469. Report on Greek Parade March 2014

Copyright ©2014 Ruth Lor Malloy.

Copyright ©2014 Ruth Lor Malloy.

Ruth writes:

Is Taste of the Danforth really Greek? While the summer festival has a lot of Greek restaurants and one stage with Greek folk dancers, the Greek flavour is diluted by Chinese food stalls, non-Greek baseball players, and climbing walls.

Copyright ©2014 Ruth Lor Malloy.

Copyright ©2014 Ruth Lor Malloy.

Last weekend’s Greek Independence Parade was as uniquely Greek-Canadian a spectacle as you can get. At least a couple hundred Greek and Canadian flags flew while a team carried the longest Greek flag ever seen.

Copyright ©2014 Ruth Lor Malloy.

Copyright ©2014 Ruth Lor Malloy.

Almost a thousand representatives of Greek organizations from the likes of the Levendia Dance Group, Thessalon Federation, and the Pan-Macedonian Association marched in spite of the minus 7°C weather. Some wore Greek costumes and must have frozen. I estimated the parade to be a couple kilometres long.

Copyright ©2014 Ruth Lor Malloy.

Copyright ©2014 Ruth Lor Malloy.

Too bad it was so cold. Not many spectators were out, even in the sunshine, to see it. And my camera batteries froze so I was unable able to get many pictures. But I did get some.

Copyright ©2014 Ruth Lor Malloy.

Copyright ©2014 Ruth Lor Malloy.

Copyright ©2014 Ruth Lor Malloy.

Copyright ©2014 Ruth Lor Malloy.

The occasion was Greece’s Independence Day. https://www.greekcommunity.org/

 If you want to experience more Greek flavour, there’s the GCT OXI Day Parade which commemorates October 28th, 1940, the day the Greeks said “No” to Italian demands. For this history, see: http://www.ultimatehistoryproject.com/oxi-day.html . We’ll try to let you know when that  parade will be.

 Send us your multicultural Toronto pictures and stories to ruthlormalloy@gmail.com.

 

 

 

3 Comments;

  1. We were surprised to see your comment with respect to the Taste of the Danforth. It was clear that you haven’t been to the Festival in years. You referred to a climbing wall as well as Blue Jays players, which haven’t present at the Festival in over five years. You talked about the Festival not being Greek enough. In addition to the Greek Stage, we have Greek performers on our Celebrity Stage. Last summer we had the CN Tower change the colour of its lights to the Greek flag’s colours to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Festival. We brought in Peggy Zina – the Greek superstar – who performed for the Greek community for free on Saturday night. We participated in two Guinness World Record attempts, both with Greek flavours – one was the World’s Largest Zorba Dance and the other was the World’s Largest Greek Yogourt Container. We always welcome feedback but it’s important that you get your facts straight if you’re going to criticize.

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