{"id":37067,"date":"2025-10-23T13:36:42","date_gmt":"2025-10-23T17:36:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=37067"},"modified":"2025-10-23T13:36:50","modified_gmt":"2025-10-23T17:36:50","slug":"slabtown-armoury-celebrates-new-chapter-in-storied-landmark","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/slabtown-armoury-celebrates-new-chapter-in-storied-landmark\/","title":{"rendered":"Slabtown Armoury celebrates new chapter in storied landmark"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The afternoon may have been grey and drizzly on Friday, but there was a celebratory atmosphere at Mosley and Larmont Streets in Aurora\u2019s downtown core as the community came together to formally cut the ribbon on Slabtown Armoury.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Slabtown Armoury, the latest venture from Uxbridge\u2019s Slabtown Cider Company, has been hard at work making the historic Aurora Armoury, previously home to a campus of Niagara College\u2019s Canadian Food & Wine Institute, into a new dining and gathering space at the heart of the community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat an honour it is to stand here today as we reopen one of Aurora\u2019s most iconic landmarks,\u201d said Slabtown co-owner Lori Feddema, as she welcomed guests who sampled a number of menu items, indulged in season-fitting candy apples, and a mocktail \u2013 Barracks Brew \u2013 which paid tribute to the Armoury\u2019s military history as the long-time home for the Queen\u2019s York Rangers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSlabtown started in Uxbridge in 2017 with the idea that we wanted to create an agri-tourism destination back in Uxbridge to bring people together with craft cider, amazing food, and local flavour. Today\u2019s opening is monumental for us because it marks the next chapter in that story.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Feddema heaped praise upon all the people who worked behind the scenes to make Friday\u2019s opening happen, from Slabtown partners and employees, to municipal staff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These sentiments were echoed by Mayor Tom Mrakas as he welcomed local foodies \u2013 and Council colleagues Ron Weese (Ward 1), Rachel Gilliland (Ward 2), John Gallo (Ward 5), and Harold Kim (Ward 6) \u2013 to the celebrated facility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He described Slabtown as \u201csuch a welcome addition to the community\u201d and expressed excitement for all they plan to bring to Aurora\u2019s historic core.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSlabtown Armoury has exactly the kind of energy and creativity that we need as we continue building a more vibrant and dynamic downtown,\u201d he said. \u201cAs many of you also know, the Armoury is an incredibly cherished landmark here in Aurora: one steeped in history, and one that has served as the backdrop to so many important moments in Aurora’s history for more than 150 years. More than anything else, it’s always been a place where the community has come together. And now with Slabtown Armory opening its doors, I know we’ll be creating even more shared memories here for so many years to come.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking to The Auroran following the ribbon-cutting, the Mayor said the excitement extends to Slabtown\u2019s commitment to the community, picking up where Niagara College left off when they pulled out of the Armoury this past spring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe fully know that [Slabtown] is committed to the community and that they\u2019re looking at being here long-term, which is what we always envisioned for this spot,\u201d he said. \u201cWe want to have a partner that is committed to being here in the Town of Aurora and serving the residents of our community. They are 100 per cent committed to that and we\u2019re looking forward to seeing all the wonderful things they\u2019re going to be providing the community and all the events that are going to be occurring in this historic Armoury.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think [the Armoury] is one of the anchors of the Cultural Precinct. When you look at the Cultural Precinct, it runs from the GO Station all the way out to our downtown core at Yonge Street. To have such a facility in the area speaks volumes to what I think people are hearing and seeing about our Cultural Precinct and our downtown core, and I think that\u2019s essentially [why] the owners of Slabtown Armoury decided to come here and open it here because they saw the potential that this building has and that this area has.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Slabtown Armoury\u2019s hours of operation will be Wednesday and Thursday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to midnight, Sunday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., and they\u2019re closed Mondays and Tuesdays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Brock Weir
Editor
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter<\/strong><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The afternoon may have been grey and drizzly on Friday, but there was a celebratory atmosphere at Mosley and Larmont Streets in Aurora\u2019s downtown core as the community came together to formally cut the ribbon on Slabtown Armoury. Slabtown Armoury, the latest venture from Uxbridge\u2019s Slabtown Cider Company, has been hard at work making the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":37068,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37067","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2025-10-23-08.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-9DR","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-14 22:37:16","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37067","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37067"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37067\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37069,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37067\/revisions\/37069"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37068"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37067"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}