Here with a Thursday drop. One week until the warmest winter night in Mellies, one day 'til the water goes off and the taps are already trickling. Fill up your buckets! Welcome to Melville Untold. Gather around, let your inbox be the communal bonfire.

In this week’s newsletter:

— Aubrey Moloto,

Last year, the Pet Swag Competition had over 182 votes, a neighbourhood collectively squealing over beautiful animals wrapped in beautiful winter warmers, and two very deserving winners who the Melville community is never going to forget.

Bumpy, owned by Evan Hendon and Terri Maggott, took the top spot. Ripley and Hicks, owned by Jennifer Malec, swept took second. Warm, wonderful animals with warm, wonderful people behind them.

This year, we're doing it again. Bigger.

Introducing the Pet Swag Blanket Drive Competition 2026, in partnership with Raw Pet Food Deli.

Raw Pet Food Deli is a pet store based in Parkhurst for the pet-food-conscious among us; raw, natural, thoughtfully sourced nutrition for your animals. Owner Debbie and the Raw Pet Food Deli team wanted in from the moment the conversation started. This is exactly the kind of community campaign that fits who they are: local, animal-first, no-nonsense. The partnership means bigger prizes, more visibility, and a competition that the whole neighbourhood, and hey, maybe even the Parks, can get behind.

How to Enter

Send a photo of your pet with their favourite blanket (or the cosiest, most ridiculous blanket setup you can stage) to [email protected] with your name and your pet's name. You can also enter the Raw Pet Food Deli directly.

What Makes a Winning Entry?

There are no rules, but there are tendencies.

Most of us will be shooting on our phones, so we are not looking for studio lighting. We are looking for soul. Does the picture make you stop scrolling? That is the one. But quick pro tip: don't shoot against the biggest light source, turn your cute furry subject toward the light and make sure you aren't blocking it.

The Prizes

Shout-out to Last Year's Legends

Bumpy, Terri. Ripley and Hicks, Jennifer and all our entries. The whole neighbourhood voted and the whole neighbourhood won. Let's do that again. If you know someone in Melville, Parkhurst or the Parks with a photogenic animal and a nice blanket, tell them. The more, the warmer.

Tune in next week to hear more from our sponsor and her cause.

Enter by emailing your photo and names to [email protected] or visit Raw Pet Deli's Parkhurst store.

Enjoyed this week’s digest? Consider buying us a coffee – It keeps the newsletter going.

For more updates as the week goes on, visit our Instagram page @snapson7th or our Melville Pulse event calendar

Something a little different is opening in the neighbourhood. Realms of Ra is an esoteric boutique at 88 Second Avenue, connected to Kev Don's African jewellery shop through a shared entrance. The store trades in metaphysical and spiritual products: candles, crystals, incense, and the like, under the banner of Protea Phoenix.

The founders, who go by their "pagan names" Protea and Criminos, chose Melville for the same reason most people do: it is the only place in Jozi that is paradoxical enough to hold an idea this ancient and this different. Named after the Egyptian sun god Ra, the concept is rooted in nature-based spirituality, curiosity, and belonging. If that is your world, or if you are simply curious, they open on Tuesday, 2 June, with free tarot readings in exchange for a Google review.

Book via WhatsApp 065 511 6344 or visit proteafenix.org. Find them on TikTok, Facebook, and YouTube at @ProteaPhoenix. Welcome to Melville Realms of Ra!

Die Pienk Kerk Restaurant has earned one of the biggest results the Ville has seen in a while. Yanni Briel and the team took 2nd place for Best Overall Guest Experience at the South Africa Restaurant Awards 2026. Not a regional category, not a niche award. Second in the country, overall. A proper result for a restaurant that has earned every bit of it. They are also rolling out a new live performance lineup for June. Follow their page for the schedule when it drops. Congratulations to the whole Die Pienk Kerk team, Melville is proud of you!

This is your last reminder. Rand Water is conducting scheduled maintenance on the Commando System on Friday, 29 May, from 07:00 to 19:00. That system feeds Brixton, Crosby, Hursthill, and portions of Melville's water supply.

The good news: The Melville Security Initiative have confirmed that the satellite station is full, ready, and available to service the neighbourhood through the outage. If you have had water issues before and used the satellite station, you know the drill: check our past issues for the usual water sources during outages and how they work.

For tomorrow: fill what you can tonight. No garden watering, no pool filling, no washing machines during the 12-hour maintenance window. Minimum use across the board.

The Melville Boulevard construction corridor, home to the long-stalled Spar building that has been bleeding the centre of foot traffic and anchor energy for months, may finally be showing signs of life. From several conversations we have had in the neighbourhood this week, word is that the new anchor tenant is working on the building again. We are still trying to confirm the details, but it sounds like September 1.

What we can say is that the tenants who have hung on in that centre have had a genuinely hard time, and the people who care about this neighbourhood are watching that corner closely. We will have the confirmed story as soon as we can and try to get an introduction with the Shoprite management.

If you have contact information, or work in the Boulevard: reply to this email.

Thursday, 4 June 2026. Seven days away.

MAMA NPC is working directly with venue owners to deploy warmth along the route for the winter edition: gas heaters and managed braziers up and down the route. Melville Artisanal Market at the Tennis Courts is confirmed active and trading on 4 June. A note to prevent misdirection: Melville Market trading as 51 4th Art and The Bamboo/Milpark Heights precinct only join first Thursdays every other month and will not be open for the next event.

June is Youth Month, and the mile wants you to feel it.

