I went to the plant nursery Saturday morning and sadly got back too late to be on time for the first Cupcake ride of 2013, so I did penance by marking a bunch of stuff. I managed to drag myself away for a few hours in the evening to visit the first annual Dundas West Fest. Party in my neighbourhood! I was a little concerned that were so late we would have missed all the good stuff, but I needn't have been.
We started by heading east on Dundas. I never go that way, so it was neat seeing what amounted to a new part of the city. Especially seeing it from the middle of the street. I'll have to visit it again; there are some fun vintage shops -- although, depressingly, 80s-style clothing that I remember getting rid of because it was ugly is now "vintage."
Unfortunately, most of the side vendors and fun activities were packing up or already gone, but we got to see some of the results. Case in point: how to make construction hoardings nicer, by the Japanese Paper Place and the Sumi Ink Club.
The Brockton Chalk Walk was really popular last year. I think DWF was started from that.
Buskers were keeping it lively. Sword juggling was pulling more of a crowd than indie singer-songwriters.
I thought there wouldn't be many people left, but the crowd was still lively.
More ways to cover up construction hoardings. I liked that DWF had art-making installations for the public; it's a good way to have active instead of just passive participation, and it ties in to all the galleries in the area. These collage pieces were sponsored by Monkey's Paw, of Biblio-mat fame.
This is Rambunctious; we saw them at an Electro-swing night. They are awesome. They didn't want to set up on the stage since they are a street band. They don't play set pieces; they take names from the audience and improvise.
They set up a game of musical chairs. On the street. Good fun.
We didn't stay for the whole set, because it was getting late and we hadn't eaten yet. We could have eaten at one of the restaurants that had taken advantage of the extra pedestrian space by turning the sidewalk into a patio - which is something I think should happen once a month during the summer because I have never seen those restaurants so full. Anyway, we didn't because that didn't seem street-festy enough to me. Fortunately, we could still get some pe de torresmo (Portuguese pulled pork sandwich) from one of the vendors.
As we were finishing up, Rambunctious came up the street. We followed them until we reached our turn-off.
It was a good fest. I hope they do it again.
We started by heading east on Dundas. I never go that way, so it was neat seeing what amounted to a new part of the city. Especially seeing it from the middle of the street. I'll have to visit it again; there are some fun vintage shops -- although, depressingly, 80s-style clothing that I remember getting rid of because it was ugly is now "vintage."
Unfortunately, most of the side vendors and fun activities were packing up or already gone, but we got to see some of the results. Case in point: how to make construction hoardings nicer, by the Japanese Paper Place and the Sumi Ink Club.
The Brockton Chalk Walk was really popular last year. I think DWF was started from that.
Buskers were keeping it lively. Sword juggling was pulling more of a crowd than indie singer-songwriters.
I thought there wouldn't be many people left, but the crowd was still lively.
This is Rambunctious; we saw them at an Electro-swing night. They are awesome. They didn't want to set up on the stage since they are a street band. They don't play set pieces; they take names from the audience and improvise.
They set up a game of musical chairs. On the street. Good fun.
We didn't stay for the whole set, because it was getting late and we hadn't eaten yet. We could have eaten at one of the restaurants that had taken advantage of the extra pedestrian space by turning the sidewalk into a patio - which is something I think should happen once a month during the summer because I have never seen those restaurants so full. Anyway, we didn't because that didn't seem street-festy enough to me. Fortunately, we could still get some pe de torresmo (Portuguese pulled pork sandwich) from one of the vendors.
As we were finishing up, Rambunctious came up the street. We followed them until we reached our turn-off.
It was a good fest. I hope they do it again.
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