Halloween is a week from Saturday. 🎃 If your kids haven't changed their costume plan at least twice yet, give it time.
This week starts on the Pickering waterfront, where a piece of Lake Ontario that's been privately owned since before Confederation is a big step closer to belonging to you. Then a food bank that has fed Durham out of two garages, a Uxbridge kids' book with an American trophy, and a Whitby cafe built around the people working the counter.
Monday is a P.A. Day, and if you're wondering what to do with the kids, the Durham Eight has you covered: free skates and a Halloween camp in Brock, and a free tour of the place your garbage goes in Clarington. They'll want to see the claw.
Pour the coffee. This is Durham Life.
🎃 It's a Haunted Durham Life (Self-Promo!)
The Haunted Durham Life map is live: haunted houses, spooky places, costume stops and Halloween events, all pinned across the Region, and more of it added by your own neighbours every week. Know a house going all out this Halloween? Post it on the map so nobody trick-or-treats past it by accident.
And while you're there, we've pinned every food bank in Durham too. Halloween weekend is a good time to drop off a few extras.
Open the map: durhamlife.ca/interactive-maps
Photo: City of Pickering
🌊 PICKERING — Frenchman's Bay is one step closer to belonging to everyone.
Since 1853, the land at the foot of Liverpool Road and most of the bay behind it have belonged to a private company, thanks to a Crown charter signed before Canada was even a country. That's about to change.
The City of Pickering, the federal government, the Nature Conservancy of Canada and the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority have agreed on a framework to buy 34 acres of shoreline plus 133 acres of the bay itself and keep it public for good. The plan is a three-way split on a $30 million purchase: Pickering has committed $10 million, the province is in the final stages of its share, and the last $10 million is being sought from Ottawa.
It isn't signed yet, and talks with Indigenous partners are still going. But the hard part, getting everyone to the same table, is done. Mayor Kevin Ashe calls the bay "the sparkling jewel of Pickering." If you've ever walked the pier at sunset, you already know he's right.
Source: Ontario Chronicle · Durham Post
📚 UXBRIDGE — A book about an Uxbridge boy just won an American award.
"Let's Go, Darby!" by Linda Rosenbaum has been nominated for the 2026 Kirkus Indie Award for Children's Literature. Kirkus has been reviewing books since 1933, and this is the first year it has handed out awards for independently published titles, so Rosenbaum's book is in the very first class. It's middle-grade historical fiction based on a real Uxbridge boy, Georgie Titus, who was a patient at the Hospital for Sick Children in 1898. Barbara Klunder did the illustrations. Rosenbaum told the Cosmos the win feels good "especially because it's a Canadian story."
If you've got a reader between 8 and 12 at home, this one starts right down the road.
Source: The Uxbridge Cosmos · Kirkus Reviews
Photo: City of Oshawa
🌳 OSHAWA — 1,600 new trees are going into the ground.
Oshawa just landed $560,860 from the federal government to grow its tree canopy. The money pays for 600 large trees planted last fall, 1,000 more going into parks and greenspaces this year, and another 40 at Rotary Park. A lot of them are going where Emerald Ash Borer left gaps, and the mix includes Red Oak and Kentucky Coffeetree. Give it a few summers and you'll be glad of the shade. The full plan is at oshawa.ca/Trees.
Source: City of Oshawa
♻️ AJAX — Ajax is about to recycle a road.
On Monday, October 26, crews will resurface Rossland Road between Audley Road and Lake Ridge Road by heating up the old asphalt, refreshing it and laying it right back down. It's called Hot In-Place Recycling, and the Town expects it to cost about 44% less than regular resurfacing and cut greenhouse gas emissions by about 72%. The job should take two days. Rossland still gets a full rebuild in 2030/31, so this stretch doubles as a test: the Town will watch how it holds up for four years. If you drive it, you're part of the experiment.
Source: Town of Ajax · Durham Radio News
🏭 CLARINGTON — Monday's P.A. Day field trip is at the garbage plant. Hear us out.
The Durham York Energy Centre (1835 Energy Dr., Courtice) is opening its doors Monday, October 26, from 10am to 3pm. It's free, there's no registration, and kids get hard hats and safety vests to try on, button-making, sorting games, stickers and temporary tattoos. The plant burns 140,000 tonnes of household garbage a year (the Region says that's about 23,000 elephants) and turns it into enough electricity for about 10,000 homes. But the real star is the claw: a giant crane that grabs garbage out of the pit and drops it into the boilers. It's basically an arcade claw machine the size of a house, and you will want a turn. Kids need to come with an adult.
Source: Region of Durham
☕ WHITBY — Whitby's newest cafe was built around the people behind the counter.
Christine's, Championed by CAA, opened this week inside the Abilities Centre (1 Jim Flaherty St.). The cafe is staffed by people with disabilities, who get job training and real customer-service experience while they work. You can see the thinking in the details: counters that adjust in height, and fridge handles a wheelchair user can actually reach. The coffee comes from a local roaster, there are baked goods, and if you're a CAA member your coffee is free. It's named for former Ontario health minister Christine Elliott, who cut the ribbon herself.
