what makes you happy? from darryl ohrt on Vimeo.

One of the first things that we noticed about the Purple Pedals bike was its ability to put smiles on faces. Everyone that met the bike, learned of its story and purpose immediately smiled. And why not? When was the last time that you’ve seen a purple bike? Or a bike that’s traveled the globe? Or a bike that takes its own photos?

Inspired by the cycle’s seemingly magical smile-making capabilities, we decided … Continue Reading

Nina, Richard, and their daughter Eponine (who is named after a character in Les Miz), are a car free family, making their preferred mode of transportation a bicycle. So, obviously they were excited when Purple Shutter showed up at their door! Nina and Richard run a theater company, Fu-Gen, devoted to Asian-Canadian theater, but when not working, the family likes to go biking together. On this particular day, Dad Richard took Eponine for a spin near Cherry Beach and shared his story … Continue Reading

This is what happens when the day gets hot, everything begins to melt like in a Salvador Dali painting. Being serious, the roads that we ride on are not always smooth and the bumps on the road makes some of my photos fuzzy but really cool looking.

These 3 images are in sequence
… Continue Reading

A while back Purple Shutter paid a visit to Parent Central editor Brandie Weikle and her son Cameron in their Bloor West Neighbourhood. Without hesitation, Brandie knew what their mission was: dessert before dinner! So, they quickly set off on an exciting adventure to find the perfect cookie. Here’s their story:

Last week I got a great email from Rebecca Brown, the woman behind Bunch Family, the company that puts on groovy family-friendly parties like the Bunch Family Dance Party, the Bunch Family … Continue Reading

The BMX Bike Park that’s just west of my Toronto neighbourhood in front of the crazy sci-fi arches of Wallace Emerson Community Centre (est. 1979) is a magical fairyland, if you are a little kid whose training wheels just came off.

The park attracts tons of skilled teenage … Continue Reading

Swerple’s latest adventure was a very special one, capturing a unique and inspiring view of the open streets during one of San Francisco’s Sunday Streets events, when miles of streets are opened up for people to enjoy healthy activities, like walking and biking. Swerple came out to the fourth Sunday Streets in the Mission District of San Francisco , one of six Sunday Streets events and one of four routes taking place in SF this year. Thousands of people came out to bike, stroll, chat, skate, dance, play, and just take pleasure in yet another gorgeously warm day … Continue Reading

On Saturday Bunch sent Purple Shutter off to spend some time with the Meyer Odells (Gretel, Isaac, Tristan and Phelan), a super creative family of four. I make sure to follow these guys through their blog because they are always doing really neat stuff. For example, back in December, Gretel and Isaac used macaroni to explain coalition government to the kids and when Tristan came down with Chicken Pox, they set him up with a blog to document his illness.

The Meyer Odells live in the Village of Parkdale. This western Toronto neighborhood was known for crime and … Continue Reading

Remember summers when you were a kid, riding your bike around your neighborhood with your friends until it was time to go to bed? For me and my friends growing-up, bike riding is what the summer was for and now my son and his buddies love tooling around on their bikes as well.

In downtown Toronto, which is where my company, Bunch Family, is based and where I’ve always lived, people are really passionate about bikes. We’ve got a cyclists union, a world-famous … Continue Reading

The view on the top of the hills sure is beautiful, at 4500ft, I could virtually see the end of the world which-every-way I looked. It is a wonderful feeling after getting to the top and be greeted by a cool breeze. I was in Nebraska and now I am in Wyoming for the next week, then I would be climbing into the Rockies.

… Continue Reading

I am not a big fan of Football but a few of us on the trip are and I had no regrets after going to the Ohio State University Stadium.

I have been to very few sports arena of that magnitude, and it being the stadium of a college sport team simple blows my mind. We had … Continue Reading