Posts Tagged ‘people’

Lower River Street passes through it; Eastern Avenue passes over it.
And now the support pillars on the eastern side of the park have been painted by various street artists.

 

picture of art (mural) on a concrete support holding up a road above a skateboard and basketball park - young man on skateboard jump in the park with many of the pillars in the photo including a large greyish blue clown face

photo of art (mural) on a concrete support holding up a road above a skateboard and basketball park - close up of a multocoloured clown face with a scary expression

picture of art (mural) on a concrete support holding up a road above a skateboard and basketball park - an elicser painting of a person in a red hoodie holding a basketball.  Eyes closed, thining, hood pulled up over head

 

picture of art (mural) on a concrete support holding up a road above a skateboard and basketball park - guys on bikes in the park with many of the pillars in the photo including a large greyish blue clown face and an orange woman's face.

picture of art (mural) on a concrete support holding up a road above a skateboard and basketball park - looking from one corner of the park diagonally through the park.  A creature with a white skull-like face with pinkish red mushrooms in the foreground, other pillars in the background

 

large orage woman's face by fiya painted on a concrete support that is helping to hold up a road.
picture of art (mural) on a concrete support holding up a road above a skateboard and basketball park - bottom part of a pillar with a painting of a big red set of lips, a red heart with an arrow through is as well as yellow symbols from playing card - hearts, diamond, spage and club.  Signed Enjoy denial.

picture of art (mural) on a concrete support holding up a road above a skateboard and basketball park - in the foreground is a pillar with a birdo bird on it.  Many other supports in the background along with a young man on a skateboard

head of a colourful birdo bird with other street art in the background

 

part of a street art painting showing two people standing on the suway holding onto the handles from the ceiling.  Both are shown as muscle layer as outer layer of body, i.e. no skin.  A man and a woman.

 

picture of art (mural) on a concrete support holding up a road above a skateboard and basketball park -  lage eyes on one creature, a red creature with open mouth and long purple tonge, by spud, in the foreground.  Other pillars in the background, as well as one young man with a skateboard

South American themed figure with head dress painted on a pillar, with other painted pillars in the background.

 

picture of art (mural) on a concrete support holding up a road above a skateboard and basketball park -

picture of art (mural) on a concrete support holding up a road above a skateboard and basketball park - large blue face of a man wearing sunglasses, in profile, in the foreground.  A pillar with a tall skinny person painted on it in the background.

picture of art (mural) on a concrete support holding up a road above a skateboard and basketball park - painting of a large purple woman's face with her eyes closed

photograph of a number of pillars and supports holding up Eastern Ave as it passes over Lower River St.  Pillars have been painted by street artists including a fish by birdo and lips by Enjoy Denial.   Underpass park.  Toronto

 

on two sides of a concrete pillar there are paintings of people. One has two nose to nose with both arms raised to the top of the pillar such that it looks like they are holding up the upper horizontal part of the concrete support.  On the other side of the pillar is a man with bent head who looks like he is carrying the weight of the road above on his shoulders.  There are also some figures painted on the horizontal part of the support.

street art painting of a white face, weird eyes and an open mouth

Two overpasses come together to form one, view from below, there is an urban park under the overpass on the right, with the concrete supports holding up the road covered with paintings by street artists.

You’ll find more photos of the park in the post below too

In Underpass park, some of the concrete supports holding up Eastern Ave have been painted by various street artists.  The pillars that are closest to Lower River Street feature people of all races, genders, ages, and colours entangled together.

A man and two kids walk their bikes past Underpass Park on Lower River St. in Toronto.  A road is above them.  Concrete supports that hold up that road have been decorated with paintings by various street artists.  Closest to the street, the pillars are people with their arms raised so it looks like they are holding up the road.  The horizontal part of the supprts are covered with pictures of people flying outward from the center.

Details of some of the people:

part of a street art painting, a black man with a yellow baseball hat, an older Chinese man with a small beard, as well as other arms and legs tangled up together

street artist painting of a woman with long black hair emerging from a bed of flowers.

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street artist painting on a concrete underpass support, a white man is reading a read book with the titile Like.  A brown man's face is also in the picture.

street artist painting of a woman with long yellow hair emerging from a bed of flowers.

a street artist painting of a woman in a blue and white striped shirt flying with her arms outstretched.  Two pairs of feet as well as a pair of hands belonging to other people are also in the picture.

