The Best of 2021 - Part 1

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.