We the Forth

Taste of the Danforth 2018 returns under the shadow of the recent shooting tragedy, joining Toronto Strong in returning the streets to the citizens in a massive street festival.

Running between Broadview and Jones on Danforth Avenue in the Greektown over the August 10-12 weekend "come for the food, stay for the fun".  Saturday and Sunday start at noon and run till midnight on Saturday and 10pm on Sunday.

The celebration of taste and culture also features plenty of entertainment on the showcase, celebrity and Greek stages.

The memorial to those affected by the shooting is up at the church, surrounded by flowers, candles and well wishes. Toronto brings out the healing love. OPA!

See more of the festival after the jump.

Canfitpro World Fitness Expo 2018

Learn it, live it. Canada's largest fitness education event pumps up the Metro Toronto Convention Centre with hundreds of fitness sessions, seminars and the expo floor to explore from August 8-12, 2018. "Canfitpro celebrates 25 years as North America's largest fitness conference and trade show" with over 200 industry experts coming to Toronto to teach - including Jillian Michaels and her BODYSHRED workout. Fitness equipment is also a big part of the show so check out the latest machines in the Expo in the south building. Les Mills BODYSTEP lights up the north building with a high energy workout in the photo at top.

This show is designed to inspire a healthy and active lifestyle for the thousands who will attend the World Fitness Expo. "Canfitpro is the largest provider of education in the Canadian fitness industry. Founded in 1993, canfitpro delivers accessible, quality education, certifications, events and membership services. canfitpro's over 24,000 members include some of the world's finest fitness professionals, health club operators, industry suppliers, and fitness consumers."

Billy Blank's celebrity meet and greet

Seven SuperSessions will provide in-depth training and six commemorative 25th anniversary workshops will be offered in addition to the 295 scheduled educational sessions.

Spin class in the north building

“We are honoured to be celebrating 25 years as the industry’s leading source for fitness education,” says Nathalie Lacombe, Vice President, canfitpro. “With over 15,000 delegates in attendance each year, World Fitness Expo continues to grow, attracting fitness enthusiasts from around the globe who get an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the latest trends to help them hit their goals.”

It's a bounce class family

This show will pump you up!

The expo hall is open Friday August 10th from 12:00pm-7:30pm and Saturday August 11th from 9:00am-5:30pm.

The fitness model winners with the host and a judge

In addition to the Expo vendors there are four stages; the main stage with a ton of lectures, the Reebok Activity Zone where you can work up a sweat and have fun, the Nutrition and Cooking stage for cooking demos and the finally, the Performance stage where the fitness model search and physique championships will take place.

The 2018 GNC Natural Regional Championships featuring figure, fitness, bikini, physique and bodybuilding starts at 10am on Saturday, August 11 and continues until about 5:00pm.

See more photos of the fitness show after the jump.

Toronto Fashion Week schedule 2018

Part two of the bi-annual Toronto Fashion Week celebrations introduce the Spring/Summer 2019 season in Yorkville Village from September 4-6. The full event schedule for the upcoming TFW has been released and includes runway shows, studio presentations and a window on the models preparing for the shows.

Shoppers Drug Mart beautyBoutique under P1M artist Simone Otis along with Hair by Redken 5th Avenue NYC will lead the backstage beauty teams. Bloor-Yorkville BIA continues as a Community Partner and the RE/SET Designer Showroom will be open to the public during TFW.

"Fashion, film, photography and culture enthusiasts will gather in Yorkville Village (136 Yorkville Ave) to take in the over 20 shows and events that will celebrate the best in Canadian design talent. Each day kicks off with the live taping of the Fashion Talks™ podcast. Join host Donna Bishop in the RE\SET™ Studio (upper level of Yorkville Village) as she chats with special guests Elizabeth Peyton-Jones (fashion activist and founder of the Responsible Trust for Models) about her work within the fashion and modelling industry to protect, educate and empower young models; Caitlin Cronenberg and Jessica Ennis (photographer and product and set designer), about the power of fashion in their new book The Endings: Photographic Stories of Love, Loss, Heartbreak and Beginning Again; and Dr. Alexandra Palmer (Nora E. Vaughan Senior Curator, Textiles and Costume at the Royal Ontario Museum) about the importance of fashion and textile collections for museums and for its visitors."

Toronto Fashion Week takes place in Yorkville's luxury retail neighbourhood and features Canadian and international designers in Canada's leading fashion event.

