Twitpic part 6

So anyways, Twitpic shut down but the photos will continue to live on in Twitter. But here continues the blasts from the past.

Freedom Festival and March 2011

At first I thought it was going to rain in Queens Park as the storm clouds grew thick and grey. I slowly came to realize it wasn't rain clouds at all, it was the copious quantities of medicinal herb and resulting smoke that hung low to the ground during Freedom Festival 2011 (see 2010 pictures here). The pied piper, or bong smokers, drew young and old alike, but mostly young, to the north yard of Ontario's political heartland where they protested some of the current laws and their voices rang out in support of free speech. Starting before noon the venders began to set up and get the food and merchandise ready for the onslaught of festival attendees. In a little under two hours the sparse group in the park began to number in the thousands.

Streams of people came to Queens Park from bus stations, subways and other points and the park began to bulge at the seams. People seemed to be pretty mellow.

At 2:00pm an extremely large group gathered and headed out of the park (the front of the parade pictured below), north on University, then east on Bloor, south on Yonge and finally west on Wellesley.  The people were well organized by orange shirt volunteers and well supported by the Toronto police.

The police mounted unit waited at Wellesley and Yonge and helped to keep the protest on track and away from the Yonge-Dundas area.

The organized march was very peaceful and and was escorted by plenty of bike police who ensured that the route would keep away from the Eaton Centre area and back to the small forest of Queens Park. Tired marchers (there was a lot of coughing) returned to the bathrooms and snacks that so many craved (for some reason) they could also listen to some great music from some local bands scheduled until 7pm.

See lots more pictures after the jump (click Read More >>, below).

Toronto Freedom Festival

I was astounded by the amount of people jammed onto the north grounds of Queens Park for the 4th annual 2010 Toronto Freedom Festival (TFF) and Marijuana March. The festival's stated goal is to promote the freedom to choose and to expose their ideas. I believe their real goal is to gather in gigantic numbers and smoke weed hoping their show of public resistance will change the laws making marijuana a legal product. They say that this peaceful celebration is the 3rd year without an arrest. The police did attend in small numbers, mostly guiding traffic and pedestrians, with a pair of mounted police just hanging just outside the park. See photos of the 2011 march and festival on my post here.



I think a good part of downtown Toronto ended up with a contact high from all the smoke coming from this event.



The crowd was generally young, laid back (almost lethargic for some reason) and enjoyed the entertainment, atmosphere and empowerment that the mass gathering inspired.






Queens Park seemed pretty deserted and I didn't see any politicians greeting existing or future voters.

Festival central

Toronto plays host to some exciting events that focus the attention of the world onto our fair city.

The arts festival Luminato begins this week and takes place from June 5th to the 12th. Preparations are now underway at Yonge-Dundas Square.



Toronto's Pride Week is June 19th to the 28th.

Much Music Video Awards hits town on June 21.


The TD Canada Trust Toronto Jazz Festival for the more musically inclined from June 26th to July 5th.

Just for laughs runs from July 15 to the 19th, 2009. I have been to a few Just for laughs shows and they are great fun. I also love when they close down Yonge Street and have a weird street festival. Here is a short clip of a praying mantis destroying Toronto from the 2008 festival.

Toronto's most famous festival being the http://tiffg.ca/default.aspx, or TIFF, that runs in September. A TIFF tent has been setup in the park area beside City Hall and this tent is the Festival Box Office (their phone number is 416-968-FILM or toll free 1-877-968-FILM). Inside the tent preferred ticket packages can be purchased by donors (if they use visa) and then on July 13 everyone can purchase tickets to the festival. If you want to donate to the festival you can visit tiff.ca to support the film-lovers festival.

Toronto Freedom Festival Kickoff - 4/20 2009

Preparations are underway in the rain for the Toronto Freedem Festival kick off event to be held today (Monday April 20, 2009) from Noon to 8pm on April 20, 2009 at Yonge-Dundas Square. The Festival itself will be held at Queen's Park North on Saturday May 2, 2009 (Noon to 8pm - Free Admission - rain or shine).


Festival Co-founders Neev and Gavin at the kickoff.

The festival hopes to promote the freedom to choose and legalized Marijuana and bills itself as "Toronto's little festival that could".

Saturday's main event is expected to draw over 25,000 to a day of celebration, voices, music and creative arts as well as a Global Marijuana March (GMM) starting and ending at Queen's Park and traveling along Bloor Street, Yonge Street and Wellesley Street.

A gathering of protesters also chose April 20, 2009 to stage an awakening at College Park at 420 Yonge Street. Hampered by the rain participants try to keep dry under the pine trees.