Durham Life Weekly: Mother’s Day Picks & Local Good News

This Week in Durham Life

Hello friends,

If this is the first time we've landed in your inbox — welcome. If you've been waiting for this for a while, thank you.

Durham Life is a weekly celebration of the good things happening across our eight communities — Ajax, Pickering, Whitby, Oshawa, Clarington, Uxbridge, Scugog and Brock. No politics, no crime, no doom. Just events worth your weekend, people worth knowing, openings worth visiting, and the small moments that make this region quietly extraordinary.

This week, we're leaning into Mother's Day. We've gathered the events that make the weekend, brunches worth the drive, and a feature on a Whitby mom who's quietly built one of the most generous communities in Durham. Plus a peek at Farmers Market season, the Springtide lineup, and a fishway you can watch from your couch.

Pour the coffee. Let's go.

A Mother’s Day Weekend, mapped

One of our regular features here on Durham Life is “Interactive Maps.” We are planning to make them as often as possible for events and business/restaurant listings and places you should know about. Stay tuned for more, but this week’s map highlights some of the events and placed to eat with Mom this Mother’s Day.

Mother’s Day Brunch Experience
Date: Sat-Sun, May 9-10
Location: Azul Resto Lounge, Pickering
Note: Also their Grand Opening
Tickets: 905.837.8686

Mother’s Day Brunch + Spring Tour at the RMG
Date: Sunday, May 10
Location: Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Oshawa
Note: Family brunch with a guided spring exhibition tour
Reservations: rmg.on.ca

The classic Mother's Day failure mode is taking Mom somewhere with a two-hour wait, then watching her not enjoy her meal. Here are three Durham brunches that solve the problem:

Little Beasts Brewing Co. — Whitby
Skip the usual and bring mom to Little Beasts Brewing for a brunch that actually feels like a treat. Cold craft beer, refreshing wine and seltzers, a delicious brunch spread, and live music to set the vibe—whether she’s a beer lover or not, they’ve got something she’ll love.

Massey House Restaurant — Newcastle
A nearly thirty-year institution at 27 King Avenue East, in the centre of the village. Uncomplicated, warm, and exactly what a Mother's Day brunch should be.

The Lake Grill — Whitby
For moms who'd rather be near water than in a heritage building. Pairs well with a Waterfront Trail walk afterward — especially good if you're bringing kids who need to run.

And a note for the moms whose ideal Mother's Day is being left alone with coffee and pastries: Halenda's Meats in Bowmanville does a take-home brunch board (eggs, bacon, fruit, baked goods) that you can drop off and disappear. We won't tell.

Banana Leaf South Indian Cuisine — North Oshawa
Celebrate with Biryani, Dosas and Love!
Mom eats Free, single dish of her choice.

Two years ago, Phylicia Walsh — a Whitby mom of five — started inviting other moms to meet up at a coffee shop. She called it the Hey Mama Social Club. She thought maybe a dozen women would show up.

They did. Then they brought their friends. Then those friends brought theirs.

Today, Hey Mama Social Club is a community for moms in Durham Region, focused on connection, maternal wellness and helping moms find connection and feel supported, as more often than not, motherhood can be a lonely journey. A weekly stroller walk every Wednesday keeps the group connected.

Phylicia also runs ticketed elevated events across Durham — Pickering bakeries, Ajax photo studios, Whitby loft spaces. The April event at The Plae House sold out in minutes. Phylicia's Instagram is part curated mom community, part visual love letter to Durham's small businesses.

What makes the work distinctive isn't that it scaled. It's that every event leads with the same question: what does a tired mom actually need this month? — and then builds the gathering around the answer. Some months it's a sip-and-social with babies welcome. Some months it's a kid-free dinner. Some months it's a vendor pop-up where every product is from a Durham mom-owned business.

If you've ever felt like Durham could use more soft places to land between school pickup and the grocery run, Phylicia is the person quietly building them.

Oh, did I mention she’s also a real estate agent? If you’re thinking of upsizing, downsizing, or buying your first home, she'll make your journey easier, smarter, and totally personal.

