Toronto Events & Festivals

[allurban]

Originally Posted by Taller, Better

Fun! I had no idea it had happened...

it's only the second one...The Night Market is to be an annual event.

Traffic was quite terrible, and you could smell the "stinky tofu" (not @stinkytofu) from the bridge over the keating channel.

You should have gone ... there were lots of customized cars on Saturday evening, not to mention the first rain clouds Toronto had seen in 4 weeks.

Cheers, m

[allurban]

Originally Posted by Mollywood

I like Caribana but it is one badly organized parade. The parade has no continuity. It stops and starts, with 30 to 60 minute gaps, which can be quite frustrating. Too many ordinary people jump the fence and walk in both directions, during the parade. It's just mass confusion of people walking everywhere and it blocks the parade floats. It slows the whole thing down. There were many times I thought the parade was over but then I realized a float was coming, in the distance.

Although this parade could use lots of improvement, I still enjoyed it. I would have enjoyed it more if it was cooler and less crowded but it is, what it is. I didn't get much good video footage of the parade but I will still make a few videos out of it.

The timing & continuity of the parade has always been an issue. Part of the reason is that many of the people are mixed up, running from section to section.

Wifey and I were sitting in front of the Direct Energy Centre and we could see different groups of people in Mas(querade) costumes running back & forth - including small numbers of people who were from sections that had obviously gone already.

We also saw a lot of "sections" (smaller segments within the bigger party group) that were mixed up, even the announcers were confused.

As wifey and I were leaving around 1pm, we got to the entrance near BMO stadium and saw one group of dancers who had obviously arrived late ... the organizer told them their section was already past Ontario Place.

I think another reason is the music ... those trucks were carrying massive speakers and having them too close to each other (like at the marshalling area in front of the Direct Energy Centre) is just too much noise.

The other factor is the judging that takes place south of the Marine Museum.

I think the best solution would be to separate the judging from the rest of the parade ... at least, once the group has left the judging area then there is one consistent parade with the same music (preferably steel pan, not speakerbox) throughout ... instead of separate groups playing different music, too far apart to make it feel "parade-like"

Cheers, m

[icemachine]

Stopped by the Wychwood Barns a couple weeks ago to check out the http://brewerymarket.com/, it was nice, but I would only reccomend it if you are in the area.

Next event is Aug 14 with F&M Brewery of Guelph providing the beers
http://brewerymarket.com/?page_id=22

[AndrewJM3D]

Beerfest this weekend! I'll try to take some pics, the ones I take later in the day may be blurry though.

[Taller, Better]

And Taste o' The Danforth too, don't forget.

Is Beerfest really 40 bucks a crack? One can buy a fair amount of pints for $40... and does it mean drinking little Dixie cup samples? How does it work?

[icemachine]

The $38.50 admission gets you 5 tokens and a plastic cup, most beers will be 1 token/4oz sample although some of the craft beers might be 2 or 3 tokens/sample. Extra tokens are $1/token and I think sold in lots of 10. I'd reccommend visting the Flying Monkeys, Amsterdam, Black Oak and Great Lakes tents as they are some of the best and most innovative brewers this province has.

[allurban]

Originally Posted by icemachine

The $38.50 admission gets you 5 tokens and a plastic cup, most beers will be 1 token/4oz sample although some of the craft beers might be 2 or 3 tokens/sample. Extra tokens are $1/token and I think sold in lots of 10. I'd reccommend visting the Flying Monkeys, Amsterdam, Black Oak and Great Lakes tents as they are some of the best and most innovative brewers this province has.

So you could literally spend $38.50 and get only 2 beers?

I like beer (not as much as the next guy, but I like it) but wow! To quote Barney Gumble "This better be the best beer in the world! errrrppppp"

Cheers, m

[AndrewJM3D]

Originally Posted by Taller, Better

And Taste o' The Danforth too, don't forget.

Is Beerfest really 40 bucks a crack? One can buy a fair amount of pints for $40... and does it mean drinking little Dixie cup samples? How does it work?

You get 5 tokens, the samples are about a half bottle of beer. It is a bit of a rip off, but you get drunk before you realize it. Lots of beer, lots of fun.

[monkeyronin]

I'd rather use that $40 to buy a few cases of beer and just spend an afternoon hanging out in Trinity Bellwoods or something.

