Check out our favourite local spring events

BREWS, BROADWAY, & BALANCING ACTS

Exciting Events Await This Season

By Jen Brignall-Strong

There are more than just warmer temperatures to look forward to this spring. While we’re all counting down to festival season, the coming months also bring an amazing lineup of indoor entertainment happening across the city— whether you’re a craft beer connoisseur, a theatre lover, or just looking for a new experience.

KINKER’S NIGHT

Saturday, April 18, 8-10 p.m. Resurgence Art Collective, 3109 Riberdy Rd. Hosted by a variety of rotating artists, this monthly event features local talent testing their latest material and ironing out the “kinks” in their show. From aerial acrobatics and juggling to stand-up comedy, beatboxing, and dance, audiences are treated to a wide range of jaw-dropping performances. (Be prepared to do a lot of “ooh-ing and aah-ing.”) “Kinker’s Night is fun for so many reasons,” says past audience member Kim F. “It gives people who are working on their acts a chance and opens people up to so many new things that they wouldn’t normally come across.” Tickets are $10 and are available at the door or online: www.resurgenceartscollective.com

MASTERS OF THE BREWNIVERSE

Saturday, April 18, 1-11 pm Downtown Windsor Business Accelerator, 1501 Howard Ave. With an epic ’80s playlist, classic arcade games, and exclusive beers from some of the area’s top breweries, the newest event from WindsorEats is sure to be, like, totally rad. This one-day event encourages friendly competition and gives breweries the opportunity to flex their creative muscles and experiment with new recipes. “It’s a unique opportunity for craft beer lovers to get away from the same old and try something truly different,” says event organizer Adriano Ciotoli. There are two sessions throughout the day with the winners being crowned at the end of the evening. Two awards are up for grabs: People’s Choice and Master of the Brewniverse, which will be decided by a panel of judges. For tickets, visit www.windsoreats.com (’80s style is optional but encouraged).

THEDRIVEMAGAZINE.COM Jacqueline Paige Photography

May 1-10, various showtimes

The Chrysler Theatre, 201 Riverside Dr. West Looking for a little “razzle dazzle” this spring? WLMT’s Chicago is a production not to be missed. For those unfamiliar with the original 1926 play (or the 2003 Academy Award-winning film), this “musical vaudeville” follows the story of chorus girl Roxy Hart. Convicted and sentenced to death row after shooting her lover, Roxy joins forces with fellow “Merry Murderess” Velma Kelly in search of the American Dream: fame, fortune, and acquittal.

“I continue to be drawn to Chicago because of its simplicity,” says John Luther, now in his fifth run as director-choreographer of this classic show. “There is good storytelling, sexy dancing, a great score, and a good way to poke fun at politics and the judicial system.” For showtimes and tickets, visit www.windsorlight.com D

CAN-AM Recycling Inc. Pazner Environmental Ltd.

One man’s trash is another man’s gold

Can-Am Recycling 165 Queen St N Tilbury, ON N0P 2L0 519.682.9942 pazner.com/Can-Am-Recycling/

Growing up working in their father’s scrap metal business, Lawrence Pazner and Barbara Cheifetz learned a thing or two about recycling. Their father would say, “one man’s trash is another man’s gold.” Lawrence and Barbara decided to open their first business, Pazner Environmental Ltd., in 1996. Initially the business was set up to help companies manage their waste streams. Their customers, primarily automotive suppliers, found it useful to have Pazner handling their waste and recyclables. After a few years Lawrence and Barbara noticed the plastic part of the business was growing at a much higher rate than the metals, so they switched their focus to recycling plastic. They would buy plastic scrap and sell it to companies that would reuse, reprocess, or compound it into a product that other companies could reuse. In 2002 CAN-AM Recycling Inc. was incorporated and they went from not only buying and selling the plastic but processing the plastic into regrind. Truckloads of plastic come in daily, and is all separated and ground by specific polymers, grades, and colours. One of the services that CANAM offers is a closed-loop program, where scrap plastic is sorted, ground, reprocessed, and returned to the same supplier for reuse. This needs to be managed carefully, so the many varieties of plastic are properly identified and sorted to avoid cross contamination. As CAN-AM has grown, Lawrence and Barbara have added employee initiatives like benefits, appropriate workplace clothing, and gift cards for birthdays. They try to help employees through personal situations and work to make their employees feel supported in the workplace. Employee retention is important to them. “Longevity says more about a company than profit or balance sheets,” Lawrence says. Long-term employee retention means that CAN-AM has built a team of experts in the plastic recycling industry who are willing to go the extra mile for the company. Fostering their current employees’ skillsets, challenging them, and believing that they can move up within the company are just a few ways Lawrence and Barbara take care of their team. Their approach is to promote from within. Their plant managers both started on the plant floor separating plastic and learned from the ground up. Carrying on a tradition from their father, employees are given gift cards at Christmas. Lawrence and Barbara have taken the tradition one step further by purchasing extras and donating them to local food banks. The two have always maintained a strong sense of community by supporting local sports teams and doing Earth Day initiatives. Over the years Lawrence and Barbara have both gone into schools to talk about the importance of recycling. This year CAN-AM is presenting Earth Day Recycling Recognition Awards to select plastic suppliers that have improved their recycling programs by implementing better sorting or transportation initiatives. Lawrence and Barbara strongly believe in providing great service to their customers. They make themselves available to their customers and employees to ensure that they feel valued in knowing the integral role they play in CAN-AM’s continued growth and success. One man’s garbage is another man’s gold – Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle.

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