Toronto's Caribbean Festival, also know as the Caribana, was a huge event. The online information was spotty at best so we just walked down to the venue to get some first hand information. We started walking around 11 AM and slowly made our way to the Exhibition Place. This is a large area of stages and pavilions along Lake Ontario shore. The main stages were all located behind a fence and required a ticket to visit. The price would have been $80 CAD, and since we were not really sure what we would get for that amount, we did not purchase tickets. That left us outside the fence and along the perimeter. We could see glimpses of elaborate dancing and costumes in the interior. There was fencing on both sides of Lake Shore Drive and a multitude of people patiently waiting for the parade. We asked some ladies who seemed to know what to expect. They assured us that we were on the parade route but that no one knows when the parade will start as it is already more than an hour late. I guess in true Caribbean style, starting times are only suggestions. As we got closer to the venue we could see people walking in their masquerade costumes. They would greet each other by asking which krewe or band they were part of. One gal responded "I don't know" and the response was an incredulous "how do you not know???" Caribana is a big thing here in Toronto, especially since it was canceled the last two years in a row. Overwhelming is the most appropriate description of the parade once it got started. We kept moving further west, hoping to see where the parade start. That was a wise and foolish decision at the same time. Wise as we finally got to see all the revelers, floats and bands. Foolish as we could not cross over the fences to get back home once we had tired of the 120 decibel boom boom booms of the sound trucks. After 4 km of walking, we finally found a place to cross over back to Toronto proper. We walked some more and then squeezed onto a city bus and made it most of the way back to our place. We had to walk a bit more as the whole downtown was congested from the closed streets over by the party. All told we walked 6.5 miles. A small price tp pay for a unique experience. After all that we put our legs up for an hour and then had to get ready for our next excursion. This being the finale of the Summer Music Festival at the University of Toronto. We saw the extremes in music this day from the thump thump of the islands to the fine classical sounds of Shostakovich. The concert was back up by the University of Toronto. We had to walk a bit more putting our total of over 6 miles walking. What a great day!
Morning Yoga / exercise in the park
Leslie's flowers are sprouting
The gate to Exhibition Place
More marinas along the water
Women in costume by the huge statue honoring the First Nations
The security was pretty loose
as we saw waves of people sneak under the fence
Every body came out for this event
A big wasp float
A huge float that was for one of the queen hopefuls
A forlorn drink umbrella
A sculpture by the IMAX theater
Wings taking a rest
Help over the fence
the gathering before the parade starts
Each costume was more elaborate than the last
The weight of all the feathers combined would have been more than a ton
Dancing
Grinding
just having a blast
It went on and on. There had to have been 20 bands total
We worried that this truck was on fire
But it was just the Purple Haze blazing away
The photographers were having fun too
Atomic twerking to the right
Lots of flags from the Caribbean
A riot of colors
Towards the end there were individual floats
The costumes ranged from simple to quite elaborate
A sea of color
Packed in tightly
Loud, proud and feathered
Busting all the moves
More than once, ladies came over to Leslie and gave her some individual attention. They know what they like, and I like her too!
Such a happy smile!
Our walk through the party and out the other side!
We have reached the westernmost edge of the festival and now we can start heading back
For the other extreme of music, we are back along the Philosophers walk for a classical music concert
Preparing for their big night, these musicians are ready
Another great entertainment value, only $20 per ticket
Great effort by all the musicians
