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).

Friends on the way to the festival. Rapper Belsito is 3rd from right

Going south on Yonge Street

Tattoo

Zombies

Stage and festival banner

There seemed to be a lot of solid doggie support.

Mohawk

Two thumbs up from mascot

Free Love sign

Playing with a bubble pipe

The cleanup crew follows the parade

High Park Cherry Blossoms 2011

The cherry blossoms in High Park finally came out to play today and the park was filled with appreciative visitors happy to see the sun and the flowers bloom and take a few pictures.

Not all the buds had opened, but there were enough to provide beauty and colour in the park.

See more blossoms from May 7th after the jump.

A number of animals in the High Park Zoo had little babies, dogs frolicked in the leash free zone and a swan was in Grenadier Pond - what a great time to visit High Park.

I also found some blossoms at Queens Park but the trees along University Avenue are still free of flowers.

By Thor's Hammer

Marvel Comics' movie 'Thor' comes out tomorrow and thanks to Dr Pepper Cherry (thanks Erin) I had a chance to watch an advance screening at the Scotiabank Theatre on Richmond Street. Great movie and it looked fantastic in 3D, which came in handy when my wife enjoyed Thor (Chris Hemsworth) with his shirt off - here is a screen grab from their site.

Lots of great action and scenery with such stars as Anthony Hopkins, Natalie Portman and Kat Dennings, who I loved in Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, has a great comic relief part. Very enjoyable, good for the whole family, I would definitely recommend going to the theatres to see this movie - enjoy the sounds and sights of 3D, it really is made for the big screen.

Of course you may have trouble identifying the bad guy in this movie, so keep your 3D glasses ready and your eyes open. I wish the screening had sold big plastic hammers, now that would have been fun.

Don't forget to stay after the credits have rolled for a 3D trailer featuring Samuel L Jackson as Nick Fury.

PS the theatre is really cool and is in the building with the Rubik Cube type thing outside. You have to go up a long way to reach the theatres and it has an actual bar in the lobby. There are also a few movie memorabilia items such as the bad guy from the Scream series of movies and a large model of a Star Trek spaceship - something like a bird of prey.

Toronto's new subway cars

A bright new silver TTC streetcar rides above the surface on a large float on the way to it's new job.

Paul Tracy & Honda Canada to race again

As I noted in early April Toronto driver Paul Tracy will race a partial 2011 season with Jay Penske’s Dragon racing team, which includes five races with two of those races being the Edmonton and Toronto IndyCar events. It was just announced that Honda Canada Inc. has jumped back on board to sponsor Paul for the 3^rd year in the both Honda Indy Toronto and Edmonton races. They will also continue their support of the Make-A-Wish Canada Foundation.

The Scarborough driver, who continues to fight for his rides, will race in the car known simply as the #8 make-A-Wish Canada/Dragon Racing/Honda/Dallara/Firestone car! And I will know it as #8, or in a hurry, 8. By the way, can you imagine what one of these cars cost to fill up at the pumps?

The Make-A-Wish Canada Foundation raises money to help children with life-threatening medical conditions receive a magical wish. Last year fans and Honda Canada, with matching dollar-for-dollar donations, raised over $100,000 and hopes to do much better this year.

BIXI Bike Toronto - take, ride, return

Although they missed a very important step in the bike rental practice; pay. Toronto begins the public bike rental business for as little as $5 for a 30 minute ride (excluding any hold payment on your credit card which currently sits at $250 for each bike) with BIXI Toronto. The bikes look a little chunky, in fact they look like they are electric bikes but they are 100% people powered and they are definitely not as pretty as this bike decorated with red tinsel hearts.

There are a large number of BIXI Stations (80 right now) spread around the downtown core and along Queens Quay and when you take a bike (starting with 1,000 bikes in the system) you don’t have to return it to the same place you got it.

Medical Response on Queen St Streetcar

Both the Toronto Fire Department and the Paramedics respond to a medical emergency on a Queen Street TTC streetcar at University Avenue. The large articulated streetcars started to pile up as passengers were forced out of the car and onto the street to await transport by bus.