Love Park

Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Address:  96 Queens Quay W
Date:  July 2023
Website:  www.waterfrontoronto.ca

  Love Park in Toronto opened in June 2023.  The park is focused around a large tree in a heart shaped pond.  It is tucked into the corner of business towers and condos at Queens Quay West and York Street.

    The park was built in an area that used to be an off ramp for the Gardiner Expressway.  For years the concrete pillars were all that remained of this ramp.

 

    The pond in the middle of the park is shaped like a heart except it has no pointy edges.  The heart in the park is best appreciated from above.  We hope one day to find ourselves high enough up in one of the buildings that surround the park in order to look down at the heart.

     The red glass mosaic that curves around the edge of the pond is being called a "love seat" by the city.  It will give 165 meters of seating for people to enjoy the park.  The water in the pond is meant to be natural and uses no chlorine of other chemicals to filter the water.  When the pond first opened, people were concerned about the bright green water. 

     One feature of the park that may go unnoticed by some, is that there are nine bronze cast animal sculptures hidden around the grounds.  Don't worry, we won't spoil your fun and tell you exactly where each creature is hiding.  We have included photos of the animals below so you know what you are looking for.

 

  

  A sculpture of a beaver sits on its own private island.

 

  A fox sculpture can be found next to one of the benches.

   A rabbit sculpture also likes to hang out near the benches.  It had better watch out for Mr. Fox.

    A polar bear sculpture is supposedly based on Juno the polar bear from the Toronto Zoo.

      A chipmunk sculpture is busy filling its cheeks with golden hearts.

    A raccoon sculpture wanders the park.

    Most Toronto residents should be familiar with the photo above.  A raccoon prowling around looking for trouble in the middle of the night. 

 

    A blue jay sculpture sits up in a trellis.  There are quite a few Blue Jay fans in Toronto.

    Another bird sculpture of an owl sits perched looking over the square.

    The final sculpture is a woodpecker hunting for a meal in the concrete jungle.

      The sun shines through the buildings and falls on the big tree in the middle of the pond.  We suggest you also spend a little time enjoying what Love Park has to offer.  Love Toronto.  Love animals.  Love Park.

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Map of Our World
Love Park

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Post # 327

Scarborough Town Centre's 50th Birthday

Location: Scarborough, Ontario, Canada
Address:  300 Borough Drive
Date:  June 2023
Website:  www.scarboroughtowncentre.com

  The Scarborough Town Centre opened in May 1973.  This year it is celebrating its 50th birthday and we took part in some of the festivities.

   The Scarborough Town Centre is one of the biggest malls in the Toronto area.  Scarborough is made up of many different neighbourhoods as a sign in the mall once showed us.

 

  The mall is accessible from the Scarborough RT line. Since 1985 the Toronto Transit Commission has served the station at Scarborough Centre with its elevated Rapid Transit train.  There are plans for the RT line to be replaced at the end of 2023.

     One of the highlights of the mall were the hot air balloons. These balloons would get a blast of heated air and rise up out of the fountains. When the hot air stopped, each balloon would drop again.  It would follow a guide wire and land back on its stand. The hot air would blast once more and again the balloons would rise up to the delight of children gathered near the fountains. In 2009 the balloons were removed due to a building code change. Most likely it was something to do with heating elements in a fountain surrounded by children. 

     For the 50th birthday of the mall, they brought the balloons back.  They are now flying over the centre court.  

 

 

  The balloons no longer rise and fall, but maybe the mall will consider an electronic way of lifting and dropping them again. We can only hope.

 

  This isn't the first time that centre court has been filled with works of art. During Nuit Blanche there were hundreds of inflatable world globes filling the space.

   During Chinese New Year the court was filled with ribbons and lanterns.

    Another time during Nuit Blanche there were hundreds of plastic bags on wires.  It was to represent the plastic polution often caused by mall shoppers.

     During November and December the centre court hosts Santa Claus. If he sees you taking his picture he will be sure to wave hello.

    As the mall celebrates its 50th birthday we are reminded that the mall also celebrates people from Scarborough with its Scarborough Walk of Fame. The Walk of Fame is located on the lower level of the mall near Centre Court. Below are a few of our favourites, mostly from the music industry..

    Wes Williams (aka Maestro Fresh Wes) received his star in 2006.  His song "Let Your Backbone Slide" is arguably one of the greatest rap songs ever written. 

 

    Another rapper on the Walk of Fame is Kardinal Offishall.  He is best known for his track with Akon called "Dangerous".

    The Barenaked Ladies have a star of the Scarborough Walk of Fame. Their biggest hits include "If I Had $1,000,000" and "One Week". The star only includes the members of the band in 2013 when they were inducted. It is missing Steven Page who was a big part of their most popular years.

    Singer Gowan is best known for his hits "Strange Animal" and "A Criminal Mind".  He is currently the lead singer for the band Styx.