Thanks Phylicia! You’re a Changemaker in Durham Life. 💝

It’s that time of the year again… Farmers Markets ramping up for another season.

Love those Farmers Markets!
And we’re so lucky to have a number of them, on different days across the Region.
No better way to Support Local.
Stay tuned for more info about these in the coming weeks.

Ajax Farmers Market
June 4 - Oct 8
Thursdays - 2:00 - 7:00 pm
Ajax Community Centre

Bowmanville Farmers Market
May 16 - Oct 11
Fridays (& some Saturdays) - 9:00 - 2:00 pm
Garnet B Rickard Rec Complex

Oshawa Farmers Market
June 6 - Oct 24
Fridays - 9:00 - 2:00 pm
Oshawa Centre - NW Corner, Stephenson & King

North Oshawa Farmers Market
May 9 - Oct
Saturdays - 9:00 - 2:00 pm
Delpark Homes Centre – 1661 Harmony Rd N

Pickering Farmers Market
June 16 - Oct 6
Tuesdays - 9:00 - 2:00 pm
North West parking lot at the Chestnut Hill Developments Recreation Complex at 1867 Valley Farm Road.

Port Perrry Farmers Market
May 9 - Oct 10
Saturdays - 8:30 - 3:00 pm

Uxbridge Farmers Market
May 3 - Oct 25
Sundays - 9:00 - 2:00 pm
The Second Wedge Brewing Co. - 14 Victoria St.,

Whitby Farmers Market
May 13 - Oct
Tuesdays - 9:00 - 3:00 pm
Celebration Square - 405 Dundas St E.

Lots of people doing good stuff in Durham Region, and we’ll be highlighting some of them every week. Being that it’s Mother’s Day weekend, we salute the United Church Women of Newcastle United Church.

Two hundred years ago this past November, Newcastle United Church served its first community meal. The United Church Women's group has been quietly running fellowship dinners, food bank drops, and Strawberry Sundae Sundays since most of us were born.

In a village of about ten thousand, the UCW serves community meals six times a year, runs a near-weekly hospital chaplaincy program, and donates regularly to the Clarington East Food Bank — almost entirely on volunteer labour, mostly from women in their sixties, seventies, and eighties.

We met them through the church's 200th-anniversary celebrations last fall. We got hooked on their corn roast. And when we asked who actually runs all of it, the answer was the same as it has been for two centuries: the women.

If you'd like to support their work — or just attend a meal that costs less than a takeout pizza and feels like Sunday dinner at your aunt's house — the next event is the Strawberry Sundae Sunday on June 8 at 84 Mill Street South, Newcastle, 1–4pm. Tickets at the door.

Here’s to you, UCW for all your hard and heart felt work over the years!

Just found out a good friend of mine, Oshawa born and raised artist Gerald McLaughlin is in the running for “The People’s Artist - Presented by Johnny Depp.”

Gerald is an amazing artist! Been airbrushing for over 30 years and into large 3D models in the last couple years. Check out his page and you’ll find a good collection of photos of some of his work. Born and raised in Oshawa. Attended Durham College back in the day. Some of you might know him from his work at “VooDoo Airbrushing.” Now has a gallery in his studio in Orland, Ontario (just north of Brighton.) Reach out to him if you know him from a past life! 🤣

Your vote would be greatly appreciated.
Let’s go VooDoo!

To every mother reading this — and to everyone who'll spend Sunday calling, hugging, or quietly missing one (I miss my mom!) — happy Mother's Day to all of you. You are amazing! ❤️‍🔥

Until next week… This is Durham Life!

Be good. Do good.

MiKe Dee
Publisher
Durham Life - Local Media that Inspires

Share Durham Life

Know someone who loves discovering good things happening around Durham? Forward this newsletter to them and invite them to subscribe.

DurhamLife.ca · Forward to a friend · Subscribe · Archive

You’re receiving this because you subscribed to Durham Life.

© 2026 Durham Life · Ajax · Pickering · Whitby · Oshawa · Clarington · Uxbridge · Scugog · Brock