The 43rd Annual Festival of India started with a parade down Yonge Street from Bloor to Queens Quay on Saturday afternoon.

The parade is similar to an annual procession that has occurred for centuries in the city of Puri, India as part of a Hindu festival associated with the god Jagannath.  Here in Toronto, as in Puri,  three chariots constructed to look like temples are pulled through the streets in a procession from one temple to another.    Each chariot carries a richly decorated representation of a god, first is  Jagannatha (another name for Krishna or God) and then his brother Baladeva and his sister Subhadra.   The chariots are pulled by people and the procession symbolizes the pulling of the Lord into our hearts.

In Puri, this Ratha-Yatra procession continues to attract over a million people every year.
In Toronto, the numbers aren’t quite that high!

parade going down Yonge St. using just the southbound lanes.  A policeman on bike keeps the traffic out of the way.  A float is being pulled by people walking in the parade.   Part of the Festival of India in Toronto.

float in a parade for the Festival of India, or the Chariot Festival, a Hindu celebration, in downtown Toronto

 

below: Many people used ropes to pull the floats down Yonge Street.

people are using a long thick rope to pull a float down a city street for a parade.

below: Other people danced, walked, sang and chanted Hare Krishna mantras.

Some women in saris and men in traditional Indian clothes, dance and walk in a parade down Yonge St. as part of the Festival of India
Some women in saris and men in traditional Indian clothes, dance and walk in a parade down Yonge St. as part of the Festival of India

The back of a T shirt that a man is wearing.  It has all the words of the hare Krishna mantra on it.

 The festivities continued on Centre Island for the remainder of the weekend.

A while back, I posted some photos of ‘Zones of Immersion’,  Stuart Reid’s art installation at Union Station.   Now that it is completed, I decided to revisit it.  There has been some talk about how depressing it is.
I’ll let you decide whether it is depressing or not.

If you are on the ‘northbound to Finch’ platform you get a clear view of all the panels.
If you are on the ‘northbound to Downsview’ platform you can only see some of the glass panels.

I’ve now been back a number of times and this is what I saw:
1) Of the figures with discernible gender, 12 or 13 were male.
2) The males are of different ages and shapes.
3) The number of females outnumber males by at least 2:1.
4) Almost all (or even all?) of the women are young.  They are all thin, if not gaunt.
5) There is one child…. with a finger up his/her nose.
6) Only two or three figures are smiling.

 

Part of an art installation at Union Station, paint on glass panels - a rough drawing, black outline with some grey shading of a couple

paintings on glass panels, Union Station art installation, two women. One on the left looks very sad, like she's been crying. The other woman is painted very dark grey with a few red highlights.

Looking along a subway platform at Union Station, the far wall is an art installation, paintings on glass panels of people

part of an art installation, paintings on glass panels,

part of an art installation, paintings on glass panels, a woman's head in dark blues and blacks, heavy paint around the eyes

part of an art installation, paintings on glass panels, a large face in red
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part of an art installation, paintings on glass panels, three men sitting on a subway

part of an art installation, paintings on glass panels, on the left are white words on blue background, on the right are two women in profile

“the way we settle into a seat
the way we stretch when the train is empty
and retract as it fills
the way we deflect a glance and simultaneously present
language of the body claiming, relinquishing and balancing
personal space in the interstitial realm
halfway between the worlds of here and there”

part of an art installation, paintings on glass panels, a woman in yellow on a green and blue background, a man is waiting for the subway and his reflection is in the photo

part of an art installation, paintings on glass panels, woman standining

The panels that can be seen on the ‘northbound to Downsview’ platform are seen as the reverse of those viewed from the other platform.

black and white painting on glass of a woman holding a mobile phone

part of an art installation, paintings on glass panels, upper part of a man sitting and reading, in profile, on the left is the reflection of a woman waiting for the subway
“slicing through the clay of the earth’s first skin
steel rails and electric lines
going from      going to
slicing through time and distance
darkness and light
station by station
releasing us into the city’s fabric
stop by stop
after a days labour
taking us home”

part of an art installation, paintings on glass panels, four women sitting on the subway

part of an art installation, paintings on glass panels, a group of people standing. The word because is also visible in the picture

part of an art installation, paintings on glass panels, a woman sitting on the subway with a child on her lap. The child has a finger up its nose

part of an art installation, paintings on glass panels, on the left side is a man on blue and on the right is a woman's head drawn in blue

painting on glass panels, two women, on the left is standing, on the right is pointing to the left.

