6th Annual Underwear Affair
“This cause is close to my heart: I lost my father to prostate cancer in 2008,” said Kate Robinson, a 10k runner in the Underwear Affair. “My mother was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in September and beat it. My life has been strongly shaped by cancer and I’ve had enough. Running in costume with my friends is fun—and I know I’m doing my part to ensure no one else has to lose someone they love to this terrible disease.”
‘Sensations and Sound’ Benefit & Silent Auction
Snoezelen For Autism
Savia D’cunha, OnSite Reporter, canadianspecialevents.com
Sensations and Sound, a benefit concert was held on June 28th at Maja Prentice Theatre in Mississauga. Emily Hastings-Speck, a teacher at Dixie Public school in Mississauga put the event together for the first time, The sensory room is for children with autisms and developmental disorders.Multi-sensory therapy provides stimulating, yet relaxing, activities that gives the individual a sense of personal control without the demand for a particular performance outcome. The school will create a special environment for this purpose, using a variety of technologies that, collectively, are known by the brand name “Snoezelen.”
A fully equipped Snoezelen room commonly contains a mirror ball and colored spotlights (which project moving colored shapes around the room); a projector (which throws abstract or reminiscent images onto the walls); fiber-optic sprays or curtains (which change color and can be held or caressed); bubble tubes (a moving stream of bubbles in an illuminated tube of water which vibrates when touched); a music system (to play restful or favorite music); an aroma-therapy diffuser; panels of interactive knobs and switches that trigger sounds or lights when activated; and a variety of hand-held objects that offer particular tactile or visual sensations. Other equipment may include ball pools, soft-play areas, lighted mirrors and rugs, and remote control devices that enable individuals to exercise some degree of choice and decision making while in the environment. Sensory materials give visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory, and proprioceptive stimulation.
For two months Speck put out posters, communicated with local businesses, community centers, neighborhoods, social media, and service centers for children with autism. The sold out 200-seated theatre featured the Essentials, an award-winning Canadian Acappella band performed at the event. The group was chosen because their music is universal and appeals to every age group. A silent auction was also held with theatre tickets, Blue Jays & TFC tickets, passes for Medieval Times, gift baskets, an in-home wine seminar and autographed pointe shoes from the National Ballet among others.
Ticket sales made over $5,000 and the goal was to raise $20,000 to cover the costs for sensory equipment required.
Contact Information:
Emily Hastings-Speck
Sensationsbenefit2011@gmail.com
Toronto International Dragon Boat Race Festival
June 25 – 26, 201, Toronto Centre Island, Toronto
Tina Kessler, canadianspecialevents.com OnSite Reporter
How do you make an already successful event even more successful? By constantly adding to your event repertoire and offering your attendees more value for their money. By doing so you’ll encourage your repeat attendees to return as well as entice newcomers. You’ll keep everyone on their toes as they discover more exciting things to do at your event and send everyone home with a smile on their face.
The hugely popular Toronto International Dragon Boat Race Festival celebrated its 23rd year on June 25 & 26 on Toronto Centre Island. Put on by the Toronto Chinese Business Association and sponsored by President`s Choice, it introduced 2 new festival features: the “Summertime Art Studio“ and the “Pan Am Village“. Support from the Department of Canadian Heritage and the Ontario Ministry of Tourism & Culture made these new festival features possible.
The “Summertime Art Studio“ showcased the talent of local artists and artisans and offered tutorials. The “Pan Am Village“ presented the best cultural artefacts, displays, music and tastiest food from Latin America and the Caribbean. The main stage featured performances by local talent from various ethnic backgrounds and celebrated the diverse community that is Toronto.
While many will have come to Centre Island to see and participate in the dragon boat races, they will have been pleasantly surprised by the other festival features that awaited them. Families could easily spend the day on the island cheering on the over 170 teams and 5,000 paddlers in the races, taking in a few performances on the main stage, visiting the various booths at the Summertime Studio and sampling some of the mouth watering jerk chicken at the Pan Am Village.
Events as we know must constantly evolve to be successful. By introducing two new features, and thereby enriching the festival experience, the 23rd Annual Toronto International Dragon Boat Race Festival made its already successful event even more successful.
Toronto Jazz Festival
June 24 – July 3, 2011, David Pecaut Square, Toronto
Tina Kessler, canadianspecialevents.com OnSite Reporter
Imagine a hot summer in the city. You’re putting on a 2 week festival with live entertainment and while the evenings and weekends have very high attendance, the weekdays seem to only attract a few attendees. You’ve tried the lunchtime concerts in the park, but usually only get a few families or passersby. But you want to attract not only those who have the day off, but those who are working, those heading outside to enjoy the weather while having lunch. Since they are already outside, why not give them something to enjoy while they eat their lunch? Or better yet, set up some food vendors to sell them lunch. Then, everyone can sit in the grass in the sun, or at tables in the shade and enjoy the live entertainment.
