As summer nears, all is not lost. There’s fun to be had — just in smaller spaces
The cancellation of the CNE last week was the last of the three great pillars of the long, hot Toronto summer to fall. With Pride and the Caribbean Carnival also cancelled, is it even summer in the city?
For years, decades even, there have been pundits wondering if the CNE still mattered, but every year the crowds attending confirm it does and people have a strong, emotional connection to it.
It’s where memories are made, as cheeseball as that sounds: an annual event that marks the passage of time. With so much of our social lives on hold, diminished or squeezed through a computer screen, the chaotic, loud, smelly and sweaty midway feels like a dream now.
It feels like grief, too. Along with the three pillars, the city has also cancelled all other city-led and city-permitted festivals and events. Each one of these kinds of announcements is the loss of another familiar part of life, and now summer, that warm bright thing on the horizon to hope for, seems in jeopardy. All is not lost though.
It won’t be the same kind of summer, of course, but rather a downsized one that requires creativity to appreciate the small things that always made the city special. I admit that though I continue to discover new things in Toronto on evening walks, my advice to quietly explore on foot is getting tired. I’m sick of walking! I didn’t think I’d ever say that. Finding joy will take more work.
These high-profile cancellations are proof of how serious the pandemic is, but the thing to watch is the loosening up of other restrictions. Golf courses and a host of other services and businesses like pool maintenance in Ontario are soon to reopen.
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The rationale and even prudence of some of the opening up can and should be debated, but in this commerce-first province, the social side of isolation will likely loosen as well as summer approaches, allowing increased activity outside the home.
More Torontonians live in apartments than in single detached homes. This is why the fight to keep public spaces, whether parks, sidewalks or streets, open and accessible has been critical. This is the space where summer is likely to happen as indoor events are still far off.
If more road space is given to restaurants and cafes, tables can be spread out in fresh air, and a patio summer can still happen. Physically distant picnics in our parks may be possible too. It won’t be as effortless as in the past, but if we’ve learnt how to have a Zoom cocktail party, we can learn a new kind of togetherbut-apart picnic. Think small, not big. I adore a crowd, but it’s the friends I miss most.
Remember, in 1971 the first Pride celebrations in Toronto did not come with corporate floats rolling down Yonge Street, but was a much smaller picnic held at Hanlan’s Point. What kind of creative Pride celebrations might people think up? Spread out dancing in open spaces? Again, it might seem contrived, but after months of isolation, thinking small could be enough to get us through the summer.
Speaking of Hanlan’s, Toronto has beaches and Mark Mattson is confident they’ll be open for swimming this summer. He’s co-founder of Swim Drink Fish, a non-profit that monitors water quality, posting data to its Swim Guide, and manages the “Blue Flag” clean beach program. He does caution we may not have enough beaches to go around though.
“Toronto only has a few kilometres of recreational water on our 50-kilometre waterfront,” he says. “Not like other big cities like Vancouver, L.A., San Francisco, Miami or New York, with so many beaches connected to transit.” He notes that Bluffers Park, with its small area for swimming, was so popular in recent summers police had to turn cars away at Brimley and Kingston Roads by 8 a.m. on weekends. He’s advocated that swimming be allowed off Ontario Place, as Swim Drink Fish has shown the water quality is good.
Public space, inland or on the water’s edge, will be in high demand, so we’ll have to continue to demand more of it. As we learn how to use it differently but responsibly this summer, beware too of how it’s reported on: a telephoto lens photo of a park with people in it can compress depth and make perfectly fine, physically distant people look crowded together. There’s been a lot of this lately.
Those with backyards are already in a good position to enjoy summer. Cottage owners, who have disproportionately sucked up a lot of the political and media oxygen in recent weeks, should maybe refrain from posting happy pics from country getaways this summer if they want to keep their uncottaged friends from getting annoyed.
As for the CNE, it’ll remain as it does for most of the year: an expanse of parking lots. Room to spread out, but the memories that get made there or elsewhere will take some imagination.