This is a big festival weekend in Toronto, with not one, but two Eastern European cultural street festivals, featuring dancing, pierogies, and accordions, accordions, accordions!
Toronto Ukrainian Festival
The Toronto Ukrainian Festival is North America’s largest Ukrainian street festival, and it’s one big party! It starts tonight and runs until Sunday, with Bloor Street West closed off to traffic between Runnymede and Jane.
Parking will be at a premium at the event; you’re better off taking the subway to the Festival — you can go to either Runnymede Station, which is at the Festival’s easternmost end, or Jane Station, at the Festival’s westernmost end.
Along with the food and traditional Ukrainian cultural performances, there are lots of rides for the kids, and musical acts. Trust me, you haven’t lived until you’ve heard Hotel California in the original Ukrainian:
If you’d like to find out more, visit the Toronto Ukrainian Festival’s site and check out this TV program below, featuring highlights from last year’s Ukrainian Festival:
Roncesvalles Polish Festival
The Roncesvalles Polish Festival takes place on Saturday and Sunday, taking up Roncesvalles Avenue from Dundas Street on the north all the way down to the Queensway.
Parking will be a bit hard to come by at the Festival, so you should either take the subway to Dundas West Station and walk a short way to the north end of the Festival, or take one of the Queen Street or King Street streetcars there.
There’ll be the usual food and Polish cultural performances, and “Roncey’s” merchants will also be out there in full force.
Polish folk-rockers Brathanki will perform on Saturday night:
And the event is being sponsored by Sobieski Vodka, who oddly enough have hired Bruce Willis as their spokesdrinker:
If you’d like to find out more, visit the Roncesvalles Polish Festival site.