Remember you’re in the city. And the nearest park is too far away. You want people to be less than 5 minutes away so they have time to spend their whole lunch break there. Where can you have live entertainment in the middle of the day in downtown Toronto with trees and a grassy area that isn’t a park and that`s convenient for a large group of people? David Pecaut Square.
Nestled between Roy Thompson Hall and Metro Hall on King Street West between John & Simcoe Streets, David Pecaut Square (formerly Metro Square) was the ideal location for the 25th Annual Toronto Jazz Festival’s mainstage. No stranger to festivals, David Pecaut Square is an ideal venue for outdoor concert-based events in the heart of downtown Toronto and also served as the ‘Hub’ for ‘Luminato’ in June of this year. With free lunchtime and after-work concerts, the festival gave jazz lovers and others the chance to enjoy great music in the city.
The soothing sounds of the Sienna Dahlen Quartet drew crowds of people in during lunchtime on Thursday June 30th for a relaxing lunch in the Square. Some stayed in the shade and enjoyed the music from afar, while others sat in chairs on the grass, basking in the sun. With the grass beneath their feet and the trees surrounding the mainstage, they almost forgot they were in the city and that only a half hour ago the phones were ringing off the hook and their bosses were yelling at them.
I`m sure many appreciated the free lunchtime entertainment and would absolutely stop by after work, or return in the evening or on the weekend, bringing friends and family with them. David Pecaut Square is a hot venue you should definitely consider for your next outdoor event.
For more information about the Toronto Jazz Festival visit: www.torontojazz.com
Mississauga Waterfront Festival Turns 15
June 17-19, 2011, Port Credit Memorial Park in Mississauga
Savia D’cunha, canadianspecialevents.com OnSite Reporter
The ground was sun-drenched at Port Credit Memorial Park in Mississauga. A carnival with jugglers, balloon artists, stilt walkers, strolling characters, face painters, clowns, foods of the world, kids events, music bands, and sixty assorted vendors and crafters opened up the 15th annual Mississauga Waterfront Festival. The festival took place from June 17 -19, 2011, over Fathers’ day weekend.
The main target audience was families and concert fans. Great Canadian Dad contest winners read “Why My Dad Is Great” letters. EcoMedia, Canada’s environment friendly media company, set up recycling bins throughout the park. Earth Rangers, an organization dedicated to saving habitat around the world, had a meet and greet with live animals. The Discovery Patch Children’s Interactive Musuem had 15 different stations promoting the use of recycled products. The children also had a petting zoo, pony rides, and water bubble rides where the children entered a giant water bubble.
The Canadian bands playing at the festival were The Sprit Of The West, A Foot In ColdWater, Goddo, and solo artists such as Steve Page from the Bare Naked Ladies and Brian Howe, the former lead singer of Bad Company. The international bands consisted of a British band called the Truffles. Beatle fans were treated to a Beatles experience with memorabilia and Sergeant Pepper costumes.
Chairperson, Pat Anderson and a team of 16 people organized the event in twelve months. There were 200 volunteers and a turnout of 50,000 people on the weekend. The pricing for the festival’s 15th anniversary was attractive and dropped down from $25 the previous year to $15 this year for adults and $10 for children and seniors. There were 75 sponsors with Platinum Plus sponsors being the main ones.
The Event Manager/Artist, Patti Jannetta Baker, has been in the entertainment industry for twenty-five years and is a performer, songwriter, and Juno nominee.
Out of 3,000 festivals in Ontario, Festival and Events Ontario has awarded The Mississauga Waterfront Festival with the best media, marketing and promotional campaign for nine years in a row.
MetalWorks Production Group put the staging, lighting, audio, main stage, and auxiliary set-up together.
World Class Event in Halifax……..
The show opened with an impressive reenactment of the 1940s hit Meet the Navy; choreographed by original Meet the Navy star, Blanche Lund. The 87-year-old, former WREN says it meant a great deal to be a part of the show, “I think once you put on that uniform, it never leaves you. You always feel like you’re a part of the Navy.”
Amidst the flurry of traditional dancing, modern jazz and salsa, audience members were able to reflect on historic and touching scenes about the fire onboard HMCS Kootenay and on Canadian Forces who have served and are serving our country.
As the last few performing acts board their planes to return home, echoes of the fabulous music from the event come out as people whistle tunes that have been dug up from the far corners of memory – old wartime songs such as When the Lights Go On Again and Wish Me Luck performed by soloists Jason Davis, Brenna Conrad, Derrick Paul Miller and Liz Rigney.