TFW Schedule, tickets available on the TFW website

Tuesday, September 4

3:00 PM | Fashion Talks | RE\SET™ Studio
In Conversation with Fashion Activist Elizabeth Peyton-Jones, founder of the Responsible Trust for Models, an international organization dedicated to revolutionizing the modelling industry
Instagram: @fashiontalkspodcast

4:00 PM | Mikhael Kale | RE\SET™ Studio
Instagram: @mikhaelkale Twitter: @mikhaelkale

5:00 PM | Victoria Hayes | RE\SET™ Studio
Instagram: @victoriahayescollection

6:00 PM | Kollar Clothing | Runway
Instagram: @kollarclothing Twitter: @kollarclothing

6:30 PM | Namesake
Instagram: @bythenamesake

7:00 PM | Mani Jassal | Runway
Instagram: @manikjassal Twitter: @manikjassal

7:30 PM | DISCOVER THIS: THE COLLECTIONS™
Shop RE\SET™ ATELIER GUARIN, HILARY MACMILLAN, SID NEIGUM, MARKOO, MIKHAEL KALE, PEDRAM KARIMI, S.P. BADU, WIL STUDIOS, WRKDEPT, BIKO,
CUCHARA, and DANIEL GREGORY NATALE.
Instagram: @fsncollections

8:00 PM | NARCES | Runway
Instagram: @_narces Twitter: @_narces

9:00 PM | Christopher Bates | Runway
Instagram: @christopher.bates.official Twitter: @CBatesMenswear

10:00 PM | The Endings Book Launch Event (Invite Only) | Yorkville Village, 136 Yorkville Ave.

Instagram: @theendingsbook

Wednesday, September 5

3:00 PM | Fashion Talks | RE\SET™ Studio
In Conversation with Caitlin Cronenberg and Jessica Ennis on the power of fashion in their book The Endings: Photographic Stories of Love, Loss, Heartbreak, and Beginning Again
*This Fashion Talks taping will be followed by a book signing with Cronenberg and Ennis
Instagram: @fashiontalkspodcast

4:00 PM | ZOFF | Runway
Instagram: @zoffranieri Twitter: @mzoffranieri

5:00 PM | Alex S. Yu | Runway
Instagram: @alex.s.yu

6:00 PM | Hilary MacMillan | Runway
Instagram: @hilarymacmillan Twitter: @hilarymacmillan

6:30 PM | Tara Rivas | RE\SET™ Studio
Instagram: @tararivas Twitter: @tararivas

7:00 PM | Hayley Elsaesser | Runway
Instagram: @hayleyelsaesser Twitter: @hayleyelsaesser

8:00 PM | WRKDEPT | RE\SET™ Studio
Instagram: @wrkdept Twitter: @wrkdept

9:00 PM | Christopher Paunil | Runway
Instagram: @christopherpaunil Twitter: @chrispaunil

10:00 PM | HENDRIXROE | Runway
Instagram: @hendrixroe Twitter: @hendrixroestyle

Thursday, September 6

4:30 PM | Fashion Talks | RE\SET™ Studio
In Conversation with Dr. Alexandra Palmer, Nora E. Vaughan Senior Curator, Textiles and Costume at the Royal Ontario Museum on the importance of Fashion and Textile collections for Museums and for its visitors. The ROM holds the largest collection of fashion and textiles in Canada and is the third largest in the world
Instagram: @fashiontalkspodcast

6:00 PM | Daniel Gregory Natale | RE\SET™ Studio
Instagram: @danielgregorynatale

7:00 PM | WIL Studios | RE\SET™ Studio
Instagram: @wil.studios

8:00 PM | Pedram Karimi | RE\SET™ Studio
Instagram: @pedramkarimi Twitter: @pedramkarimi

6:30 PM - 10:30 | Best Dressed 2018 Presented by Toronto Life and FASHION (Invite Only) | Yorkville Village, 136 Yorkville Ave.
Instagram: @torontolife / @fashioncanada Twitter: @toronto_life / @fashioncanada

Waterfall in cottage country

It's a mini vacation in the Dorset area during the August long weekend. Enjoying the Haliburton and Muskoka scenery and lakes that bring cottagers up to paradise despite the sometimes brutal traffic.

My feet are soaking in Kawagama Lake as the early morning sun brings life back to the cottagers, many who partied hard the night before.

A river that leads eventually into the Lake of Bays cuts through bedrock and splashes down a series of small waterfalls is one of my favorite scenic stops. See other cottage country scenes after the jump.

Peeks Toronto Caribbean Carnival 2018

The Grand Parade is on Saturday, August 4, 2018. Summer's month long celebration of Caribbean music, food and fun, featuring costumes that are works of colourful art that rival the beauty of the dancers, is quickly coming to an exciting conclusion. This is the 51st anniversary of the festival and this year will see more of everything including floats, music and celebrities with a theme of "Canada's Celebration of Freedom and Diversity".  The parade lasts from 8:30am to 8:30pm and winds through and around Exhibition Place. Costs for tickets is from $20 to $200.

Performers, singers, pannists and calypsonians will bring the music and dancing of the islands to the streets of Toronto with Calypso, Soca, Salsa, Zouk, Reggae, Chutney, Steel Pan and Brass Bands.

