Winter Season Open House

History

January 20, 1944:
AA Central Office opened at 1170 Yonge St.

December 25, 1944 - December 25, 1959:
Open House at 1170 Yonge St.

January 15, 1960:
1170 closed and 2 Gerrard St. West opened

December 25, 1960 - December 25, 1970:
Open House at Columbus Hall

December 25, 1971 - December 25, 1979:
Open House at Metropolitan United Church

The reason the Open House left the Metropolitan U.C. was "rowdyism and drinking at the Church. The Church would not tolerate what was taking place. Intergroup did not feel it was in a position to police the gathering. Various elements in the Fellowship used the Steps and Traditions to prevent the necessary controls."

December 25, 1980 - December 25, 1988:
Open House at North Toronto Memorial Gardens

Intergroup chose this site for the Open House because it wanted to remove it from the downtown problem areas. "At this time the Xmas Open Houses were the responsibility of the elected representatives of the Fellowship in Toronto. An element in the Fellowship did not feel the proper way of treating the downtown alcoholics was being followed by moving up to Eglinton West (the area where North Toronto Memorial was located) where the drinking drunks would not go. At this point the minority took it into their own hands and the result was the start in 1981 of the dinner at St. Bartholomew's which has continued. It has unquestionably been successful but it was not fulfilling the wishes of the majority. It is a controversial issue. The elements who have put it on have shown that it is useful." Accordingly, "a number of members of AA who have felt that AA should be helping drunks at Xmas time in the downtown area" started a dinner at St. Bartholomew's, Dundas St. East, beginning December 25, 1981 and continuing to today and probably into the future. "In 1989, they were requested to consider realigning themselves but they chose not to (do so)."

December 25, 1989 - Today:
Open House at Emmanuel Howard Park United Church

An Xmas Open House was started in the West end and handled again by Intergroup. "It was felt by Intergroup that the group involved at St. Bartholomew's was in effect dealing with the East end", while Intergroup's Open House took care of the West end ... One other note: a few years ago the assembled representatives at Intergroup decided to change the official name from "Christmas Open House" to "Winter Season Open House" to avoid the Christian bias of the traditional name. The assembly acted in response to the challenge that, as a worldwide institution now seeking to help alcoholics of all stripes, regardless of religion or irreligion, AA should avoid officially associating itself with any particular form of religion, as declared in the "Preamble".