(added in October) I got off the subway at Union Station today.  There were three guys in front of me.  One of them stopped and pointed to the nearest painting which happened to be the one above.  As he pointed he said “See what I mean, if that doesn’t make you want to jump… “.

 

I’m happy to be corrected if you can prove me wrong.

 

A newly installed large 3D sign in Nathan Phillips Square is Toronto’s latest tourist attraction and local photo op.  It is scheduled to remain in the square until the end of 2015 at which point it will be moved to another public location.

large three dimensional block capital letters that spell Toronto installed alongside the pool fountain in Nathan Phillips Square -

large three dimensional block capital letters that spell Toronto installed alongside the pool fountain in Nathan Phillips Square -  a couple sits in the O posing for a picture while a young boy crawls between the O and the R

large three dimensional block capital letters that spell Toronto installed alongside the pool fountain in Nathan Phillips Square - from the back, Toronto is spelled in reverse but there are still people taking their picture by it

large three dimensional block capital letters that spell Toronto installed alongside the pool fountain in Nathan Phillips Square -  a couple stands in front of it, a man with a camera walks past it

large three dimensional block capital letters that spell Toronto installed alongside the pool fountain in Nathan Phillips Square - kids standing in between the letters as well as in the round part of the O

large three dimensional block capital letters that spell Toronto installed alongside the pool fountain in Nathan Phillips Square - a man stands in the water in front of the word Toronto

large three dimensional block capital letters that spell Toronto installed alongside the pool fountain in Nathan Phillips Square - a woman stands with her back to the camera and takes a picture

#share3DTO  #hostcity2015

 

#RiseUpTO
a protest coinciding with the PanAm Economic Summit and the PanAm Climate Summit,
both occurring at the Royal York Hotel.

The meeting place was Berczy Park, 7 a.m. on Wednesday morning.  Between 100 and 200 people showed up (I’m not very good at estimating numbers) to participate.  Photographers and reporters from all the Toronto newspapers and TV stations were on hand as were reprters from a number of radio stations.

The plan was to walk down Front Street where one group would block the intersection of Front and York while another group with block the front entrance of the Royal York Hotel.  Mission accomplished.

riseupTO demonstration and march - pedestrians cross a street with the morning sun low in the sky so the people cast long shadows towards the camera.  A group of protesters is in the background.

riseupTO demonstration and march - a group of photographers stand in front of marchers with a blue banner that reads

A construction worker in yellow & Orange work clothes and hard hat, stops work to take a photo of a passing demonstration in front of Union Station.

blog_riseupTO_royal_york

a woman is unravelling a skein of yarn and is using it to make a barrier across a city street.  She is using two hydro poles to wrap the yarn around.

a woman is unravelling a skein of yarn and is using it to make a barrier across a city street. She is using two hydro poles to wrap the yarn around.

riseupTO demonstration and march - yarn has been wrapped around hydro poles in such a way that it makes a barrier across a street.  Pedestrians are walking on their way to work on one side of the yarn while protesters have blocked part of the intersection on the other side of the yarn.

riseupTO demonstration and march - a group of young people drumming as they stand in a line in the middle of an intersection blocking traffic

riseupTO demonstration and march

riseupTO demonstration and march - two woman holding a red banner that reads 'Smash Capitalism End Colonialism'  They are standing in front of a line of peeople arm in arm infront of the Royal York Hotel front entrance.  Some police are between the protesters and the door.

riseupTO demonstration and march

a young woman with afro black hair and wearing a Bob Marley T-shirts is speaking through a megaphone at a protest march.   She is standing in front of a red and white banner that is being held up by a few other people

riseupTO demonstration and march - policemen and women stand besides their bikes as they do crowd control and direct the protest around a corner. A man is holding a black sign with white lettering that says "We find you guilty"

A security guard stands on a rooftop of a building, with taller glass skyscrapers behind him.

riseupTO demonstration and march - a line of policemen walk their bikes behind a group of protesters as they walk up Bay St. in downtown Toronto, with the clock tower of old city hall in the backbround.

riseupTO demonstration and march - protesters walking up a street, past a homeless man who is asleep on the sidewalk.  One of the protesters has just noticed the man and is pointing to him.

