This poor pay phone on College Street at Euclid Avenue has seen better days…
Month: September 2022 (Page 2 of 3)
The Toronto Ukrainian Festival is North America’s largest festival of its kind. It’s a colourful, weekend-long event celebrating the Ukrainian culture, its people, music and dances. Every year the Festival attracts audiences well in excess of 500,000 from across Canada, the U.S. and abroad.
The Festival stretched from Runnymede Road to Jane Street this year. It was a sunny and hot day when I went to the festival yesterday; these shots are just a very small sampling of what I saw.
Lechowia Dancers
With its unique flair and style, Toronto’s award winning Lechowia Polish Canadian Folk Dance Company recreates for the stage the rich artistry of Polish folk culture while delighting its audiences at home and abroad! Founded in 1977 as an amateur dance organization, Lechowia (pronounced le-hovya) takes its name from Lech, a prominent Polish legendary figure credited for establishing the Polish nation. Today, the Company comprises over 200 dancers, singers and musicians ranging from children to adults. Lechowia’s varied repertoire includes the stately court dances, the Mazur and the Polonaise made popular by Frederic Chopin; the high-spirited Polka, the colourful Krakowiak, the fiery Oberek, the dazzling Goralski mountaineer’s dance as well as the beautiful songs of Silesia.
Cresendo Chamber Choir
The Crescendo chamber choir was created in 2020 under the direction of Pavlo Fondera. The choir has an interesting, complex and diverse repertoire. During its existence, the group took part in many charity concerts in support of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and for humanitarian aid to Ukraine. The members of the group are talented young people from Toronto who enthusiastically and passionately perform and popularize Ukrainian choral and pop music in Canada.
Tryzub Ukrainian Dance Ensemble
A prominent figure in Canada’s fabric of Ukrainian Dance groups, the Tryzub Ukrainian Dance Ensemble is a vibrant group of semi-professional dancers from Calgary, Alberta. Tryzub is a consistent feature artist of the Calgary Stampede Parade and Calgary’s Globalfest. Tryzub has performed across Canada, the USA, Mexico, Panama, Columbia,Australia, Turkey, and the beloved Ukraine.
Bandura Beyond Borders
Bandura Beyond Borders is a Toronto-based instrumental bandura quartet made up of close friends Borys Ostapienko, Orest Chornomaz, Oleksander Petlura and Ivan Dusanowskyj. Together, they approach the bandura from a new, fresh perspective. In traditional ensembles, the bandura is used for accompanying singing, but Bandura Beyond Borders demonstrates that the bandura can have a voice of its own. The group’s skillful playing showcases the bandura as a versatile and expressive instrument that can be used to play different styles of music, including classical, adaptations of popular music, and inventive arrangements of traditional Ukrainian songs. Bandura Beyond Borders has entertained audiences from New York City to Sault Ste Marie. The quartet also share their passion for the bandura and inspire people of all ages to learn through the Toronto Bandura School, which they founded together in 2015.
Barvinok Hamilton Ukrainian Dance Ensemble
In this year’s Festival, the Barvinok Hamilton Ukrainian Dance Ensemble presented traditional costumes worn by Ukrainian people. The Ensemble has been in existence for over 60 years and is home to over 30 students between the ages of 3 and 25. Based in the Holy Spirit Church Hall in Hamilton, Ontario, and under the direction of Nadine Usyk and Taras Gulka, dancers perform year-round at various church celebrations, festivals, concerts, and celebrations within the Greater Toronto Area, as well as the Hamilton & Niagara regions. Barvinok performed on the televised broadcast revival of the “Tiny Talent Time” show, and in front of appreciative audiences at the Bloor West Village Toronto Ukrainian Festival, the Capital Ukrainian Festival in Ottawa, and the St. Josaphat’s Ukrainian Festival in Rochester, where it made its US debut.
Natalya Gennadi
Ukrainian Canadian soprano Natalya Gennadi is establishing her operatic career in North America in a wide range of repertoire. Natalya caused a sensation when she stepped in at short notice in her debut in the leading role of Oksana G, Tapestry Opera’s harrowing tale about human trafficking. Her critically acclaimed performance of this world premiere was nominated for the prestigious Dora Mavor Award. Natalya’s 2022 engagements include solo collaborations with Music and Beyond Festival, Ottawa, Gryphon Trio, Rose Orchestra, Brampton, Counterpoint Orchestra, Toronto Concert Orchestra and Tapestry Opera. Recent opera roles include Violetta in La Traviata, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, Countess Almaviva in Le Nozze di Figaro, and Mimi in La Bohème. During the pandemic Ms. Gennadi produced a digital Ukrainian Art Song Mini Series and became a 2021 recipient of the prestigious REACH Development Grant.
The Vendors
The Games
The Food!
The Crowd
Stuff For The Kids
I love walking down St. Joseph Street in downtown Toronto. The street consists mostly of 1940s-era Art Deco and/or brownstone apartments. Much of the original architecture is still in place and, thankfully, the street has not been totally overrun with towering condos. Yes, there are some condos on this street, but they have been kept low (not counting FIVE St. Joseph near the corner of Yonge Street) and styled to match the existing architecture of the original buildings. I always feel like I’m stepping back in time when I walk through this small street, which really only stretches from Queen’s Park Crescent to Yonge Street; it’s a small street with big character, and there’s a lot of gay history here as well.
The national office of this organization dedicated to honouring and preserving the efforts of Canadian composers is located in a residence built in the Queen Anne style in 1892 for William J. Hill, who was a City Councillor and contractor. The Canadian Music Centre has been in existence since 1959 and moved into the building in 1984, and named the building the Chalmers House to recognize the financial contributions of Floyd and Jean Chalmers to renovate the premises.
