The Best of 2021 - Part 1

Hello everyone, it’s that time of year and we are so happy that we can share our day at the Santa Claus Parade with you. This years Parade will features 34 floats, 20 marching bands, 2,250 volunteers. Thanks to all involved with the parade, if all involved didn’t participate this event wouldn’t be possible.

Hi everyone. We hope you had a great Halloween. We know it was raining in the Toronto area most of the night, but there is always the day after Halloween to celebrate all the creative pumpkins. Our Blog today is about our walk through Sorauren Avenue Park’s Pumpkin Parade that took place on November 1st 2019. Pumpkin Parades are growing in popularity across Toronto and the entire country. We wonder if they will become more popular then Halloween at the rate that their popularity grows.

The drive from St. Jacobs to Elora was about 25 minutes long.   Not bad at all.  It was getting late in the day which made the lighting great for photography.

Our first stop was Victoria Park to see the gorge.  Here there was a cul-de-sac to park on (overflow is directed to a nearby parking area).  We walked along a tree-lined path and were able to see glimpses of the Grand River below.  I loved the trees and their roots.  They made for some interesting pictures. 

Here’s our continuation of our day trip to St Jacobs. Our blog on the Farmers’ Market can be found here (St. Jacobs Farmers Market). We didn’t have much time to explore the village of St Jacobs but we did get to go for a little walk. We managed to go into a few shops as well. Most stores have a no photography sign up in them so I did respect that.

St. Jacobs Farmers' Market is a popular Ontario tourist destination. It’s known as the largest year-round farmer's market in Canada. I got to explore the Market one Thursday this summer and these are the pictures I took while doing so.

This year’s Taste of the Danforth took place August 9th to 11th. We attended Saturday afternoon-night as well as Sunday evening. Great entertainment, food and fun! We will let our pictures do all the talking.

Toronto’s Caribbean Carnival’s Grand Parade took place on Saturday August 3rd on Lakeshore Boulevard West.  I ended up near the main stage and got to see the mas bands competition.  What an experience!   High energy and great vibes all around. More pics below. 

I attended the Beaches Jazz StreetFest on Friday night with a friend. We started off at Woodbine Avenue and Queen Street East. The first group of musicians we saw was the Samba Squad, a drumming group lead by award winning percussionist, Rick Shadrach Lazar. This group is very skilled. They had quite the coordination! I wanted to stay to see more but we had to move on and check out some more music.

Today I went down to the Festival of South Asia in Toronto’s Little India. (Gerrard Street East and Coxwell Avenue). As soon as I got there I saw Mayor John Tory along with Toronto-Danforth Councillor Paula Fletcher. They were being introduced to local business owners by Tasneem Bandukwala, TD Festival of South Asia Executive Director, and Gerrard India Bazaar Manager.

The street fest was just getting underway and it wasn’t too busy at this point. I was able to take in all the sights before it got crowded. There were racks of colourful clothing between yummy food vendors. I also spotted lots of activities for kids - a sidewalk chalk area, bubbles, jump rope to name a few.

I had the opportunity to attend the Raptors Parade and I’m glad I did. It was a day to remember!

I took the subway to Union Station and walked along Front street over to York Street. I walked a bit north to see I could find a spot but the crowd was insane. I decided to walk south on York Street.

There were plenty of free spots under the bridge. I found one and stood for a while as it was getting close to 10am. I wanted to make sure I had a decent vantage point in order to take pictures. I took a few shots but made the though decision to move as it was dark and there were pillars blocking the view.