Protest, rally and march
from Queens Park to Allan Gardens,
5 July 2015

jobs, justice and climate action protest march - the lead banner of the march.  It says Jobs, Justice and the Climate. It is red with white letters and is almost the full width of the street.  A few drummers and dancers are in front of the banner.  Many people with signs and flags are behind the banner.
jobs, justice and climate action protest march -  a man is making large bubbles that float towards the  front of the parade.

below:  A protester prepares to carry a large effigy of Kathleen Wynne, leader of the provincial Liberal party, with the help of some colleagues.

A couple of people are helping a woman prepare to wear a large effigy.  A very large head of a woman wearing dark rimmed glasses.

below: David Suzuki being interviewed by CTV.

David Suzuki is being interviewed by a man from CTV.  A few people are standing behind.

Three young women are making signs to carry in the protest march.  Two are in green T-shirts.  One of the signs says '73 North Americans own the same as 1/2 the continent.'  Jobs, Justice and Climate protest rally and march.

A person wearing a sign that says 'Another photographer marching for #jobsjusticeclimate on his back.

At a protest rally, two women are posing for a picture.  One has a large cut out around her face that makes her face look like a large yellow flower

a groupd of young people standing beside a large yellow banner that says 'Youth marching for Climate Justice' at a protest rally in front of the Ontario parliament buildings.

below: The base of Sir John A. Macdonald’s statue provides a step up for photographers
(It looks like only some of them wanted to take my picture!)

Many photographers are standing on the base of a statue while they wait for a protest march to begin in Toronto at Queens Park

Two people with protest signs on their backs.  One says 'Act like you live here' and the second says 'Stop Debating, Start acting'

A group of people at a protest rally.  Somone is holding up a sign with a picture of Stephen Harper neck deep in water with the words, 'What climate change blub blub blub'

At the jobs, justice and climate action protest rally, a man wearing a hat that looks like an owl head.  He's carrying a sign that says 'Give a hoot'
  below:  ‘Protect Turtle Island’ signs waiting for the march to begin.  North America is referred to as Turtle Island by many Native tribes, Native rights activists, and environmental groups.

A large parachute shaped piece of fabric in bright orange and white lies flat on the ground.  In it are three signs waiting for people to begin marching in the jobs, justice and climate change march.  The signs say 'Protect Turtle Island'

A group of people holding a large red banner that says 'Canadian Unitarians for social justice'

Three women at a protest rally.

A young girl in a bright red Tshirt runs in front of some protesters, one of whom is holding a sign that says Hope.

At the jobs, justice and climate action protest rally, four people hold a banner that says 'TTC riders, a voice for ttc riders' and it has a picture of a street car on it as well.

below:  $15 now refers to raising the minimum wage to $15/hour

jobs, justice and climate action protest march -  a man is holding a sign that says $15 Now.  It is white with red letters.  It stands out because most of the signs around him are all bright red.

jobs, justice and climate action protest march -  a group of people at Queens Park, the back of the statue of Sir John A. Macdonald can be seen.  One woman is holding a sign that says Jobs Justice Climate.  Another person holds up a picture of Pope Francis.  They are all getting ready to march down University Ave.

below: After the rally at Queens Park, protesters marched south on University Ave.
and then east on Dundas St.

policemen on bikes block the street as they direct a march through city streets

jobs, justice and climate action protest march - some of the people marching, a white haired man is holding an orange flag that says Socialistworld.net  Some people are walking their bikes.

