July 2002 - Nr. 7
Dick reports...
Caravan - still alive!
It took place in front of City Hall, at 12:30 on Monday morning, the 17th of June, 2002. Lots of cloud with sunny breaks – but it still looked like it may start to rain any minute.
![Rebecca Szauter [Miss Danube], Miss Sarajewo & Kristy Hudson [Miss Caravan 2001] (Caravan 2002)](207c-D-CarC-a.jpg)
Earlier-on
the participants had assembled on the square, many of the "Princesses" in
their wonderful native costumes, some had even brought their respective
"Mayors" along, plus a lot of camp-followers. "Miss Caravan", this year is
Kristy Hudson – who reigned as "Miss Danube" last year, the job that Rebecca
Szauter is looking after this year.
David
Taylor, Caravan Chairman, opened the festivities and asked the audience to
rise for the Canadian national anthem. This was presented the "Caribbean"
way with mezzo-soprano Suzanne Kilgore singing the lyrics – accompanied by a
steel drum that furnished the music. It was certainly something different
and somewhat unusual.
Since
the Mayor of Toronto, Mel Lastman, was indisposed, Councillor Chris
Korwin-Kuczynski opened the festivities with an address where he pointed out
the vast variety of ethnic cultures in Toronto and the chance to travel the
world to see them – without ever having to leave the city.
Zena
Kossar, the founder of Caravan, followed with an inspiring address –
completely without any notes – explaining the origins and the thoughts
behind Caravan, she and her husband Leon had 34 years ago, plus the trials
and tribulations of getting the festival off the ground in the beginning.
The entertainment on stage included various musical and dance performances and on one occasion, when a Macedonian group played Greek-type music, some of the members of the Greek Pavilion started to dance and invited other participants and spectators. They ended up with a Greek "Conga line" about 50 people long.
A
short – one minute – rainsquall started people to scramble for cover, but
the sun came out right after and still allowed for a photo opportunity of
all those lovely costumes.
In the beginning there were almost 60 pavilions throughout Metro Toronto, now there are only 23 left this year – including Fort York and the Bata Shoe Museum on Bloor street.
Since Caravan will be over by the time you read this, I will forego listing of the various pavilions.
However,
I did visit one of my favourites: The Blue Danube Pavilion at the Danube
Swabian Club in Scarborough and was not disappointed. Fabulous food,
fabulous entertainment and a full house at all times.
Some
of the visitors stayed for two sets of performances by the dance groups and
the musicians, and one visitor said he is already looking forward to next
year.
"Fun in the Sun"…
…at
the Germania Park, at the shore of Lake Niapenko, south of Stoney Creek. The
day started out very dismal while the "Skat" players had their tournament in
the morning, and it looked like rain. But the clouds thinned as they day
wore on and the sun broke through in the early afternoon. And with the sun
came the guests that were invited by the hosts – the G.K.G. Narrhalla ‘58 ,
the Germania Club’s carnival group.
Lots
of visitors had arrived by the time dinnertime was scheduled. I don’t really
know how many people had come, all I know is that 90 Schnitzel dinners were
consumed, plus a fair amount of sausages and a lot of beer and other
beverages to prevent dehydration.
I
didn’t stay for the music and the dancing but I was informed – by a usually
reliable source – that everyone had a great time.
Soccer News
Soccer fans at the Germania Club are willing to sacrifice sleep to watch soccer at the club (in the middle of the night, almost) as per a very comprehensive and detailed report by Ken Peters in the Sports Section of the Hamilton Spectator on June 22nd. The club’s premises had been opened a 6 a.m. to facilitate the many soccer fans that wanted to watch the trouncing of the American team by 1:0 for Germany. Needless to mention that they were quite pleased (understatement!) with the results.
Of
course now we know that Germany did not win the World Cup. We found that out
at the Hansa Haus Soccer Breakfast last Sunday morning, when over 200 fans
gathered in the great hall, starting at 6:00 o’clock, silently praying for a
win (Well, some of them did pray, or at least had their fingers crossed!).
And
the German team would have won too, if they had only followed the directions
of one of the experts sitting behind me. However he didn’t realize that his
voice – although very loud - could never reach Yokohama, were the game was
played – Winnipeg maybe!
Well,
when it was all over a sombre crowd left the hall to go home. No tears, but
also no smiles. This of course meant that the planned Victory Parade was
cancelled and many of the fans quietly removed the German flags from their
cars, before they drove off. But it was still an exciting game – especially
to the young lady from the Toronto Star who was sent to cover the event -
and most of the fans said they couldn’t wait for the next one – four years
down the road!
A couple of enterprising salesmen sold their stock of German flags – before the game, of course – the flag with the eagle for $10.00 and the plain flag for $5:00. T-shirts were also available for $15.00, but they did not sell out.
That was the month that was!
As always
Dick Altermann
Comments to: dick@echoworld.com