On The Walls And In The Rooms:

Resource Gallery opens CROWN HEAVY, a group exhibition featuring Thokozani Mthiyane, Sherman Baloyi, Thokozani Madonsela, Samson C Chambala (our poster artist), and Bongani Vincent at 6 PM sharp. Stokvel Gallery in 27 Boxes brings street art painter Busta Boltoon, whose work pulls from tattooing, cartooning, and graffiti into something that is hard to walk past. Avalon Art Studio on Third Avenue welcomes you in for a glass of glühwein, live painting and etching demonstrations from Rae and Hildegard, and wooden gnome painting workshops.  Studio 79 is opening its fashion design studio for the first time at MAM, running a collage and handmade paper workshop for R100 (glass of wine included), and serving steak, pap and chakalaka for those of us who love African food. Agterplaas BnB Guesthouse, together with Alice Gallery are hosting an exhibition with fires, wine and pizza in the courtyard. Dala Dank runs a live still-life sketch challenge on the night.

Thamsanga Mfuphi, whose solo show at the Giving Room stopped people in their tracks last month, is back in the same space. New students Olwethu Hadebe and Amkello Kellomane bring botanical mixed-media and neo-expressionist work, respectively, both exhibiting at Play Cafe in 27 Boxes. Shui Hoppenstein does live portraits of people in 5 to 10 minutes near XO Patisserie. Assembly Improv students led by our community's own Anna Stroud take to the 27 Boxes amphitheatre for interactive street improv. And outside 27 Boxes to 7th, Alexander Higgins brings a live street performance to the streets.

VIP Tour Spots Are Going

Still the best way to experience your neighbourhood monthly by far: meet remarkable people, get into spaces most visitors never see, and do the mile properly. Book your premium tour slot before they run out. Enjoy complimentary drinks, priority access to shuttles, artists and workshops and get a souvenir at the end.

Leigh Roux of The Crow's Nest is showing work internationally this week in a group exhibition titled Touch Grass, a collaboration between Creative Debuts, Studio 404 World, and Other Box. A MAM artist on an international wall. Come see his work on 4 June, he'll be at JAM, painting another mural today (Thursday 28).

When the Melville Art Mile launched in December 2025, two organisations came to the party early and stayed. Johannesburg Artists Market, together with Johannesburg Child Welfare, showed up, saw what was possible, and decided to build on it. They launched their own Thursday night market presence alongside the mile, calling it First Thursdays for Good — a community-first night market at every MAM event that has become a mainstay of the evening.

That was the launchpad. If you read our first newsletter of 2026, you will know we flagged that the Johannesburg Artists Market had markets as a major focus for the year. The First Thursday markets were the proof of concept. Now the JAM Weekend Markets are a full weekly fixture, pulling serious artists, designers, and artisans from across Johannesburg every weekend. Last week was reportedly strong. Every month, on First Thursday, they go even bigger alongside the Melville Art Mile.

Independent traders: if you want a stall, the bookings are open. You can also join up with the Melville Artisanal Market on the first Thursdays, which always have night markets on the mile.

There is no single big event this weekend at Melville Koppies, but there are about eight good reasons to head up. The nature reserve is open, and there is plenty to do:

More events are coming. We will keep you posted as the committee confirms the calendar.

The children's storytelling afternoon with Merle Grace has moved to Sunday, 14 June at 9 am. Merle’s recovering from laryngitis and her voice is taking its time to work its magic again. We hope to see her better and stronger soon!

After The Happening stopped Melville for a weekend at the start of the year, after a string of Melville Art Miles that had the strip buzzing on First Thursdays, and a few weeks of the neighbourhood trying to catch its breath, a different kind of street event appeared on the Jozi calendar.

Main Street Sundays, organised by Jozi My Jozi and Young Urbanists South Africa, took a section of Main Street in Marshalltown and gave it back to people for the day on 12 April. Inspired by Cape Town's Bree Street Sundays and the global Open Streets movement, the idea was strikingly simple: close the road, invite the city and see what happens. What happened was art, cycling, skateboarding, book clubs, markets, music, and hundreds of Joburgers remembering what the city feels like when it is not filtered through a windscreen.

Jozi My Jozi invited Snaps On Seventh to bring the Melville to the event, and the choice was obvious; give Jozi "A Taste Of The Mile". We ran a stand on Main Street, brought the best of the mile, and the energy was phenomenal. People were genuinely excited to discover what was happening in the Ville, but what surprised us even more was that most people already knew about it!

We had conversations that day that converted strangers into MAM enthusiasts. If you want to see what that looked like, check our posts from the day.

Since then, people have been asking: Is it ever happening again?

The answer is a loud yes! The next Main Street Sundays has been announced. Free to attend, registration is required to help organisers with crowd and logistics planning. Grab your spot now. We will confirm whether the Melville will be represented again and how soon; you will be the first to know!

Jozi has its own version of Cape Town's Open Streets now, and we were there at the beginning.

Terri Maggot is a Melville community member. You may know her as Bumpy's mom, the winner of last year's Pet Swag competition. What you may not know is that Terri is also a contributor to a significant piece of South African political history. We mentioned the launch at Love Books a few months ago, and now we'd like to highlight the work and nudge the community to support one of our own.

From Education Crisis to Organisation: Reflections on the NECC (1985–1995), published by Jacana Media, is a collective, multi-author reflection on the National Education Crisis Committee. The NECC was formed in 1985 at the height of the school boycotts, mobilising students, teachers, and communities across South Africa under the framework of "People's Education", a direct challenge to the Bantu Education system during one of the most volatile decades in the country's history.

Terri was part of a Love Books launch for this project earlier in the year. The archive and further reading is available. One of our neighbours helped write a piece of the country's education history. The Melville literature community strikes again!

Another Wednesday gone. Another Thursday newsletter. We appreciate your patience, liked this week's issue? Why not buy us a coffee?

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Until next Wednesday, Melville,

Stay cosy, stay curious, stay connected.

またね、✌️