Source: Abilities Centre · Daily Durham
🐾 SCUGOG — The Port Perry vet who drove to Thunder Bay just won the chamber's top community award.
You might remember William Woodstock from the summer. When wildfires forced evacuations in Northwestern Ontario, he and a team from Vets Around the Corner drove 15 hours to Thunder Bay and spent six weeks there, running a field hospital and visiting evacuation shelters to care for people's animals. On October 16, the North Durham Chamber of Commerce named him its 2026 Northern Star Award winner for Community Leader of the Year.
It's not his first honour. He spent more than 20 years in policing, firefighting, paramedic care and the military, and he was invested into the Order of St. John in 2024 and received the King's Coronation Medal in 2025. Back home in Port Perry, his Community Veterinarian Program brings vet care to people who can't easily get to a clinic: a senior who doesn't drive, a neighbour going through a hard stretch, someone whose pet is their closest companion. Thunder Bay made the headlines. But the chamber says the Northern Star goes to someone who makes North Durham a stronger, more caring place, and for William that's just a regular Tuesday.
🥁 BROCK — A drum on Saturday, free ice on Monday.
On Saturday, October 24, from 11am to 3pm, Brock High School in Cannington (Durham Regional Rd. 12) hosts the Big Drum Social. It's free and everyone's welcome: the Big Drum, dancers, vendors, food, prizes and activities for the kids. A lot of people found out about last year's too late, so consider this your early heads-up.
Then Monday, October 26 is a P.A. Day, and Brock has the whole day covered. Both arenas have free skates. In Beaverton, Foster Hewitt Memorial Community Centre has a senior skate at 8am, parent and tot at 11:30am, public skate at 2pm, stick and puck at 3pm and youth shinny at 4pm. In Cannington, Rick MacLeish Memorial Community Centre has adult shinny at 9am, youth shinny and public skate at 11am, figure skating drop-in at 3pm and stick and puck at 4pm.
Want something with more pumpkins in it? The Nourish and Develop Foundation runs a Halloween P.A. Day camp from 9:30am to 3pm at 16 York St. in Cannington, with fall games and hands-on activities. Costumes are welcome. It's $18 a camper or pay what you can, and you can register at tndf.ca/foodlit.
Two garages. 250,000 meals.
Think about the last time you dropped a can into a food bank bin. Somewhere down the line it ended up in a building: a warehouse, a church basement, rows of shelves.
Rozi Roti doesn't have a building. It has two garages.
From September 2024 to September 2026, Laeeq Qureshi and the volunteers behind Rozi Roti – Life with Purpose delivered more than 250,000 free halal meals across Durham, from Pickering to Bowmanville. They started with $0. It costs the families they serve $0. Every bit of it has been sorted, packed and sent out of those two garages.
What makes it different is the door. Rozi Roti delivers. No lineup, no pickup window, no two buses and a long walk home with heavy bags, which is what getting to a food bank can look like if you don't have a car. It's open to anyone who needs it, whatever their faith or background. The halal part came from a gap they saw: families who keep halal would visit a food bank and find shelves full of food they couldn't eat.
"Rozi is a livelihood. Roti is bread. A person needs both."
Rozi Roti's two-year impact report
It didn't start with food. It started in 2022 in Pakistan, teaching digital skills so people from less-privileged backgrounds could earn a living online, and about 1,300 people went through that program. When the work reached Durham, the most urgent need in front of it was groceries, so that's what they did next. Today there are seven community collection points, and a team of volunteers doing the rest.
"Reaching 250,000 meals in two years, all from two garages, belongs to our volunteers and to a community that refuses to let neighbours go hungry. It also shows how deep the need is across Durham Region. A dedicated space would let us store and handle food more safely, serve families with greater dignity, and grow our volunteer programs, instead of working around the limits of a residential garage."
Now they need a home of their own. A real space would mean proper storage, refrigeration and room for volunteers to sort and pack. If you own a building, run a business with space to spare, or know somebody who does, Laeeq would love to hear from you. You can also donate or volunteer at roziroti.org.
Source: Rozi Roti · Daily Durham
Know a Durham Region Changemaker? Hit reply.
🎁 Got a lobby, a staff room or a school office? The DRPS Food & Toy Drive doesn't start until late November, but it's signing up businesses, schools and groups to host collection boxes now. It takes non-perishable food, new unwrapped toys, hygiene products and gift cards. Teen gifts (gift cards, sports gear) and baby items (sleepers, diapers) are always the hardest to find. You can drop donations at any DRPS station, police headquarters in Whitby, or the Ajax, Bowmanville, Oshawa and Whitby fire halls. To host a box, email [email protected] or call 905-721-4255.
