About Us – Lakeshore African Violet Society of Toronto

The bigger Picture

Lakeshore African Violet Society of Toronto (LAVS or Lakeshore AVS) is a society or club of African violet fans, growers and exhibitors who live, for the most part, in the western areas of the City of Toronto. However, we have members from other parts of Toronto and the surrounding Province of Ontario. We also have some members from considerable distances in other provinces of Canada and the United States as well.

Since 1970 we have been providing our membership with a forum and meeting place for our favourite pastime. We are still growing strong and going strong and welcome your interest in our society and its activities and shows. Please visit our web site more than once. It will continue to grow and improve as the months and years go by.

This is our official web site. In it we attempt to give you an idea of what we do, what programs we offer and the when, where and subjects of our meetings and shows. Please let the navigation bar above direct you to the aspects that interest you.

There are similar societies in other cities and towns across Canada. There is also a national society, the African Violet Society of Canada (AVSC). We are a local affiliate of this national group. We are especially proud of our own as one of the most active in Canada, hosting not only our own shows but many of the annual national conventions and shows of AVSC as well.

We are also an affiliate society of the African Violet Society of America, Inc. (AVSA) and of our close U.S. neighbour, the New York State African Violet Society.

Lakeshore AVS and its members

If you are interested in membership in our society our Membership Page has all the information you need. Come as a visitor to a meeting and see for yourself. Visitors are always welcome.

We are a group of hobby growers who choose the African violet (Saintpaulia) as a favourite plant and have banded together to learn more about the plant, share information and stage meetings and public shows. We have been together for 50 years adding new members all the time while sometimes regrettably losing others.

We get together through the year for six to eight meetings (open to newcomers who are considering membership as well as members) and two special dinners which are limited to members only. These meetings are held once monthly (always a Friday evening, usually the second Friday of the month) September through November and January through May. We also gather in June and December for special dinners. Our June gathering is the annual Awards Dinner to honour the prize winners at our annual spring show and present them with their awards. Our December gathering is our Annual Christmas Dinner to enjoy the season and each other’s company at the festive season. As well as a dinner it involves a large auction of plants and related items.

The History page will give you an idea of the great fun we have enjoying our plants while being accomplished growers and exhibitors at the same time and the duration of our friendships with one another.

The Bylaws are essentially the constitution of our organization and will give you some idea of how we function. We are informal but organized to be a productive and responsible group while enjoying our hobby.

If exploring our web site makes you want to think about becoming a member, have a look at our Membership page to learn about this very informal process. All are welcome; sharing an interest in our hobby is an asset.

Our FAQs page is there to answer some of the more frequently asked questions. Feel free to read through the sample questions and you may find the answer to yours. If you don’t encounter a question the same as your own feel free to contact us by email. Just go to the Contact page for the address you need.