A man is walking in a protest march while holding one end of a banner.  He is wearing a large yellow chicken head and a T shirt that says 'this is what a vegan looks like'

two women are walking in the jobs, justice and climate action march in Toronto and both are carrying signs.  One has a large peace symbol and the words 'vegan for life' and the the other sign says 'animal agriculture is responsible for 91 percent of amazon rainforest destruction

A number of women in a protest march, each is holding a different coloured sign and each has a different letter - together they spell 'yes we can'.  Each women is also wearing a coloured box that matches the colour of her sign and each box represents a differ aspect of social policy such as gender equality, primary education, poverty eradication, healthcare,

A diverse group of people walk in a protest march in Toronto

A man in a red shirt pumps his fist in the air as he walks in a protest march

A man is holding up a protest sign with Prime Minister Stephen Harper's head on three monkeys along with the worsd, Hear no science, speak no science, see no science.

Marchers on the jobs, justice and climate action protest march who are carrying a large orange banner that says We have solutions.

 

Two middle aged men walking a in protest.  One of them has a sign that says 'radicalized by Harper'

A large number of people walking in a protest march carrying signs and banners

A man wearing a green party T-shirt is carry a large sign that says 'carbon tax yes'.  There are other green party supporters with him as they walk in a protest march in Toronto

jobs, justice and climate action protest march on University Ave showing many people walking.  Two are holding large white signs with orange letters.  One says Let hope prevail.  The other says There is no Planet B.

jobs, justice and climate action protest march  - a young woman in a head scarf holds a red and white sign, the woman behind her is wearing a floppy hat and there is a sign that says Be Brave in large capital letters above her head.

Another walk down Graffiti Alley between Portland and Spadina.
Some new and some not so new.

uber 5000 birdie in a little space ship with a beam of light eminating from the bottom, on a red brick wall

tags and letter graffiti in blues and purples on an alley wall, with a few people walking down the alley as well

tag in reds, oranges and yellows, on green, with dark blue background

close up of a street art painting that now looks abstract, black lines on green, pink and beige
  below: Catching a glimpse of what goes on in it’s head
double doors painted in a pink, orange and red face (large face), the doors are slightly open so there is now a gap down the middle of the nose and mouth

a black and white poser bunny on a wall at the corner, around the corner is a painted arrow that is part of a graffiti painting

graffiti in an alley - 4 stickers on a metal pole.  Knuts on the top, a woman in profile with the word think next, black and white drawing third and on the bottom is a green on white line drawing of a man's face

below: Batman descends on the city

A young man is spray painting part of a batman mural.  The figure of batman is completed and is about 4 meters tall.  A city scene is being added in the bottom corner

below: This photo was taken about 2 weeks before. The graffiti KURST and the lettering below it have been painted over. Batman has taken its place.

tags in an alley

A large bird head street art painting covers the end of a building in a lane

A white graffiti skull with the words belleding heart written underneath

a wall of a building in an alley, including the door, is cover with a red tag, a small uber 5000 bird and the remains of a greenish coloured tag.

A stylized greenish brown bull with horns is smoking a cigarette, only the head is shown.  It is on a wall and beside it is a door that had a woman's face painted on it.  The face has been tagged over.   Dis jnt is written across the top of the door.  disjoint perhaps.

  below: Dazed and confused

tag in silver and black with pink and orange highlights on a grey metal door

tags on a black wall in an alley.  Between them is the word doh

messy tags and scribbles on and around a door in an alley

small graffiti piece of a giraffe standing on the ground, on concrete, in an alley

below: Insane portrait of a woman

woman's face in profile painted on a wall in an alley

  below: Another portrait of a woman, this one by Kairo

Woman's face painted by Kairo in an alley, blue background

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  below: Making lemonade

graffiti picture of a lemon wearing sunglasses and a sun hat and holding a glass of lemonade

below: This takes the place of the mural that had “I love sandwiches” that was there for quite a while (a couple of years?).  The frame with the little figures cut into it remains.

blog_portland_spadina_love_toronto

street art painting of a dog foaming at the mouth, mad dog

Woman taking picture on a smartphone, standing beside a street art piece of a man with earphones plugged into

pieboy graffiti, large green one eyed monster

below: Poser bunnies on a garage door

poser bunny street art on a garage door

blog_portland_spadina_red_collar

Andy Warhol Revisited
presented by Revolver Gallery,
on display at 77 Bloor St. West

below:  Three Andy Warhol’s watch the passersby on Bloor Street.