Source: Durham Regional Police
🧦 Whitby's Operation Cozy Toes is back Monday, November 2 through Friday, December 4. Barrels around town collect warm socks for people experiencing homelessness and new, unwrapped toys for CTV's Toy Mountain. Drop-off locations haven't been posted yet, so keep an eye on the library's page.
Source: Whitby Public Library
A film festival in three towns, big cats after dark, and a Saturday that fills up fast.
🎬 Thursday to Saturday: Durham Region International Film Festival, Whitby, Ajax and Oshawa. DRIFF turns ten this year. It opens tonight at the Centennial Building in Whitby (416 Centre St. S.), where the opening reception is open to the public for the first time. Friday moves to the St. Francis Centre in Ajax (78 Church St. S.) with a free daytime summit on filmmaking and AI from 9am to 4pm, then an evening of short films and the Canadian feature "The Snake," with director Jenna Macmillan there to take questions. Saturday wraps at the Biltmore in Oshawa (39 King St. E.) with a free costume-makeup workshop at noon, more shorts at 3pm, the feature "Take Me Home" at 7pm, awards at 8:30pm and an afterparty with Acoustic Blvd. Tickets start at about $17 at driff.ca.
Source: DRIFF · Durhamregion.com
🎪 Friday, Oct 23: Spotlight of Hope, Harmony Event Centre, Oshawa (1011 Bloor St. E.). CMHA Durham's big night of the year is black tie with a circus theme, and every ticket goes toward mental health support in Durham. Details at cmhadurhamgala.ca.
Watch the video ⬇️
Source: CMHA Durham
🐆 Saturday, Oct 24, 4 to 8pm: Prowl at the Park, Jungle Cat World, Orono. The wildlife park, after dark. If your kids have only ever seen the big cats at lunchtime, this is the version they'll talk about.
Watch the video ⬇️
Source: Jungle Cat World
🚤 Saturday, Oct 24, 6 to 8pm: Halloween at the Harbour, Oshawa Museum. Family Halloween fun down at the lakefront. $7.50, or $5 for kids under 5.
Source: Oshawa Museum
🌺 Saturday, Oct 24: The Royal Canadian Legion's Poppy Campaign begins. When you see a veteran with a tray outside the grocery store, every dollar you drop in stays in your community and supports local veterans and their families. New this year: you can order a poppy on Amazon.
Source: Royal Canadian Legion · Durham Radio News
🍜 Kinton Ramen, Oshawa. The Toronto ramen chain has opened its first location east of the city at 1800 Simcoe St. N., up by the Durham College and Ontario Tech campuses. It's been quietly open since September, and the official grand opening is this Saturday, October 24. A big bowl of ramen on a cold fall night is hard to beat.
Source: Ontario Chronicle · Kinton Ramen
🛒 Tim's No Frills, Bowmanville. Bowmanville got its first No Frills on October 1 at 95 Baseline Rd. W., with more than 80 new jobs, an in-store bakery, hot chickens, PC Express pickup and a garden centre. It's open daily from 7am to 10pm. Owner Tim Charles spent almost ten years working in No Frills stores across Ontario before opening his own, and he marked the opening with $1,500 for the Bowmanville Hospital Foundation.
Source: Loblaw
📕 Pickering's young writers have done it again. The winners of the 6th annual Tails of Hope Short Story Contest, where kids write and illustrate stories about their pets, are in. Elowen Vettyvelu-Telegdi won the 5 to 7 group with "Osa and Dorrit's Adventure," Zehn Qureshi won 8 to 10 with "Luna! The Lost Cat," and Zack Roth won 11 to 12 with "Mellow's Exciting Adventure." You can read all three winning stories on the City's contest page. And if you want to see the other 24 entries too, all 27 are bound into a book you can borrow from Pickering Public Library, with copies at the Pickering Animal Shelter and Scholars of Pickering. The contest is run by Pickering Animal Services and the library, with Scholars of Ajax and Pickering as sponsor.
Source: City of Pickering · Ontario Chronicle
🚓 You might remember Anayta Sehrawat from September, the Grade 5 student picked as Durham's Chief for a Day. Her day came last Monday. The Bobby Orr Public School student, chosen from more than 100 essay entries, took the oath beside Chief Peter Moreira, then toured Traffic Services, a marine unit police boat, the 911 centre and Forensic Investigative Services. And she finished with a ride in Air1, the police helicopter. Not a bad Monday.
Source: Durham Radio News
The good stuff this week showed up in some strange places.
A food bank working out of two garages. A cafe inside a rec centre, designed around the people pouring the coffee. A boy from 1898 Uxbridge, finally getting his story told, and an award to go with it. And on Monday, the best field trip in Durham is at the garbage plant.
None of it is where you'd go looking. Keep your eyes open this week.
The good stuff is rarely where the sign says it is.
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Until next week...
Be Good. Do Good.
This is Durham Life.
MiKe Dee
Publisher
Durham Life — Local Media that Inspires
Covering Durham Region's 8 municipalities:
Ajax · Brock · Clarington · Oshawa · Pickering · Scugog · Uxbridge · Whitby