[AndrewJM3D]

Ya, but then you'd miss out on some cool new beers. It's a fun once a year thing.

[icemachine]

I don't think I'll go this year, Mondiale in Montreal is a much better festival, and between Toronto Beer Week, OCB Week, C'est What's annual fall/spring sampling events and Volo's Cask Days and Great Lakes monthly events I think I get to see most of these new beers without needing to go to this.

But if you aren't well versed in the local beer culture I encourage you to go and try out all the stuff you aren't familar with

[Mollywood]

I just found out yesterday that the downtown Chinatown has a new night market. It's held every Friday and Saturday at 5pm to 11 pm. It started July 29th and runs until September 10th. The flyer say it will have cultural entertainment, live performances, Chinese fortune telling and "freebies", whatever that means. lol

It's located on Huron Street, one block east of Spadina, at Dundas. I hope the food is as good as the T & T Waterfront Night Market. I'm sure this one will be a lot smaller, since it's on a small side street.

[Mollywood]

Originally Posted by Mollywood

I just found out yesterday that the downtown Chinatown has a new night market. It's held every Friday and Saturday at 5pm to 11 pm. It started July 29th and runs until September 10th. The flyer say it will have cultural entertainment, live performances, Chinese fortune telling and "freebies", whatever that means. lol

It's located on Huron Street, one block east of Spadina, at Dundas. I hope the food is as good as the T & T Waterfront Night Market. I'm sure this one will be a lot smaller, since it's on a small side street.

DO NOT GO TO THIS EVENT!


Rant alert:


I wasted my time going to what was advertised as a "Night Market" but it was sponsered by The Chinatown BIA, so I should have known it was going to be bad. Every year the Chinatown BIA puts on the "Chinatown Festival" which I consider to be the worst BIA sponsored event in Toronto. They put ZERO effort into it and NO money. The same can be said for this useless event.

This night market had a few tables with books and panphlets but not much else. Nope, NO street food, at a night market! There was about 8 students sitting at the tables and not 1 single customer or person walking around. (just me lol) There was no entertainment of anykind. Why even bother to close off a street for that? I stay all of 5 seconds and left, very disappointed. I was hungry, so I walked down to Queen Street and got some good food there. I was not going to reward the Chinatiwb BIA by getting food from one of their businesses. NO WAY!

This non-event should be closed down soon. Don't waste your time checking it out. Shame on the Chinatown BIA!

[Travis007]

Yeah, I used to attend these Chinatown street festivals a few years back. They were during the day but pretty lame. The rumour around the Chinese community is that the Chinatown BIA is essentially nothing more than a small time triad system, out to collect "collection money". I personally don't have proof, but it's rumours I hear from my uncle who has connections to such shady characters around that part of town.

But honestly, I personally don't think this BIA is actually improving anything. The Chinese population is growing annually but Spadina Chinatown is in many ways declining, and often ignored by newer immigrants. I don't feel that there's any effort as a community to improve aesthetics or standards. I had some family from NYC/Philly visit last month and they commented on how Chinatown is in rather poor condition. They said how the NYC municipal government has made efforts in turning Manhattan Chinatown into a tourist destination. Toronto's Chinatown has a long way to go in terms of turning it into a desirable tourist spot.

[Taller, Better]

Originally Posted by Mollywood

. Every year the Chinatown BIA puts on the "Chinatown Festival" which I consider to be the worst BIA sponsored event in Toronto. They put ZERO effort into it and NO money.

It is the lamest "street festival" in the city.

[Mollywood]

Did anybody go to the CNE this year? Is there anything interesting that's worth seeing?

[MysticMcGoo]

Just got back from Buskerfest.

They seriously need police to direct pedestrian traffic flows. U had to plow through swaths of humanity to even move. I'm sure the performances were really good, but I couldnt get close to enough to see any of them LOL.

[AndrewJM3D]

Next weekend should be the College Street Festival, for anybody who missed the taste of Little Italy IT'S THE EXACT SAME EVENT just a different name.

[Taller, Better]

Originally Posted by Mollywood

Did anybody go to the CNE this year? Is there anything interesting that's worth seeing?

I'm going either on Monday or next weekend. Bought group rate passes at work for something like $34 for entry/all day rides.

[Mollywood]

These are videos I made of Jack Layton's City Hall memorial & funeral.
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It was a sad week.