 A Taste of Greece
…aka “Taste of the Danforth”, was very
well visited despite the somewhat inclement weather. Well, it
had been raining almost every year in the past, why should this
year be any different! Yet, it was only a bit of a drizzle, on
and off, but a lot of people quickly bought umbrellas in one of
the Dollar Stores enroute – guess who was laughing!
Since 1993 Danforth Ave was officially named “Greektown on the
Danforth”. It has always been a Greek enclave and that has not
changed much for many generations – despite the fact that other
ethnic groups started to settle in the area (Thai, Japanese,
Indian, Latin etc.) the overall flavor remains Greek to this
day. The proof is the fact that this event was celebrated for
the 17th time and is now a far cry from the little
food kiosk in the parkette near Logan, to the two kilometer
stretch from Broadview to about Jones. About 500,000 of
Toronto’s residents are still considered Greeks – where even the
second and third generation still speaks their mother tongue.
Pilaro’s Taste of the Danforth now attracts about one million
visitors to this mainly Hellenic neighborhood in August every
year.
 One of the main attractions has always been the variety of
native food. It includes such items as gyros, roast quail, pork,
chicken or beef souvlaki, pita, calamari, shrimp, tzatziki
sauce, roast corn and many other culinary specialties. The
selection was almost overwhelming with nearly 100 restaurants
and kiosks offering their delicacies to the crowd of curious
visitors. A lone Japanese kiosk offered of course Sushi, what
else?
A number of beer gardens and sidewalk restaurants also looked
after the liquid refreshments.
Other entertainment was provided by the various stages
throughout the area. On the Celebrity stage the 2nd
City Improv
 with Carly Heffernan, Dan Hershfield and Ian
McIntyre entertained with humorous skits and a Brass Quintet
from the Toronto Symphony delighted the audience with some
fabulous selections from their vast repertoire. Other quality
entertainment could be found on the Broadview and Greek stages.
It was interesting to note that Jack Layton, federal NDP leader
and member of the Canadian Parliament for Toronto-Danforth, had
a booth at this event and did quite a bit of glad-handing. It
appeared that he is well liked in Toronto, especially in the
Danforth area.
 While we are at the subject of politics, Liberal MPP Toni
Ruprecht recently invited representatives of the ethnic media to
an informal press conference to meet George Smitherman, who is
one of several hopefuls running for Mayor of Toronto in the
coming election (October 25th). He was born in 1946
and living locally ever since.
Also known as “curious George” among his friends, he explained
in detail, what he thinks Toronto should do and be in the
future. I am not going to spend a lot of space in this short
 report, since all this information is available on the web, and
the other local media outlets - for those who are interested.
His background as Member of Provincial Parliament for Toronto
Centre; Minister of Energy & infrastructure; Minister of Health
and Deputy Premier of Ontario are useful credentials for a
politician. The only thing missing is a thorough knowledge of
and experience in business, something that Mr.Rob Forb, who is
currently the front runner in this race for instance has. A lot
of what he had to say made sense, even to my colleagues from the
critical end of the ethnic media circuit. But some of the issues
other candidates bring up are equally interesting and need to be
considered. There was no serious mud-slinging, but from the
necessary changes he envisioned for Toronto, one could infer the
inadequacies of the current administration, as he sees it.
We shall see who wins this very interesting race for the City of
Toronto’s top job. – rka –
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