In June, there was another Waterfront Festival, and though there wasn't as much to see as last year, and the weather was quite bad, I still got in a good walk and some pics along our waterfront.
Some of these pictures will be from the Festival, some from FrancoFete, which was happening on the same day, and a couple simply because I found them amusing!
One of the attractions of the Waterfront Festival was this acrobatic troupe, AquaCirque, who were performing at Sherbourne Common.
Unfortunately, I wasn't in time to catch their entire act, and could only get a picture of their closing bit, but you can see they're an acrobatic/circus act with a nautical theme.
There were other attractions along Sherbourne Common and at Sugar Beach, but they were almost exclusively alcohol-related, local breweries and wineries and such. I'm no teetotaler, but lack of time, interest, and OK, funds, kept me from sampling anything.
Continuing west, I had to chuckle over this warning sign: apparently, there were a number of red-winged blackbird attacks in Toronto this spring (nesting season, you see), so they actually put up these signs along the waterfront.
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| I've actually been attacked by protective birds myself - more than once - while walking unaware near a nest, and it's quite startling, so I can't blame them for being cautious! |
Continuing along, as I got to Harbourfront Centre, the rain genuinely started coming down, and I sought shelter under an overhang to wait it out.
It was pretty amusing to see this ducky couple waddling around without a care in the wet weather, so I thought I'd better get a picture!
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| At least someone didn't mind the rain... |
The main attraction of this year's Waterfront Festival was this tall ship, the HMCS Oriole, which was docked at HTO Park.
It's a Marconi-rigged ketch, and is in active use as a training vessel for junior officers in the Royal Canadian Navy. She was first launched as an ocean-going yacht in 1921, and commissioned into the Navy in the 1950s. The ship is 102 feet long, with a deck measuring 91 feet.
The mainmast is 102 feet high, the mizzenmast is 70 feet, and the ship has 10 sails in total!
Here is the main wheel, the compass across from it, and the ship's crest at bottom left.
There is a crew of approximately 20 men, and there were a couple of entrances to below-decks, but we weren't allowed down there - but we could take a peek if someone was coming up!
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| The ship also has a 230 hp diesel engine, and two generators. |
A view along the deck, showing the huge main sail wrapped up.
The deck was quite wet that day, but was surprisingly not slippery at all; I think there is some kind of rubber compound between the boards.
And, here's the bow, showing the anchor, and the winch they use to haul it up. The crewman told me it was motorized, but in a pinch, it seems like you could operate it manually, with handles that would slip on to the two posts on either side of the machine.
The other main feature of the Waterfront Festival was this sculpture, Pendulum Wave, by local design firm Decor & More.
It features six enormous beach balls, which swing back and forth on pendulums...
...as you can see here.
Also, as you can see, there was a small crew working on re-inflating the balls, so the piece wasn't actually in motion - so yeah, it wasn't exactly my day for catching the Festival's attractions at their peak!
But, as I mentioned, the other show that was going on at the same time was Ontario's annual Franco-Fete, something I usually don't get to see, so there you go.
At the UnisTV Stage, there were several acts during the afternoon, including this African-influenced Francophone group, Kizaba:
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| You may be able to see that it's raining; the group bravely played until the showers just got too intense. |
As I waited out the rain, I was entranced by a quartet of male African vocalists who were rehearsing in the nearby shelter. They sang completely a capella, at times using parts of their own bodies for percussion, and employing the most exquisite rhythms and harmonies you ever heard. What beautiful, natural talent! I was sorry I couldn't hear more.
And later (post-rain), this acoustic-rock ensemble, Kyris, played some pleasant tunes:
But the highlight was this group at the main stage, purveyors of (by their own description) "le trad-rock," Les Rats d'Swompe.
It was high-energy roots-rock, not unlike, say, Great Big Sea, but of course, with a French flavour. They were full of energy, and everyone had fun, despite the rather stiff breeze coming off Lake Ontario by that time.
And that was all for that rather unseasonably chilly June day.
I'm looking forward to future events in the city, and will certainly be posting those worth posting in this space. Keep it locked on this channel!
