‘The Passion of Christ’ procession starting from St. Francis Assisi Roman Catholic Church at Mansfield Avenue and Grace Street in Little Italy. This tells the story of the events leading up to the Crucifixion of Christ on Good Friday.
Archive for the ‘events’ Category
Using their outside voices
Posted: April 7, 2019 in events, peopleTags: #cutshurtkids, #studentssayno, Conservatives, demonstration, Doug Ford, education, fordnation, government, people, placars, politics, protest, puppets, Queens Park, signs, yours to recover
Yesterday there was a large protest in front of Queens Park. Thousands of people from around the province gathered to demonstrate against Doug Ford and his Conservative party proposed cuts to education funding. It was so crowded that you couldn’t move through the center of the park in front of the parliament buildings. So many people were arriving by TTC that there were line-ups just to get out of Queens Park station. Buses, some say 170 arrived from out of town, were parked on both sides of Queens Park Circle. In the beginning, the road was open but police soon closed it along with some of the other streets in the area. Here are some of the people and the signs they carried:
below: Time to use our outside voices. There were lots of families with kids there.
below: Ford Faild. Ours to recover. There were a number of signs that played on the licence plate motif as one of the things that Ford wants to change is the motto on the plates.
below: Queens Park from the east.
below: The protest was organized by 4 unions. Many people carried pre-printed signs but there was an abundance of hand made signs in the crowd as well.
below: From Kitchener, a “Cuts Hurt Kids” sign.
below: Another licence plate: “Importanter than education”.
below: Drug Ford is a villain in big letters
below: Oosteroff’s mom would be very busy.
below: Queens Park Circle, south end. Buses letting passengers/protesters off.
below: Job losses aren’t saved by retirements, they’re stolen from the young work force.
below: Think before it’s illegal. Tax cuts for the rich or cuts to education?
below: Those who can teach, those who can’t become premier of Ontario.
below: Art matters.
below: I’ve seen better cabinets at IKEA
below: Communication means talking and listening.
below: The statue of Sir John A. Macdonald stands beside a sign that depicts the Conservative caucus as Doug Ford’s puppets. Ford pulls the strings and they all dance along.
below: Kids are cool, cuts are cruel. We are the future, the future needs funds.
below: #cutshurtkids in colour
below: A great visual for DoFo flushing our education.
below: A math question? How many one dollar beers is education worth?
below: Ford Wars, may the budget be with you
below: Fordnation has no imagination – unlike this sign.
below: Give me back my education Doug! and another Yours to Recover.
below: Climbing trees for a better view
below: Another attempt at a crowd shot.
below: Size does matter and a lovely spelling mess.
a day of action and morning light
Posted: March 29, 2019 in events, locations, old buildings, transportationTags: buildings, construction, crane, fire trucks, glass, light, OPSEU, people, reflections, street, streetcar, subway, sun, TTC, Yonge
The other day I heard rumours of a subway protest – i.e. a protest over the potential uploading of the responsibility for the TTC from the city to the province. On the 27th of March there was a “day of action” at 40 subway stations during the morning rush, starting at 7:30 a.m.
below: Walking toward Eglinton subway station with the sun shining from behind me. Golden glass.
I couldn’t find anyone at Eglinton station (was I too early?) but there were 4 people handing out leaflets inside Bloor station. I also saw this guy with an OPSEU flag by Wellesley station.
So much for the idea of a blog post about this day of action. But it was a beautiful morning so I enjoyed the walk down Yonge street. I don’t often walk here that early and I was surprised how quiet it was. The light was also interesting.
below: A mix of old and new architecture, looking south towards the old St. Charles tavern clock tower that is being incorporated into a new development.
below: Near Yonge & Bloor. Preservation of an old building… and very big crane.
below: Looking north from Dundas under a watchful eye.
below: Looking north from Queen Street. The Eaton Centre is on the left in the foreground. Play the game of ‘name that building’ or ‘I remember when’.
below: This was the largest group of “protesters” that I saw. It was more of an information session than a protest, and there’s nothing wrong with that.
below: People headed to work as I started home.
protest and counter protest
Posted: March 26, 2019 in events, peopleTags: fascism, flags, immigration, people, politics, protest
On Saturday there was another small protest by a group that goes by the name PEGIDA which is actually an acronym for a German organization that can probably be called far right. The protest attracted a counter protest by a larger group of people. By the time I passed by, police and metal barricades stood between the two groups. Apparently the protest had planned to walk down University Ave. but the counter protest prevented them from doing so.
below: “Smash racism, no platform for fascists”
below: Patriots of Canada Against the Islamization of the West . P is for Patriot, whatever you think that that word means or implies.
below: “Fascism is a death cult” and “Nationalism is for losers”.
below: “When the state protects bigots, hate is state sanctioned.”
Greek Independence Day Parade
Posted: March 25, 2019 in events, locations, peopleTags: banners, Canadian flags, crowd, flags, genocide, Greek, Greek flags, groups, Helles, Macedoia, parade, people, spectators
Greek Independence Day is March 25, comemorating the start of the War of Greek Independence in 1821. Prior to that, they had been part of the Ottoman Empire for almost 400 years, since 1453. Yesterday there was a parade along the Danforth to mark the occasion.
