, the little crack has grown into a bit of a structural problem. Together with/because of the shifting brick archway, it’s looking more and more like we’ll have to do some repair/rebuilding work this season. Likely a rebuild of the dome portion of the oven. Given that this work requires warmer, drier weather, we’re tentatively planning for an early-June start to this work. Until then we plan to host our weekly burns and accommodate any booking requests we receive. Watch for more information about June’s schedule and an update on the dome work. The oven should be ready for baking by noon this Saturday. As usual, we welcome everyone interested in baking to come out between 12 and 3. See you in the park!