statues of Andy Warhol, one pink, one yellow and one blue, in a window of an art gallery,  He's dressed in black, with black rimmed glasses and his hands are folded over his chest in all three statues.  Life sized.

below:  Three prints from Warhol’s Mohammad Ali series

Two women are sitting ona silver couch in an art gallery.  On the wall in front of them are 3 silkscreen Andy Warhol prints of Mohammad Ali.

 below:  Iconic Campbells soup cans on black and white stripes.  To the left, a young Lucille Ball and a young Ronald Regan amongst other cultural references.

prints of three Campbells soup cans on a black and white striped wall, cheddar cheese, old fashioned vegetable, and hot dog bean.  To the left a woman is looking at other Andy Warhol prints on a wall including a print of Mickey Mouse, Lucille Ball and a young Ronald Regan.

below:  Prints from Warhol’s Cowboys and Indians series.

Some of Warhol's Cowboys and Indians series prints hang on a gallery wall as two young Asian men walk past. There is also a couple sitting on a silver coloured couch in the right side of the photo.

The exhibition continues until the end of December 2015 although apparently a new set of pictures will be shown starting sometime in October.

A collage of photos of Andy Warhol, many photos, about 100 or more

Canada Day 2015

There were celebrations at a number of locations around the city
including Queens Park and Yonge-Dundas Square.

A young man stands in Dundas Square in an area that has been barricaded off and also in which a large maple leaf outline in red tape has been laid down.  He is wearing a red Canada T shirt and holding a small Canadian flag.

The red outline of a maple leaf was then used to make a “living flag” of people wearing red T-shirts and white T-shirts. The crowd waited patiently behind the barricades while the organizers got their act together. Not everyone stayed on the sidelines!

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Five people pose for a photo.  They are wearing red T shirts and they are standing withing the stem of the maple leaf outline that is taped to the ground.  They are the first ones into the living flag that is trying to be made at Dundas Square as part of a Canada Day celebration

The first part of the “living flag” takes their place in the stem of the maple leaf.

 

A man holds a young girl on his shoulders while the watch a performance of New Choir, a choir that sings old rock songs, as part of a Canada Day celebration at Dundas Square.  The girl is wearing a red hat with white maple leafs on it.  There are Canadian flags hanging from the ceiling of the stage.

Listening to New Choir perform at Yonge Dundas Square

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two women are all dressed in white and sitting in poses to look like statues.  A boy is approaching them to figure them out

The back of a young girl wearing a red baseball cap and sitting on someone's shoulder as she watches an acrobat show on a stage

One of the better seats in the house! Watching the acrobatics at Queens Park.

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A woman all dressed in white is sitting still as if she's a statue.  A man, also wearing a hat, stands behind her mimicking her pose

A man is hamming it up for the camera.  He is wearing a silver and red oversized tophat and a red and white costume.  He is holding the corner of a large Canadian flag

A young girl looks a bit skeptical as she poses with four women dressed in frilly white dresses who are hamming it up for the camera.  Exaggerated facial expressions

A group of characters in red and white Canada Day costumes stop to pose with some boys.  One of the characters has a stuffed beaver that is trying to take a sip of the boy's snowcone.

It’s thirsty work being a beaver!

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Two kids sit on the sidewalk beside two men who are talking.  Yonge Street is in the background, with traffic, including an open topped double decker bus.

a red headed young man is standing on the base of a statue to get a better look at a show, the crowd is in the background.  He is all dressed in red and his Tshirt has the words I am Canadian on it

A young toddler wearing a white flower head band and a red T-shirt, and holding a Canadian flag is being held by her father

An older man in a red T shirt and a funny red and white hat is holding 2 small Canadian flags

Mayor John Tory has a small Canadian flag in his hand as he talks to people at Dundas Square on Canada day.   He's in a white T-shirt.

As I stood as part of the white of the Canadian flag, along came John Tory, also on the white team. Just out of the picture (and also in white) was Miss Teenage Toronto. (What? We have a what? I had no idea there was a Miss Teen Toronto).  Next time I’ll try harder to get a picture of her but this time I was preoccupied with being part of a flag.

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Here’s to the next 148 years!

A person in red and white Canada Day costume is on stilts with three others standing beside, in front of the parliament buildings at Queens Park