A Dark Past: 16 St. Joseph Street
The street is quite idyllic until you come upon an apartment building at 16 St. Joseph. Whenever I pass by this building I always think of that atrocious murder of gay bar owner Sandy LeBlanc in September 1978, and I wonder who committed this violent murder and for what reason. This murder is famous in the annals of Toronto’s gay history, and remains unsolved to this day.
There has been a lot written on this particular murder so I won’t go into great detail here, nor am I qualified to – just Google it if you want to learn more. Basically, friends of Sandy LeBlanc became worried when they didn’t hear from him after a day or two. The friends went to the apartment building and kicked Sandy’s door in – they found LeBlanc’s bloody body on the floor. He had been stabbed over 100 times – the police called it “overkill” and I can certainly see why. Police at the time found bloody footprints leading from the carpet in the bedroom to a window overlooking the alley. Reports said the carpet was so thick with blood it squished when officers walked on it. A bloody handkerchief was also found on the front lawn of the property.
Anyway, back to the street…
The row of five buildings were Second Empire style rowhouses completed in 1879. They are listed in the Historic Yonge Street Heritage Conservation District and designated under Part IV and Part V, of the Ontario Heritage Act. The buildings feature red brick cladding with a mansard roof over moulded brick frieze. Tapered stone lintels top windows and door openings.
“FROM ONE NARRATIVE TO THE NEXT / IF NOT TOMORROW TOMORROW / LUCKY ENOUGH TO FLY INTO THE FLAME / SLOWLY SURELY DISAPPEARING / FOLLOWED BY MOMENTS OF EQUILIBRIUM”
And… that’s about it. If you’re interested in the history of Toronto’s gay clubs from the 60s, 70s and 80s, check out the site Then & Now. There’s an abundance of detail there regarding Toronto’s gay past and it makes for fascinating reading, especially if you were in the scene at the time.
Waterfront Public Life Pilot
The Waterfront Business Improvement Area (BIA) in collaboration with MASSIVart presents Alpha Bravo Charlie, a site-specific temporary art installation conceived by Toronto-based designers Coryn Kempster and Julia Jamrozik (www.ck-jj.com). This public space installation is part of the Waterfront’s BIA‘s “Waterfront Public Life Pilot” project that aims to find creative ways to animate, enhance, and beautify public spaces along the waterfront for the community and visitors to enjoy.
This emerging new Toronto neighbourhood on Lower Jarvis Street is called East Bayfront. The land is currently undergoing a transformation from industrial use to mixed-use as part of Waterfront Toronto’s plans to create a residential and commercial district urban core near the lake. The area is bordered by Parliament Street to the east, Jarvis Street and the Jarvis Slip to the west, and the rail line and Gardiner Expressway to the north.
This was a great food court in which to hang out. The hundreds of little ceiling panels move freely, so when they catch the breeze the entire ceiling appears to move.
East Bayfront neighbourhood
3 Lower Jarvis Street, East Bayfront neighbourhood
Offers office space for co-working, Queen’s Quay East
East Bayfront neighbourhood
For the summer of 2022, Market Street (parallel street to St. Lawrence Market), is pedestrian-only. There are comfortable chairs and plenty of patios to sit in, and live entertainment happens over the lunchtime hours.
Bijoux is a 21-year-old Nigerian-Congolese singer-songwriter based in Ontario. At the age of 12 Bijoux landed her first gig as a performer for a conference. Since then, she has gone on to sing at sport games, festivals, concerts, and production shows, including performing for a crowd of over 9000 in 2019 and 2020. In 2021, Bijoux released her single “Joker” and has gone on to not only perform at El Mocambo stage but was also invited to attend the 2022 Junos awards show. Throughout the years, Bijoux has been honoured with musical awards like Outstanding Singer Of The Year and People’s Choice award at music festivals. She has also been recognized for her musical achievement by the Mayor of Moncton and the former Minister of Health Ginette Petitpas Taylor. She is scheduled to release an EP and more musical projects in 2022.
On To Front Street East
Jarvis and Front Streets
Front Street East, between Church and Jarvis Streets
This one has been around for a while but the message certainly still has relevance:
On sidewalk outside Sick Kids Hospital, 555 University Avenue
I have passed through the Grange Park many times but have never stopped to photograph it… until now. Grange Park is located south of the Art Gallery of Ontario, next to the Ontario College of Art and Design University (OCADU) and north of University Settlement House, at the north end of John Street. The Park lends its name to the Grange Park neighbourhood in the vicinity of the park. Historically, the park was the backyard of The Grange, a manor that was later expanded and became the Art Gallery of Ontario.
Left on the plaque for the Queen Elizabeth II Rose Garden in Grange Park
Gwendolyn MacEwen
by TheKaunArtist, Grange Park
In the summer of 2017, “Large Two Forms” made the move from the corner of McCaul and Dundas Streets – where it lived since 1974 – to Grange Park. The sensuous curves of this larger-than-life sculpture invite visitors to interact with and explore the bronze giant.
The W. Garfield Weston Foundation commissioned Aquaverde for the redesigned Grange Park adjacent to the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto. This water sculpture resulted from a limited competition to design an artwork for the circular area at the end of a curved wall carrying a rill of water across the park. The design is a mirror polished stainless steel bowl which receives the water from the rill, with seven spouts delivering laminar flowing water into cups. The cups break the flow and create animation of the water that can be seen from a distance. LED lights are set below the cups to provide a programme of colour changing lighting at night. The park was reopened and Aquaverde inaugurated on July 8, 2017 by Mr. and Mrs. Galen Weston.
“The Grange” in foreground
Underneath the Sharp Centre for Design, 100 McCaul Street
Seen on John Street today…
Soon to open on corner of John Street and Queen Street West
Signage on John Street patio
Floor of John Street patio
165 John Street
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