This weekend, Toronto is host to the Live Green Festival, an annual celebration that brings together and showcases all things green in this wonderful city. The event runs all day Saturday 28th and Sunday 29th and takes place around Yonge-Dundas Square (that’s just around the corner from Backpackers on Dundas!). This year, Yonge Street will be closed to traffic from Dundas to Queen, giving you the chance to enjoy this environmentally-themed event to its fullest.
Here’s a quick rundown of what to expect over the two days:
Saturday is going under the name of Green Street Saturday. There will be over a 100 exhibitors, a bustling farmers’ market (with all the free samples you’d expect and free Live Green Toronto shopping bag for the first 500 customers), as well as loads of live music, street performers and a film or two.
On Sunday, otherwise known as Family Day Sunday, you and any young’uns will be able to enjoy a ‘natural playground’, arts, crafts, face-painting and lots of games. There will also be more free music and some dance workshops.
One of the highlights of the festival is its pedal-powered stage; the performers will rely on you, the fit and willing audience, to power up the entertainment to the max. This challenge will also be used to promote the city’s new bike program- BIXI Toronto- who are looking for 1,000 users to sign up in the next few months to make the scheme happen. Top Tip: keep an eye out for the Tree Mascot who’ll be hugging and hi-fiving his way around the festival all weekend.
The Live Green Toronto Festival has been around since 2007, when Mayor David Miller launched a programme to green-up the city (aka the Climate Change, Clean Air and Sustainable Energy Action Plan): “The action plan targets an 80 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 (based on 1990 levels) and was unanimously endorsed by City Council in 2007.”
If you can’t make this weekend’s festival for some reason, or are planning on visiting the city at another time, there are still lots of green things going on. The Live Green website is one of the best places to start, with its excellent Green Events calendar.