There were people with banners representing many groups including the Cultural Society of Kilkis and Suburbs,
the Thessalon Federation of Ontario, and many more,
below: There was only one float in the parade. It was a memorial to those who died in the Greek genocide during and after WW1 when the Christian Ottoman Greeks living in Anatolia (now part of Turkey) were killed or driven out.
Winter Stations 2019
Posted: February 19, 2019 in events, waterfrontTags: Above the Wall, Adelle York, Chairavan, colours, Family Day, February, Forest of Butterflies, frozen, Joshua Carel, Lake Ontario, lifeguard stations, Luis Enrique Hernandez, Mind Station, people, public art, sculpture, Sheridan College, snow ice, Tomasz Piotrowski, wall, winter stations, Woodbine Beach, Łukasz Chaberka
This year there were five installations at Woodbine Beach for the annual ‘Winter Stations’ event. Yesterday, February 18th, was the opening day. It was also a holiday Monday, Family Day, and lots of people were at the beach.
below: Forest of Butterflies by Luis Enrique Hernandez of Mexico.
below: The lake was very wavy and rough on Family Day. There was lots of water spraying onto the piles of snow and ice as the waves crashed against the shore.
below: ‘Above the Wall’ designed by Americans Joshua Carel and Adelle York. Climb the stairs and meet people on the platform at the top.
below: ‘Chairavan’ by a team from Sheridan College.
below: ‘Mind Station’, designed by Tomasz Piotrowski and Łukasz Chaberka from Poland.
below: Interior view – stand on the stumps to look out holes in the roof.
below: One of the views from the roof.
below: ‘Cavalcade’, designed by a group from Toronto: Victor Perez-Amado, John Nguyen, Anton Skorishchenko, Abubaker Bajaman + Stephen Seunwon Baik
below: The construction phase
Apparently, this was the 5th year for ‘Winter Stations’. Previous years ‘Winter Stations’ blog posts:
Flotsam and Jetsam and others (2017)
Warming with everyone and their dog – almost (2018)
admit one… and a few more
Posted: February 10, 2019 in events, peopleTags: #icefest19, #icefest2019, dogs, Hollywood North, ice, Icefest, oscar, people, pictures, posing, sculptures, snow, winter, Yorkville
The theme of this year’s Icefest was ‘Hollywood North’.
Shooting on location at Yorkville Village Park on Cumberland Ave
during the weekend of 9th and 10th February
Featuring: Lots of ice sculptures (over 70,000 pounds of the stuff!)
In the Director’s chair
Starring
and a cast of thousands.
Somewhere on instagram there is probably a dog….
It says, “Say cheese”, so of course we do!
An Oscar winning performance!
LightFest 2019
Posted: February 8, 2019 in events, locations, public artTags: art, colours, dark, Distillery District, Don Kennel, installations, LED, lights, night, Polar Bear, public art, shapes, Taylor Dean Harrison
Once again, the Distillery District is lighting up the cold winter nights with their LightFest featuring a number of lit art installations.
below: The LOVE locks have been enhanced with a cursive band of colour.
below: There is no fire breathing dragon like there was last year, but there is an enormous 35 foot polar bear standing outside Balzacs. Apparently it gets lit up later in the evening (or any other time except when I was there?). He is made from the hoods of old cars and is the creation of Don Kennel.
below: Well, duh, of course it is! LOL. There is no context to this picture so you can’t tell that it’s like a large hockey puck, about 4 feet (about 1.2 metres) high if my memory is correct (i.e. it could be a bit higher).
below: Some of the installations are just for show (like the rods here) but some are more interactive. For instance, the ring of orange and yellow lights that you can see in the background are large enough for people to walk through.
below: Another interactive installation is this little stained glass and acrylic enclosure by Taylor Dean Harrison. When you are inside it looks like you are surrounded by stained glass. Or, as I overheard one boy call it, lizard skin.
As usual, this is only a taste of what it there. You can explore the works of 30 different artists at the Distillery District until the 3rd of March.
bringing in the pig
Posted: February 5, 2019 in events, peopleTags: cameras, costume, happy new year, kids, lions, lunar new year, people, ribbons, Scarborough Town Centre, selfies, wishes, year of the pig
Happy New Year!
Lunar New Year that is, as we usher out the year of the dog and welcome in the year of the pig.
A few scenes from Scarborough Town Centre today.
Write your wish on a ribbon and tie it to archway – maybe your wish will come true.
Lions dance to ward off the evil spirits
Here Comes Santa Claus!
Posted: November 19, 2018 in events, peopleTags: animals, antlers, boys, bumble bees, camera, characters, clowns, costume, families, floats, flower pots, girls, gloves, hair, hats, ivy, mitts, people, red nose, reindeer antlers, SAnta Claus, smiling, tosantaparade, walking, waving, wigs
Santa Claus Parade 2018
The 114th annual Santa Claus parade filled the streets with lots of fun and excitement.
Floats, clowns, and hundreds of characters in costumes.
And people, lots of people!
And of course, Santa Claus at the end of the parade sitting in his sleigh with toys and Christmas surprises. The star of the parade, the person everyone came to see.
as I walk Toronto 