    Monika Schnarre also has a star on the Walk Of Fame. She is best known for being a supermodel.  

 

     The Scarborough Town Centre celebrates Scarborough and Scarborough celebrates 50 years of the shopping centre. We keep hoping that the ballons will rise and fall again at the mall. Until then we will look up at a balloon, eat a macaron and hope it happens soon.

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Map of Our World
Scarborough Town Centre

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Post # 324

The Santa Claus Parade

 

Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Address:  111 Queen's Park
Date:  November 2022
Website:  thesantaclausparade.com

  In 1904 Santa Claus walked from Union Station to the Eaton's store on Queen Street West. In 1905 there was a single float that carried Santa Claus to the Eaton's store.  The Santa Claus Parade was born.  Each year it marks the arrival of Santa Claus to Toronto.  Santa is here to find out what good children would like for Christmas.  We had not seen the parade in person for many years.  This year we headed downtown to join in the fun.

    Before the parade even starts, you can watch the Holly Jolly Fun Run.  Runners race along the same 5 km route as the parade, in order to raise money.  The majority of runners usually do the run dressed in holiday costumes.

     Finally, we caught sight of the parade coming down University Avenue.  The first to arrive were the Celebrity Clowns.  These clowns have all made a donation to help support the parade.  You never know who might be under all that makeup and wigs.

 

    The parade is made up of many floats towed behind vehicles.  One of the oldest floats is Mother Goose.  A Mother Goose float first appeared in the parade in 1917 and this year was no exception.

 

   The Toronto Police are always a big part of the parade.  Toronto Police do crowd control to keep the parade goers safe.  Sometimes the attendance at the parade can reach almost a half million people.  The Toronto Police also show off some of their classic vehicles like this 1957 Chevy in bright yellow.

    Our favourite Toronto Police car will always be Blinky.  Blinky used to be bright yellow, but when the car colours were changed to white with a red and blue stripe, so did Blinky.  Blinky also used to talk and of course blink those big eyes.

 

     The Toronto Police Mounted Unit also took part in the parade.

    With horses always comes the need for a clean-up crew.  Toronto's Mayor John Tory volunteered for the job.  There are lots of marching bands yet to come that don't need to be dodging road apples.

    Here comes one of the bands now.  The Ridley College Cadets are just one of the bands keeping the crowd moving to Christmas classics.  Bands come from all over Ontario for the honour of being part of the parade.

    Another parade float tells the creation story.  In the story, a flood takes over the land and a muskrat dives to the bottom of the water and grabs some earth.  The earth is then placed on the back of a turtle forming North America or what is also called Turtle Island.

    Other floats didn't have as quite a meaningful story behind them.  This one is simply a lion enjoying a toboggan ride.  Most floats have corporate sponsors who help keep the parade going each year.  This float was sponsored by Royal Bank of Canada.

    The majority of the floats have a holiday or winter theme.  The float above features two polar bears and a reindeer.

    This float features a few of Santa's reindeer in the horn section.

    The McDonald's float also featured some musical woodland creatures out in the snow.

    A few floats required a little more thought to see how they connect to Christmas.  How about this 123Dentist float?  All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth.  And of course the Tooth Fairy is a close personal friend of Santa Claus.

 

   How about this float full of creamy garlic and pizza?  Mele Kalikimaka is the thing to say on a bright Hawaiian Christmas day.  Especially for that grass skirt wearing pineapple pizza.  At St. Lawrence Market, where the parade ends, Pizza Pizza was giving out slices to all of the volunteers who braved the cold and helped make the parade a success.

    The volunteers walk the parade in all sorts of costumes like the pink octopus costumes above.

 

 

    There was a group of snowmen.  Don't worry the weather was below freezing on parade day.

 

     There was a flock of blue jays.  Some parade goers might have been disappointed that none of these blue jays were part Toronto's baseball team.

    A favourite costume is the upside down clowns, or this year upside down monkeys.  You try walking nearly five kilometres on your hands!

    Mrs. Claus is also a big part of the parade.  After seeing Mrs. Claus, we know it won't be very long until Santa arrives.  

 

 

    A Peanuts float featuring Charlie Brown and Snoopy was sponsored by Canada's Wonderland and their Winterfest event.  In 2020 and 2021 the parade took place at Wonderland.  This year the parade finally returned to the Toronto streets to perform live.

    The parade takes about an hour to an hour and a half in order to pass any particular spot.  We saw a float turn the corner and realized it was being led by a group of reindeer.   Santa had finally arrived!   We recommend the Toronto Santa Claus parade as one of the biggest and longest running parades in the world.  Just remember to dress warmly and keep moving.  Most importantly, no matter what age you actually are, we can all be kids at the parade. Merry Christmas everyone!

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Map of Our World
The Santa Claus Parade

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Post # 318