Toronto prepares to put on its party shoes
Many new venues prepped to toast talent before and after their big nights
The shift in the TIFF party universe that is sending the opening-night bash to Maple Leaf Square is part of an everchanging social scene that brackets the 11 days of the Toronto International Film Festival.
What was hot last year may have cooled and new locations are luring stars and industry insiders. But one thing never changes, laughs Barbara Hershenhorn, president of Party Barbara Co. and organizer of the hot-ticket opening bash, among other events. “Can the Toronto restaurants and bars and LCBO keep enough Champagne in stock? Will it dry up before TIFF is over?”
Hershenhorn says moving the post-opening-gala party away from the Liberty Grand at Exhibition Place, where it has been since 2001, will make it an easier destination for festival partiers to reach. The bash has a guest list that tops 3,000.
But that’s just one party. And with more than 300 movies on TIFF’s slate, including 20 galas, there are plenty of opportunities to celebrate movie premieres and fete stars and filmmakers with before- or after-parties.
The always-evolving hospitality scene in Toronto, Hershenhorn says, means there are new players as well as returning favourites to host parties and dinners for the luminaries and those lucky enough to be “on the list.”
The Sept. 6 pre-gala opening-night cocktail party, also organized by Hershenhorn’s company, will be at the Ritz-Carlton on Wellington St. W.
Among the other locations Hershenhorn says are on the party radar this year are the new Soho House at 192 Adelaide St. W., Michael’s on Simcoe St., The Shore Club on Wellington St., the newly relaunched Arcadian Court in the Simpson Tower at The Bay on Bay St., Brassaii Restaurant and Lounge on King St. W., the Spoke Club just down the street from it, and Malaparte, the event space on the sixth floor at the TIFF Bell Lightbox.
Charles Khabouth’s INK Entertainment, whose Cube on Queen St. W. (formerly Ultra) will be a popular entertainment spot for TIFF, just announced new openings to make the most of the festival’s party mood. Storys is a new event space on Duncan St. that will host private events prior to its October opening, as well as Patria, a Spanish tapas restaurant at 480 King St. W. in the same building as Weslodge, the modern-day saloon Khabouth recently opened with restaurateur Hanif Harji. It’s also destined to be a hot TIFF spot.
Bloor St. W. bistro La Société will also be a major party destination, said Karen Gruson of INK — “more for private parties and dinners, a lot of functions for TIFF.”
And while the new Four Seasons at 60 Yorkville Ave. may not be ready yet for guests, it is up for a party, says Hershenhorn. It
Don’t count Yorkville out now that the festival action has moved farther downtown