The Dufferin Park Racetrack, an integral part of the neighbourhood from 1907-1955, is located on the present site of the Dufferin Mall. It's the subject of Clay & Paper Theatre's Horse Feathers, a play performed across the street at Dufferin Grove Park, starting tonight.

The outdoor play, which features a stilt-walking puppet horse, Commedia dell'Arte and live music, is about the bygone days of the racetrack and the local residents' dreams for a better life.

The production brings this significant part of Toronto history back to the neighbourhood.

Bike thieves in Toronto beware: The police are on your trail.

As Sun Media reported this morning, Igor Kenk, who owns the infamous Bicycle Clinic on Queen St. W. and Strachan Ave. was arrested last night by plainclothes police officers after they allege to have caught him in the act.

Since almost 5,000 bikes have been reported stolen this year alone in Toronto, it's a relief to hear that the police are finally doing something constructive to combat this ongoing problem.

Just about everyone I know who rides a bike in Toronto has had one ripped off. I once had my bike seat and post stolen even after having it bolted.

Oftentimes stolen bikes and bike parts end up at shady second-hand bike stores like Igor's.

Aside from offering these tips and providing a bicycle registration program, Toronto cops have largely turned a blind eye to this ongoing problem in our city.

Until now.

What's your experience with Igor's Bicycle Clinic? Do you think this arrest will do much to lower the bike theft rate in our city? Will it deter other bicycle thieves in Toronto?

Grownups Read Things They Wrote As Kids (GRTTWAK) is happening again Monday night, so get out that old shoebox and get ready to share your treasures from childhood with a bar full of like-minded others at this open mic reading series.

The brainchild of Dan Misener, GRTTWAK enables us to take a nostalgic trip by delving into the often embarrassing bits of poetry and prose we wrote as kids.

Misener got an email a few weeks ago from his mom, saying, "Came across a Rubbermaid tote with an orange popple and more of your writings. The Ron Trilogy, Putrid Poems and some other poems."

Here's an example from Misener at age 11:

Little Jack Horner,
Sat in the corner,
Eating his purple pie.
He stuck in his thumb,
And pulled out a thing,
He couldn't identify.

Continue reading for more grownup fun and details of the evening's event...

Just four days left of Toronto's most eclectic theatre festival. To help guide you, here's a handful of fresh reviews of some of the shows.

Perhaps overlooked by many Fringe theatregoers, The Fringe Club at The Tranzac (292 Brunswick, just south of Bloor) offers some great free programming, with something different every night, including a special concert from Major Maker on Saturday night. If you missed them at NXNE last month, here's your chance to see 'em for a pay-what-you-can bargain price.

Last night featured a cabaret, 20 Tiny Pieces for 20 Years, which showed 20 three-minute pieces, which was wonderfully entertaining. What kind of a performance can you do in three minutes?

Continue reading for reviews of JEM ROLLS: how i stopped worrying and learnt to love the mall, Mating Rituals of the Urban Cougar, One-Woman Show and Sherlock Holmes & the First English Gentleman.

Sean Ward has a loyal following in Toronto. And it's easy to to see why.

"I've been stalking him the past two years," says Neal Adams. "It's only now that the stars have aligned that I get to meet him in person. The man rules the Toronto underground comic book scene."

I didn't know Toronto had an underground comic book scene, per se. But then again, I had no idea there was such a thing as Free Comic Book Day.

There's a steady, but patient crowd forming behind a table set up at the back of the Silver Snail for the unveiling and signing of his new 48-page graphic novel, Benny Bunny On Wheels last Friday. Sean is indulging his fans with their own drawings and his own little catchphrases.

Toronto doled out its 29th annual Dora Awards, which recognize outstanding achievements in Toronto theatre, last Monday at the Winter Garden Theatre. Awards shows are notorious for running on and on and having copious boring thank you speeches. This one was no exception.

They could have easily chopped the two-hours-plus show in half by eliminating a lot of the out-of-context song-and-dance routines, primarily performed by the show's host, Sharron Matthews. What started out as a joke about Sharon's Party soon became the overriding theme of the night.

About half a dozen students of the Toronto Dance Theatre were on hand to hand off the statuettes to the presenters and usher the winners off stage. It seems a waste of their talents not to let them take the stage to dance. Instead we get a woman trying too hard to crack jokes and flaunt five costume changes, singing unmemorable songs mostly irrelevant to this year's nominated productions.