With magazines folding all over the place, it's worth taking a moment to applaud a local favourite. Spacing Magazine is celebrating its 5th anniversary this month. It's hard to believe that it was back on December 3rd, 2003 that they went to press with their first issue and filled the much needed gap for coverage of public space issues, civic engagement and urban play. Along the way, the magazine has won numerous awards (including Canadian Small Magazine of the Year) and featured stunning photography from the city's unsurpassed talent pool of photobloggers.

This Wednesday, to celebrate their achievement, Spacing is throwing a party at The Great Hall. There will be live music, photos from Rannie Turingan and large panels displaying the finalists from their thinkTORONTO urban design ideas competition. Oh, and cake.

And there's more. Here are five things that Spacing sent me today that it promises are "secret details" that nobody knows about the party yet.

1. They are offering a discounted subscription to the magazine.

2. They'll be selling Spacing's new TTC-inspired t-shirts that come in both red and heather black.

3. They'll be selling their annual gift packs for $20: 3 issues of Spacing from 2008 with three Toronto postcards, all wrapped in a TTC route map.

4. Fort Apparel will be there selling some of their Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver-inspired t-shirts.

5. Anyone who buys a back issue, subscription, or gift subscription at the party will receive a free t-shirt from Metronauts.

On behalf of blogTO, just want to send out a big congrats to Matt, Shawn and the rest of the Spacing team. Keep up the great work. You've truly created a magazine that the city can be proud of.

Photo by Spacing Magazine on Flickr