The weekend of July 11-12 was one of quick visits, quick passing rain showers, quick Indian and Afghan dishes, quick Belizean, Malaysian and Arabic instrumentations on stage, quick performances from aerial silks in downtown St. Marys, quick visits with my father and step-mom, visiting from Toronto and a quick and ubiquitously mandatory hot dog from my good friend Shawn, served by my other good friend Shawn (must be confusing during busy times...:-))).....and yes, quick pictures.
As many people who know me know, a big part of my working and non-working summer is spent absorbing as many new sights, sounds and smells at the myriad of festivals near and far and this weekend was no different, just the time allowed to sponge these senses was a little more limited. The summer like weekend in this un-summer like summer kissed Victoria Park in London for our Friday night visit to the always fantastic free offerings at the 15th annual Sunfest. This is the first time I had been to Sunfest in 2 years, due to my project in the Balkans last year and a Tobermory escape the previous year and I can only say it has unbelievably, even got better. The promoters and organizers of this fest have really put London on the map, providing not only the area's best multi-cultural event, but a national star, all free, all for the taking and all in our backyard. Sunfest has grown organically since its 1995 inception, providing a family friendly event on a caliber usually only seen in cities with a much larger population and ethnic demographic. The beauty of the "culturefest" verses your straight up music festival, especially for those who love to travel is that it allows you to capture a snapshot, or a fleeting memory of a past trip. In the short period I was able to visit this year, the sounds brought me back to a dusty road in Cambodia, a street performance in Mostar, Bosnia and the backstreets of Dangriga, Belize, enroute to buy a Garifuna drum that matched the performers on the stage Friday evening, ten years ago Christmas. It is the option to taste and taste again flavours of the world in compact (almost too compact at times, considering the 1000's flowing through the food court) patchwork of Indian, Afgany, Jamaican, Cuban, Mexican, Greek and many more. The last piece of the jigsaw puzzle that makes the perfect world map that is Sunfest is the vendors, that save for the 2 or 3 felt blanket, pressboard laminate Kramer, pot leaf flag selling (really...why does Sunfest need this shit?) , provide an endless maze of world handicrafts and my favorite T-Shirt vendor "Unlearn", where I bought my yearly token "So-Con-T", as the last rays set over another successful year at Sunfest, can't wait for next year:-)
http://www.sunfest.on.ca/
While the Sunfest was raging down in London, St. Marys had a quality act all its own with the 14th annual Heritage Festival. Again, due to other engagements, I didn't get to soak up as much of this annual cornerstone event as I would like to, but I know it was a great success, with fireworks, street dance, a new local performers stage and the crowd pleasing, talented and subtlely adult humour tinged Aerial Angels. If you where there you know what I mean, if not, imagine a good Spongebob episode, where the adult inuendos are woven seamlessly into a childrens performance without even making a blib on the thought process radar of anyone under 15...a true art...LOL:-) The attendance throughout the weekend was apparently very good for all the free events. A big hats off to Kelly Lyn at tourism and her staff in pulling off another wonderful and ever improving mid July shining of our historic core.http://www.townofstmarys.com/discover/discover.aspx?id=1422
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