Thinking about ways to while away the last few days of summer? Try attending some of the varied, fun and interesting outdoor festivals the city has in store over the next week or two:

Food truck Festival – Sept. 27

Bring your appetite to Downsview Park for this event featuring 16 delicious gourmet food trucks. Included in the line-up is Busters Sea Cove, ME.N.U Food Truck, Fit to Grill and Indian fusion nosh from Tdots Naansense.

Cider Festival – Sept. 26

Looking for an interesting and new way to cap off your summer? Look no further than the Toronto Cider Festival at the Yonge-Dundas Square. The event showcases craft ciders from across the country as well as Toronto food trucks, live music, cocktail competitions, games and contests.

Word on the Street – Sept. 27

This national celebration of literacy and the written word invites you to participate in author events, presentations, workshops, and to browse a marketplace that boasts one of the best selections of Canadian books and magazines. This free festival at Harbourfront Centre has something for all ages, from children and youth to adults and seniors.

 Woofstock – Sept. 26 & 27

At Woodbine Park, this admission-free event is the largest outdoor festival for dogs and their faithful owners in all of North America. With over 200,000 attendees and 150,000 canines, expect the unexpected in addition to a slew of doggy-related vendors and activities such as stupid dog tricks, canine beauty pageants and dog races.

Canada’s Walk of Fame Festival – Sept. 25 to Oct. 1

Showcasing 100 per cent Canadian talent, this festival features free performances at Yonge-Dundas Square, the Massey Hall concert series and new musical talent at the Horseshoe Tavern. Canadians in all fields are inducted into the hall of fame thanks to this non-profit organization that seeks to pay tribute and recognize Canadian achievement.

Gentleman’s Expo – Sept. 25 to 27

This celebration of manhood at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre covers every gentlemanly pursuit from fashion, cars and alcohol to sex, entrepreneurship and gaming with more than 100,000 square feet of brands and experiences.

Small World on Common Ground – Sept. 26 & 27

A free festival featuring music and arts on the grounds of historic Fort York. Enjoy this family friendly cultural feast that also includes spoken-word artists, pow wow fit sessions, crafts and food.

Like Fred and Ethel Mertz, those madcap but lovable landlords of I Love Lucy fame, you may have dreamt of managing a property with tenants or maybe just renting out the upper or lower floor of your house or perhaps buying a condo and having someone else pay off the mortgage.

So what’s holding you back? Are you afraid you’ll get the tenant from hell? Or maybe you fear you’ll be too soft on tenants who can’t pay their rent on time. Maybe you just don’t like people well enough to want to surround yourself with virtual strangers. With interest rates as low as they are, with Toronto’s red-hot real estate market and given the numbers moving to the city each year, now might be the time to consider diving in.

We designed a very unscientific test to see if you’re cut out to manage a rental property. Give it a try:

1. Handyman is a word that: _________

A) Gets your heart pumping with happy thoughts of many visits to Home Depot.

B) Is properly used for your skills as a grass cutter, eaves-trough cleaner and window washer.

C) Gets overused. I like repairman, as in phone one.

2. You and your partner’s financial goals are: _________

A) Completely simpatico.

B) On the same page 40 per cent of the time.

C) News to me. I had no idea my partner had financial goals.

3. Your idea of a rainy-day fund is: _________

A) Two per cent of the purchase price for maintenance and repairs plus more in reserves for unforeseen occurrences such as tenants failing to pay their rent.

B) Putting aside a few bucks for upkeep when it’s convenient for me.

C) Money you spend to lift your spirits during a downpour.

4. You see tenants as: _________

A) Valued and respected members of society just like me.

B) Good people for the most part.

C) Cash cows.

5. As a landlord, being hassled by tenants would mean: _________

A) Continually having to chase down those who didn’t pay their rent on time or having abusive renters who destroyed my property.

B) Sending out rent receipts on a regular basis.

C) Having to speak to them.

6. In conflict situations, you: _________

A) Always remain cool, calm and collected, handling each quarrel decisively with firm resolve and fairness.

B) Hesitate and change my mind several times when dealing with big issues.

C) Yell

Results:

If most of your answers were a’s, congratulations, you’ve got what it takes, you, landlord, you. Property management is right up your alley.

If you mostly answered b’s, you have some positive landlord qualities, but you might want to take a course to brush up on the rest. Workshops and courses are available. Check online in your area. You also might want to consider joining the Ontario Landlords Association, which offers discounts on credit checks plus other benefits.

If you scored mainly c’s, well, maybe you should leave your money in the bank.

As part of its ongoing series of neighbourhood walks, Freeman Real Estate is hosting a historic tour of Wychwood Park on Sunday, September 27 at 1 p.m.

As part of its ongoing series of neighbourhood walks, Freeman Real Estate is hosting a historic tour of Wychwood Park on Sunday, September 27 at 1 p.m.

Formerly known as the gated community of Bracondale Hill, Wychwood Park is a small enclave that was set up around the turn of the last century as an artists’ colony thanks to Marmaduke Matthews, an artist and aficionado of the Arts and Crafts movement. Matthews would gain prominence as an artist after painting traditional Canadian scenes that appeared in the illustrated ad work of Canadian Pacific Railway.

Matthews’ friend Alexander Jardin owned a huge block of land in the Wychwood area, which is north of Davenport Road and just west of Bathurst. Jardin sold a good chunk of that land to artists. The land was still very rural back then, when Matthews planned his pastoral community and named it after Wychwood in his native Oxfordshire.

“The area is a little enclave that is almost not part of the city,” says Marilyn Spearin, a local history buff and former school teacher who is leading the tour.

She is referring to the fact that although Wychwood was amalgamated into the city of Toronto in 1909, it remains a private community. The streets and amenities are paid for by the local residents, and the community is managed by an executive council. As one of Toronto’s more exclusive neighbourhoods, house prices easily top a million dollars.

During its start, the land was divided into irregularly shaped lots situated around a central park, pond and tennis courts designed by Toronto architect Arthur Edwin Whatmough.  Many of the homes in Wychwood were designed by Whatmough in the Arts and Crafts style.

Several well-known people have lived there, including Marshall McLuhan and Anatol Rapoport. In 1985 the area became the first residential zone in Ontario to be granted heritage status. A handful of other homes were designed by Eden Smith, a well-known architect who lived in the neighbourhood.

Wychwood is a leafy area home to ravines, old-growth trees and Taddle Creek, a six-kilometre stream that has been largely buried throughout most of the city except in a few spots including Wychwood where it is visible above ground.

The tour On September 13 will also encompass a visit to the nearby Tollkeeper’s Cottage, an historic tollgate structure discovered in the early ‘90s that now houses a museum and a gift shop. Located at Davenport and Bathurst, the cottage is also now home to a blue canoe thanks to the David Suzuki Foundation. As part of the foundation’s homegrown national parks project, the canoe is designed and planted with plants that encourage bees and butterflies. For more info visit www.tollkeeperscottage.ca.

The tour is expected to take one-and-a-half to two hours in total. Participants are asked to meet outside of the Freeman Real Estate office at 988 Bathurst Street just before 1 p.m. Rain date is set for October 4.