From the Carnival's website "Go big. Really big! The Grand Parade is the largest event of the Toronto Caribbean Carnival. This event continues to attract local, regional, national, and international attention by visitors and media. It is the highlight of the annual Festival. After months of preparation, masqueraders in colourful and striking costumes and steel pan bands wind their way from Exhibition Place moving east along Lakeshore Boulevard and returning to Exhibition Place. The road becomes the stage for the masqueraders and steelpan performers. It truly is something you can’t miss."

General Admission tickets provides entrance to Exhibition Place where you can watch from bleachers or bring in your own folding chairs. VIP tickets offers the best views from Princes Boulevard (the judging area) and includes Caribbean food and non-alcoholic beverages. There are also licensed tents for purchase of adult beverages.

These photos are from the 2018 launch held at Toronto City Hall. You can also see more of the photos on my post here.

See more mas costumes after the jump.

Tepkik at Brookfield Place

Toronto’s home for long art installations welcomes the suspended sculptural work depicting the Milky Way by Nova Scotia artist Jordan Bennett. Hanging in the Allen Lambert Galleria from July 30 till August 24, 2018.

From Brookfield’s website; Jordan’s art installation is “a contemporary reflection of a traditional Mi’kmaq petroglyph, depicting the Milky Way, which has been found on the rocky shores of the lakes and rivers at Kejimkujik National Park in Nova Scotia. The piece is composed of visual elements rooted in Mi’kmaq visual culture of Mi’kmaki (Traditional Mi’kmaq Territory). These depictions of the land, the sky, our galaxy, and the universe as represented through legends and stories are presented through my own lens and historical understandings of traditional Mi’kmaq quillwork patterns and motifs. This new work employs the use of printed fabric as well as reflective vinyl on aluminum such as is used for common road signs. Contemporary road signs tell of a place, a marker, a law or direction. Mi’kmaq visual culture is created through porcupine quillwork, clothing, baskets, canoes and other objects that also hold official signifiers of laws, places, cultural markers and direction. The use of these contemporary materials in combination with Mi’kmaq design will call to attention that our visual designs and motifs embedded with knowledge, are also our signs and stories. They are the voices of our ancestors and elements of our laws which we try to understand and follow. This artwork will create a visual link to Mi’kmaq ways of being and understandings of our known universe and our place in it by presenting a visual conversation exploring Mi’kmaq creation stories. The work titled Tepkik, the Mi’kmaq word for Night reflects on the time of day in which we can visually see our place in the galaxy most clearly, this work brings the stars and stories of our galaxy into view at any time of day.”

Toronto Festival of Beer 2018

#Beerlove's last day of 2018 is happening today and the taps will flow and the music will play as the celebration of beer finishes with bands like Finger Eleven and I Mother Earth. General admission starts at 1:30pm and last call is at 7:30pm on Sunday, July 29, 2018. We bought our first set of tokens (20 for $20) and our first stop was Toronto's Mill Street Brewery.

The atmosphere here is as great as the weather. Funktown's DJ pumps out the jams near the south fountain and live bands have started on the bandshell stage. The bandshell lineup for Sunday, July 29: Brothers of North (2:30pm), Stuck on Planet Earth (3:30pm), Finger Eleven (4:30pm) and I Mother Earth (6:15pm). The 2018 festival also featured bands Broken Social Scene, The Rural Alberta Advantage and The Darcys on Thursday, Ludacris on Friday, Dwayne Gretzky on Saturday.

Creemore Springs

TFOB brings an incredible selection of 416 brews to Exhibition Place for a 416 in the 416, or for some, the Six. You can also find a great selection of culinary choices from food trucks and vendor stalls, paying for the food is easy because you can use your tokens. The Ted Reader pulled pork sandwiches were so good at a very reasonable festival cost of $10 each, he brings the barbecue to life and he is also on site much of the time. Food choices include: La Palma, Campagnolo, Fidel Gastro's, Tiny Tom Donuts, Queen Margherita Pizza,Smoke's Poutinerie, South St. Burger, Jerk Brothers, Ted's World Famous BBQ, Ted's Beer Dogs, Heirloom Toronto, Melt Grilled Cheese, Ontario Corn Roasters, Oyster Boy, Hot Bunzz Street Cuizine, Brando's Fried Chicken.

“Not only will Toronto’s Festival of Beer serve up everyone’s favourite golden beverage, it will also have delicious food options for fans to enjoy!” said Les Murray, President of Beerlicious and Toronto’s Festival of Beer. “We are very fortunate to have such high-quality food vendors at this year’s festival which is why we are encouraging fans and foodies to grab their tickets now, while supplies last!”

Birthday girl with beer goggles

Beerfest at the bandshell

Kevin with the pink elephant 

Coors Light

Viking strong 

It's Miller time

We came early because I love small lineups but the crowds at the park and the energy level continue to climb.

"Toronto's Festival of Beer will also host a number of fantastic beer attractions this year, which include: New Brews presented by TekSavvy and TFOB Spotlights on: Women In Beer; Phillips Brewing from Victoria, BC; and Funk Town."

And the party continues after the jump.