176. Multicultural Toronto September 2-5 Labour Day Weekend

For those, lucky enough to stay in town this weekend, there are a lot of free, traditional cultural choices. I haven’t heard anything about fireworks. Do you know if there are going to be any?

 1. The CNE continues daily until September 5. Its three-day air show on Friday, Saturday and Sunday can best be watched from the CNE, and from Ontario Place (for free) this year. Of course you can see the nine soaring Snow Birds team, the bi-planes, and the sky divers from most Toronto waterfront locations. You can get glimpses of the show wherever there’s a lot of sky. Just look up quickly at the glass-rattling noise. The display is from 12:30 to 4:30pm. Pictures of the participating aircraft are on www.cias.org.

 The CNE’s International Stage continues daily with the Black Acrobats. On Friday, it will also have Canadian and Indian performances at different times. On Saturday, you can see a Mexican, a Latin American, and a Hawaiian group. Sunday will have Scottish, Argentinian, and Ukrainian dancers. Indian performers will be on Monday. See Blog No. 174 about the interesting ethnic press exhibition and the Black Acrobats.

 2. Several different groups of Morris dancers will be performing around Toronto on Saturday and Sunday. They shouldn’t be missed. These dances originate from various English villages, mainly from the Cotswolds around the 17th century. Some are fertility dances.  The best place to see these excellent and well-disciplined groups in their unique costumes is on Saturday from 11 to 12:30am. They will be at Queens Park, north of the Legislature Building near the horse statue. On Sunday, from 3.30 to 5pm, they will be at Dufferin Grove Park.

 If you want to join them to dance in future celebrations, please contact a group. You don’t have to be English. Look on the web for Green Fiddle (Toronto), Oakville Ale & Sword (Oakville), Orange Peel (Orangeville), Toronto Morris Men (Toronto), and Toronto Women’s Sword (Toronto).

 This weekend, visiting groups from Hamilton (Ontario), Thames Valley (Ontario), Charlottesville (Virginia), and Massachusetts will also be performing.

 3. The 30th Anniversary Hispanic Fiesta is from Friday to Monday at Mel Lastman Square. Expect music, dances, and food from 20 different Spanish-speaking countries. You can see over 300 local, national and international performers, most of them in lush, beautiful costumes. This is one of the best organized festivals in Toronto.

4. The Hot and Spicy Food Festival will be at Harbourfront Centre from Friday to Monday. It includes a celebration of chef Jamie Kennedy, a spice market, BBQ marathon, chef competition, Barbados, Flamenco workshop, music, etc. Study its website before you go at: http://bit.ly/mOEBuH .

5. On Monday, the Brazilian Day Canada Concert and street fair will be heating up Yonge-Dundas Square. A VIP section is available if you want to pay, drink, and avoid the expected huge crowd. 

6. The Chinatown Night Market on Huron St. north of Dundas West was not yet worth a visit as a destination, when I was there last Saturday. There wasn’t much to buy. But things might have changed since then. It’s every Friday and Saturday evening until September 10.

7. Monday is Labour Day. This holiday originally supported workers. Labour Day now also signals the end of summer and the beginning of a new term at school on the next day. Offices, banks, schools, and most stores are closed. The Labour Day parade starts at Queen and University, goes west along Queen, and then takes a left to the CNE’s Dufferin Gate.

For details like times, locations, and web-sites, please visit: www.TorontoMulticulturalCalendar.com. As you tell us of more events, we’ll put them on this Calendar, and on our Twitter. Our Twitter and Blog can be accessed easily from this calendar web page.

Please let me know if I’ve missed any interesting events.