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Festivals

Whoaccio

Whoaccio

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Toronto needs a major festival. It would be tempting to say "Carribana" or "TIFF" , but I mean much, much bigger. Something like Woodstock '69, Burning Man or South by South West. Ideally, I think it would be cool to turn the islands over for a few weeks in the summer and create a sort of temporary anarchist republic. I don't particularly like anarchy but, considering how buttoned down Toronto can be, I think it could be refreshing. Most importantly, it should be unique to Toronto (i.e. not North by Northeast or just cloning any number of popular festivals).

I should also say, the government should NOT get involved in this. Chances are it would just end up parasiting Bastille Day or something (cause Nuit Blanche was soo original)
 
Whoaccio said:
Toronto needs a major festival. It would be tempting to say "Carribana" or "TIFF" , but I mean much, much bigger. Something like Woodstock '69, Burning Man or South by South West...

I should also say, the government should NOT get involved in this. Chances are it would just end up parasiting Bastille Day or something (cause Nuit Blanche was soo original)
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Well, copying Woodstock has been done a zillion times, and holding Burning Man in the downtown of city may cause some panic, otherwise what kind of festival are you thinking about?

Also, when you say that government should not be involved in a festival held inside a city, remember that government would have to be involved for so many reasons. That being said, exclusively corporate funding might end up giving us the Loblaws Leather and Feather Fest, or the Scotiabank Anarchy Parade.

Should you feel the need to develop a festival based on these ideas, please fell free to pay me a royalty.
 
I dunno ... we already have a lot of "big" festivals. Not "huge" though as you're suggesting.

I think we'd be better off with more "medium/big" festivals throughout the entire year, more in the winter!.
 
Why not have a festival celebrating Toronto-on the Canada Day weekend!

Everyone: Toronto should have a mid-Summer fest on Canada Day-and/or the Weekend closest to it-celebrating the Best of Toronto of all types-perhaps something like Taste of Chicago along with a Celebrate Canada festival reaching out to all the provinces and Territories.

Knowing Toronto if it can be well run and organized it could me a major attraction midyear!

This can showcase the best aspects of Toronto within Canada as well as its place in North America and the World! I would be all for that...

Long Island Mike
 
Y'all out of town in the summer?

The reason it's tempting to say 'Caribana' or 'TIFF' is because... those ARE major festivals! The summer also has a whacking big Gay Pride bash, the CNE for the bridge & tunnel crowd, etc., etc. The summer is full, although the Molson Indy was missed this year by car freaks, I'm sure.

I think Caribana gets short shrift from the paler-than-thou set. A million people (probably an exaggeration, but it sure feels like it) cannot be wrong. (Caribana was also one of my most fun partying memories -- going with a buddy of mine to a bash down King West, finding out I was the only white guy in the whole bar... then having them turn on the black lights, and also discovering that I'm so pale I glow in the BL. If you want to stand out...) Partying at Caribana is awesome!

Toronto could use a great fall festival, though, before the crappy November rains set in. Fall tends to be the local fests (Beach, Cabbagetown, etc.) and we need a good bash at that time of year.
 
If ennui sets in there's still Nuit Blanche on October 4th. All those wacky anarchist artists, don't ya know?
 
Pride, Caribana and TIFF are pretty impressive warm-weather festivals in Toronto that have an appeal that goes beyond the city's borders (maybe Luminata too?). What Toronto should focus on is at least one major cold-weather festival, and for a large commercial and cultural centre like Toronto it would seem to make sense for one around the holidays. Maybe invest more in the Santa Claus parade to make it truly spectacular as a kick off for a 'Christmas in the city' kind of event with expanded public skating (Dundas Square and NPS etc), bigger and better lighting displays, midnight madness shopping along major thoroughfares with outdoor entertainment etc.
 
I agree with Tewder that we should have something that celebrates our winter months more. We are an arctic nation afterall, and I suspect our disinterest in the winter months is a reflection of an attempt to try to distance ourselves from the "undesirable" reality of our climate.

Beyond this keep in mind that festivals are actually being created in this city at a steady clip. Most are local in nature but there were quite a number of festival start-ups this year. The one danger is that many of the festivals turn out to be clones of each other so they will really need to focus their objectives and be creative to survive. This is where you come in, meaning anyone reading this. I have found, once you get by the petty politics, it is very easy to get involved and infact most festivals are starving for input and content.
 
I have to be my normal disagreeable self and argue that perhaps there are already too many big festivals in Toronto, especially in the summer. Some of the most popular ones like Beaches Jazz Fest, Taste of the Danforth and Buskerfest are now so enormous and crowded that they are exercises in endurance. Battling the crowds for views, food, water, and porta-potty access becomes exhausting after a while. My wife and I now plan our summer weekends by where the festivals aren't so we don't get caught in a crush of 12 thousand festival goers when all we want to do is buy a loaf of bread or something.

More people should play hometown tourist on their own and explore these various neighbourhoods on nice, normal quiet days when they can actually get a feel for the places, visit the local restaurants, eat souvlaki and actually relax without some guy juggling flaming swords in their face.

But hey, that's just me, I know I'm weird.
 
What Toronto should focus on is at least one major cold-weather festival, and for a large commercial and cultural centre like Toronto it would seem to make sense for one around the holidays.
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I agree, but what? It would have stand out against things like Winterlude in Ottawa or the Carnival in Quebec.
 
I'd like to see Virgin Festival have on site camping like the festivals in Europe. It would have to be somewhere bigger though, I think.
 
PukeGreen said:
I have to be my normal disagreeable self and argue that perhaps there are already too many big festivals in Toronto, especially in the summer. Some of the most popular ones like Beaches Jazz Fest, Taste of the Danforth and Buskerfest are now so enormous and crowded that they are exercises in endurance. Battling the crowds for views, food, water, and porta-potty access becomes exhausting after a while. My wife and I now plan our summer weekends by where the festivals aren't so we don't get caught in a crush of 12 thousand festival goers when all we want to do is buy a loaf of bread or something....But hey, that's just me, I know I'm weird.
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It's not, and you aren't. You took the words right out of my mouth. I find the endless festivals put on by the city and others to be tedious and infantilizing. My gf and I make it a policy to be as far away from them as possible.
 
Hydrogen said:
I agree, but what? It would have stand out against things like Winterlude in Ottawa or the Carnival in Quebec.
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Not really sure what the details would be. One of the difficulties would be a lack of snow in Toronto (most of the time), which would rule out a 'winter carnival'-type of event. As you say these are already done well in Quebec City and Ottawa anyways. I think I would be inclined to simply play up the attributes that are already in Toronto as a big city. Again, maybe something along the lines of a weekend event where the major arteries are closed (Yonge, Bloor, Queen and Spadina) for the lighting of holiday illuminations (would have to be spectacular to draw crowds), a major upgraded parade (maybe at night), skating in makeshift rinks all over the area (NPS, Dundas Square, and some make-shift street rinks created??), live music playing in the streets, midnight madness shopping, etc. This could provide a framework for arts groups and retail stores to jump on the bandwagon (hotels offering weekend packages, theatres presenting holiday shows, etc). I'd go!
 
People complain that the waterfront is pretty much empty during the winter. Why not get something going down there. Maybe a "Frozen HtO" where we get snow trucked in and have a large fort built for people and kids to play around on. It doesn't make for a festival, but it could play a role in a bigger event.
 
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