Danforth mixes celebration, remembrance
Annual street festival brings huge crowds, as shooting victims honoured
There was merriment as well as melancholy at Taste of the Danforth, Canada’s biggest street festival, this weekend.
It’s odd that having a shish kebab in the heart of Toronto has become a political statement, but that was the point as festivalgoers paid tribute to the victims of last month’s mass shooting on the Danforth, while emphasizing the fact that life goes on.
“I really felt just personally that I had to pay tribute, especially to the two young girls who died,” said Tina Cyr, 42. Cyr and Alex Stratakos were sitting in front of a makeshift memorial on Saturday while a band played Greek music behind them. A cardboard sign read: “Reese Fallon died in this space 3 weeks ago. And four others were shot. Lest we forget.”
Earlier, Cyr had stopped by St. Barnabas Anglican Church to light a candle for the victims and make a donation. Outside the church, organizers had created a memorial for the victims where flowers, candles and stuffed animals overflowed on the sidewalk.
A sold-out benefit concert on Saturday night, headlined by Canadian rock band Billy Talent, raised thousands of dollars for the #TorontoStrong fund in support of shooting victims.
“I don’t know what’s happening. But I do know nothing’s going to stop us,” Cyr said.
It wasn’t lost on some festivalgoers that the Friday opening of the festival coincided with a shooting in Fredericton that left four people dead, including two police officers. Mass shoot- ings, once thought to be a mostly American phenomenon, are hitting closer to home. But the crowds on the Danforth Saturday suggested that there was less fear and more stoicism. Organizers didn’t know what to expect, but based on preliminary numbers, they now say it looks to be a record year.
“The help we got from everybody was incredible,” said Constantine Voidonicolas, chair of the Greek Town on the Danforth Business Improvement Area. “The prime minister was here twice. The mayor was here every day. People are saying they are not going to lock themselves up. It makes us feel that people are thinking of us.”
Voidonicolas was sitting in an elevated hospitality tent parked outside a Greek Orthodox Church in the middle of the Danforth. He said he was in a restaurant having coffee with friends the night of the shooting. He thought the shots were firecrackers. “It was so shocking,” he said. “I didn’t know what was happening.”
From a humble festival with a turnout of about 5,000 a quarter-century ago, the Taste of the Danforth has become a major street festival with an estimated attendance of 1.6 million and economic impact of $106 million over three days, according to organizers.
Key to that success has been moving from a strictly Greekoriented festival to a much more multicultural celebration. Sharing the stage with Greek performers are Bollywood dancers and an Asian beauty contest. Samosas and ramen are offered alongside traditional Greek fare.
“If you ask me why we’re successful after 25 years, it’s because we’ve changed as the city has changed,” said festival organizer and spokesperson Howard Lichtman. “We’re a multicultural festival with a dollop of tzatziki.”
The mainstreaming of the festival can also be seen in the corporate booths, from Ford to Costco. The festival attracts many visitors beyond Greektown, with 38 per cent coming from at least 40 kilometres away.
Those would include Orillia natives Cheryl McIntyre and her granddaughter Hallie Hibbs.
“Being a young person myself, it is kind of scary. Especially when you hear about the mass shootings in schools in the United States,” said Hibbs, 17. “So many young people are dying that it really astonishes me that humans can do this to each other. I grew up in the country, so I don’t believe in guns unless you’re using it to feed your family. There should be no other purpose.”
Outside St. Barnabas Church, a couple of blocks from where Hibbs and McIntyre had been sitting, three young women were selling T-shirts that read #DanforthStrong #TorontoStrong with the word “Together” underneath. The shirts were selling for a minimum $20 donation and buttons were $5, with proceeds going to the victims. Volunteer Malak, who wanted only her first name to be published, said on Friday one festivalgoer handed her $500.
“I was just so shaken. It was really generous,” she said. “And he didn’t even take a T-shirt. People really continue to astonish. They have been so supportive and kind.”