Scotiabank Caribana Festival on Now in Toronto
Scotiabank Caribana Festival is an exciting two-week cultural explosion of Caribbean music, cuisine, revelry as well as visual and performing arts. In its 43rd year it has become a major international event and the largest cultural festival of its kind in North America. As Carnival is an international cultural phenomenon, the great metropolis of Toronto and its environs will come alive as the city explodes with the pulsating rhythms and melodies of Calypso, Soca, Reggae, Hip Hop, Chutney, Steel Pan and Brass Bands. This colourful exhibition and display of genius is truly a musical panorama that is certain to bring a pleasing smile to the ancestral titans of Pan and Calypso music.
Scotiabank Caribana Festival is an expression of Toronto’s multicultural and multiracial society. An increasing number of attendees and participants come from the US and overseas. The events are planned months in advance. The costumes and mas band displays are elaborate and oh so delicately worn and designed for movement. Move they do, in a breath-taking spectrum of colours that is best reflected in the King and Queen Showcase on Parade Day. No Scotiabank Caribana Festival is complete without African Drumming along with the Arts and Crafts displays celebrating “Things Caribbean”!
In 2010, Scotiabank Caribana Festival season is destined to be six (6) weeks culminating in the pinnacle of Parade Day on the Lakeshore with a kaleidoscope of music, colourful costumes, theatrical mas band displays, steel bands beating intricate orchestrations coupled with mouth watering feasts of Caribbean cuisine and delicacies. http://www.caribanafestival.com/pagedisplay.aspx?i=233
BC Cancer Foundation’s Underwear Affair sheds light on cancers “down there
On July 10, 2010, over 925 British Columbians dressed in underwear and other brief costumes walked and ran in the streets of Vancouver to raise funds and awareness for cancers below the waist. The BC Cancer Foundation’s Underwear Affair presented by Mark’s Work Wearhouse, raised $552,500 for research of prostate, colorectal, uterine and ovarian cancers, among others, which together account for 42 per cent of all newly-diagnosed cancers in B.C.
PRP Inspires The World With Stellar Paralympic Closing
Incredible Talent Abounds at WinterCity Festival
Corporate Planners Looking for Innovative Ideas Take Note!
Toronto’s seventh annual WinterCity Festival presented by RBC celebrated culture, creativity and cuisine with a series of free stunning spectacles at Nathan Phillips Square, specially-created indoor entertainment at Toronto’s cultural venues, and a series of one-of-a-kind culinary events with some of the city’s most revered chefs and restaurants.
“From ancient mid-winter festivals in Greece and Rome to mid-winter festivals across the world today, common themes are found: feasting, fire, parades, processions and performing arts,” said Rita Davies, Executive Director of Culture, City of Toronto. “The city came alive this winter as we explored these themes through music, theatre, dance and food”
WinterCity is 3 festivals in 1: the WOW! Series at Nathan Phillips Square, the Warm Up! Series at Toronto’s cultural venues, and, the ever-popular restaurant promotion and culinary event series, Winterlicious.
One of the highlights included Compagnie Les Passager, one of Europe’s most innovative and visually compelling theatrical and artistic troupes. The French company transforms public space through the use of scaffolding, pyramids, cables, ropes and nets to create a massive 210m2 colourful vertical fresco. High above the audience’s heads, the actors perform dance and acrobatics on the vertical stage’s landscape, which changes to reflect each of three separate and visually stunning shows.
Time Is… is inspired by traditional and contemporary Chinese culture. Through specialized choreography and martial arts training, the performers take audiences on a journey through the seasons as time flows around them.
Namastey is a theatrical and choreographic spectacle based on the famous themes from the Indian movie world; a Bollywood-inspired performance that revolves around the story of a young Indian woman travelling to London where she falls in love with a Royal Navy captain.
Cosmogonia recounts the Book of Genesis in a succession of 12 scenes played and danced on a background of projections of images portraying the Elements, urban labyrinths and the mystery of life over a soundtrack of dramatic industrial music.
The Flaming Lotus Girls, another incredible show set Nathan Phillips Square aglow with large scale interactive fire and steel installations. Angel of the Apocalypse is an elegant sculptural environment that rises from the earth in the form of an abstracted bird. As the Angel’s head and wings come alive with fire, audience members are invited to move around and between the blazing feathers and can interact with the sculpture by operating the propane flame effects of the inner wings.
Tim Horton’s Ice Breakers Skating Parties added international fare to the festival with celebrations of the music and traditions of mid-winter festivals from around the world on the iconic rink at Nathan Phillips Square. These included Chinese Lantern Festival, Paris Carnival, Winter Carnival Holiday, Brazilian/Caribbean Carnaval, Festival du Voyageur, Nightly DJ skating parties
Audiences also enjoyed Mythical Ice, in which teams of ice carvers bring to life gods and goddesses that reflect winter, snow and ice. The sculptures were inspired by figures from around the world including Yuki-onna, Ullr, Inuit Sea Goddess, Jack Frost and Snegurochka.
Winterlicious at Toronto’s Restaurants complimented the events at the square as Winterlicious presented by American Express® offered tasty specials at a variety of the city’s most popular venues.
