Dick's Street Festivals

The Ukrainians are back…

…at Bloor West Village, The annual event on Bloor Street between Runnymede and Jane Streets is always a solid and well organized happening.

This is so the rest of Canada can look over the fence to see how another ethnic group copes with the fact that they are far away from their homeland, but are still together to maintain old ways and customs for themselves and for their children.

Last year they tried to hold this festival at Harbourfront and if you remember, I complained a bit about the fact that it was spread too far apart and that it was not the cohesive effort that I was used to from previous years. Halya, one of the organizers, mentioned that there were too many restrictions at Harbourfront, so they decided to come back to the old haunts on Bloor Street. Hallelujah!

The Toronto Ukrainian Festival Parade

It started out with the customary 11:00 am parade from Highpark to Jane Street and was led this year by Randy Bachman – from the Bachmann Overdrive Band - and featured lots of wonderful bands, some floats and many Ukrainian organisations. This is where one could see that the children are very involved in their heritage and proudly took part in this festive occasion.

Many of the participants wore the colourful native costumes, not only in the parade but also all over the festive area. The usual kiosks with the wonderful native products, the clothing, décor, art – yes, painted eggs and dolls within dolls – were in evidence all over the place, and of course the tasty libations like Perogies, Ukrainian beer and other consumable goodies could not be missed. Not to forget the ‘Midway’ for the children!

Fantastic entertainment

Fantastic entertainment was presented at the large stage at Jane Street and it was a delight to watch the dancers cavorting with typical music, songs and dances from the ‘Homeland’. There was lot of seating for the disabled and the elderly available in front of the stage. Nice to know that someone remembers us old fogies too.

Midway	Climb every mountain...	Paddling your way on Bloor Street

After the official opening ceremony, the beer garden area was opened and it quickly filled with guests to sample food and drink, and a general good feeling of togetherness, camaraderie and pride in their heritage was the general mood one could experience.

I missed the ‘Krimsekt’ booth this year and was told that this wonderful champagne keeps selling out so fast that not enough had come back in for the festival. Too bad – I liked it!

The Polish Festival

All fun and games

I would have liked to stay longer but I had to cover the Polish Festival on Roncesvalles that was unfortunately scheduled for the same day.

So here I was back in my old haunts. The area where I first tried to find roots in 1957 near High Park and especially Roncesvalles Avenue. It was also the area where I tried to talk to some of my countryman –that had arrived a few months earlier – in German. They answered in an awful English. When I asked them about this the answered " Oh, mein German is not so good no more". Well, this probably happened to others as well.

There were also a number of German stores and restaurants in the area and you did not have to travel very far to get the proper cut for ‘Roulades’ from a German butcher, or find a German restaurant.

But now it is more a large Polish community that has successfully settled in the area and is still celebrating their heritage here every year with original food and drink, pretty much the same as with the Ukrainians and the Greeks on the Danforth.

Since many of the retail establishments are still run by Polish owners a lot of that was featured in front of their own establishments. There was also ‘Midway’ type of entertainment for the children and bands and dancing and other entertainment for the older youngsters. There were booths and kiosks of many types, offering – not always Polish – items of interest for the visitors.

There weren’t as many original ‘Trachten’ (native costumes) in evidence this year, as at the Ukrainian festival.

It would be nice if we could have a street festival like this – wait – we still have our ‘Oktoberfest’ – even though most of it is in Kitchener. Well, ‘Ein Prosit’ anyway!

As always
Dick Altermann