{"id":37962,"date":"2026-04-16T15:28:35","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T19:28:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=37962"},"modified":"2026-04-16T15:28:49","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T19:28:49","slug":"knitting-happiness-and-heritage-on-tap-at-town-square-ahead-of-pride-fest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/knitting-happiness-and-heritage-on-tap-at-town-square-ahead-of-pride-fest\/","title":{"rendered":"Knitting, Happiness and Heritage on tap at Town Square ahead of Pride Fest"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Looking for a little Happiness as we settle into spring?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Head over to Aurora Town Square now through May for opportunities to get moving, learn, and celebrate your authentic selves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a busy spring with plenty of opportunities to stay active as the Town of Aurora hosts another popular Belly Dance Foundations series, an acclaimed Fringe Festival pick, and a collaboration with The Happiness Mafia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have offered our Belly Dance workshop with instructor Tamara from Habiba Dance for quite a few years and it has been extremely successful,\u201d says Aurora Town Square\u2019s Nichole Campsall of the Belly Dance Foundations program which is now accepting names for a waiting list after a quick sell-out. \u201cWe\u2019ve had quite a few participants enjoy each season since we started offering it, and we heard from some of the participants that they\u2019d be interested in a bit of a longer commitment, so we decided to offer a five-week class for Spring, starting on April 13 for five Mondays.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the Belly Dance Foundations program is full, you can put yourself on the waiting list via the registration links at aurora.ca\/whatson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another popular return this month \u2013 albeit with a fresh twist \u2013 is set to unfold in the Aurora Town Square when Kirk Dunn stages The Knitting Pilgrim on Sunday, April 19, at 3 p.m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Directed by Jennifer Tarver, The Knitting Pilgrim marks Dunn\u2019s second production at Aurora Town Square after Spycraft last fall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA three-time Fringe pick show that has performed over 115 times in six countries, The Knitting Pilgrim is the story of one ordinary guy who happens to be a knitter,\u201d say organizers of the play, co-written by Kirk and Claire Dunne. \u201cThe Knitting Pilgrim is the story of one ordinary guy, who happens to be a knitter, with lots of questions. He knits three huge knitted tapestries to try to tackle them \u2013 and it takes him 15 years to finish what he started. Turns out, his journey has just begun.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Aurora Town Square, this second Dunn project to be staged in the Performance Hall is a testament to a proven partnership between artists and venue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWorking with Kirk and his wife, Claire, is incredible,\u201d says Campsall. \u201cThey are just creative geniuses and to be able to bring them to Aurora, it\u2019s great for us to be able to share that with the community here. This is a one-man show and its internationally acclaimed. It\u2019s his story about using knitting to explore big life questions, and he created three large knitted tapestries throughout those 15 years. He\u2019s going to bring those tapestries here and they will be on stage with him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAlso, for those who are big on knitting, part of the show is you can bring your knitting and knit along as you\u2019re listening to the story in the audience as well!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Performance Hall will come to life once again on May 16 when the Town of Aurora partners with The Happiness Mafia to present roots rock singer-songwriter Jeremie Albino in concert. Albino brings to the stage songs that are \u201cgrounded in the gritty storytelling of classic country music, propelled by the rhythms of old-school R&B, played with the wild abandon of early rock \u2018n\u2019 roll and sung with the deep feeling of southern soul.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re very excited to work again with the Happiness Mafia and bring Jeremie Albino here on May 16,\u201d says Campsall. \u201cHe\u2019s on a big tour right now with the Black Keys, so he\u2019s an incredible talent and very well-known, so it\u2019s great for us to be able to bring him here to Town Square and have more of an intimate environment for fans to enjoy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur partnership [with the Happiness Mafia] has been great. They\u2019re local and we love to work with people local and they have great connections in the music industry. It\u2019s just a great partnership to be able to bring those different acts here to our small, intimate venue, and we\u2019ve had a great response so far.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another enduring partnership between the Town and community is the one with the Aurora Community Band and the Borealis Big Band.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This partnership will come to the fore once again at the end of May as they team up to host Aurora\u2019s second-annual Pride Festival on May 31.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re very excited,\u201d says Campsall. \u201cWe love working with the Aurora Community band and the Borealis Big Band. We worked with them last year on the Inaugural Aurora Pride Festival and it was the most incredible experience. It was really a celebration of community, belonging, and creative expression, and we\u2019re thrilled to be able to partner with them again this year.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more information on these Aurora Town Square events, including programs hosted by the Aurora Cultural Centre and beyond, visit aurora.ca\/whatson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Brock Weir
Editor
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Looking for a little Happiness as we settle into spring? Head over to Aurora Town Square now through May for opportunities to get moving, learn, and celebrate your authentic selves. It\u2019s a busy spring with plenty of opportunities to stay active as the Town of Aurora hosts another popular Belly Dance Foundations series, an acclaimed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_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},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27,4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37962","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arts-and-culture","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-9Si","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-15 12:43:15","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\/37962","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=37962"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37962\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37963,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37962\/revisions\/37963"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}