Torontoist » Miles Storey

Scene: A Slice of Winter

Miles Storey — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 21:00:42 +0000

WHERE: Village of Yorkville Park (at Bellair and Cumberland Streets)

WHEN: Saturday, February 25

WHAT: The Bloor-Yorkville Icefest was a rare chance for Torontonians to catch a glimpse of frost during this unusually warm winter. This year’s installment of the annual ice-carving competition had a Canadian wilderness theme. Sculptures included a wolf, a snowboarder, fish, and even a snowmobile. You can still see the finished sculptures in the Village of Yorkville Park—if they haven’t melted yet.

Photos by Miles Storey/Torontoist.

Scene: Newmindspace Plays Capture the Flag

Miles Storey — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 15:00:58 +0000

Pink Team vs. Blue Team fighting for victory in our downtown streets.

WHERE: Streets surrounding Nathan Phillips Square

WHEN: Saturday night

WHAT: This year, Newmindspace’s annual game of Capture the Flag moved north from its previous field in the financial district to the quieter, less traffic-laden environment around City Hall. Several hundred participants gathered to hear the rules and were split into two teams, wearing either a pink or blue glowing band. With each team assigned one half of the match zone—bordered by Dundas to the north, Bay to the east, Queen to the south, and University to the west—battle commenced. After much running, skating, biking, dodging, and sneaking, the pink team emerged victorious.

Good Fortune and Great Colour at the Festival of India

Miles Storey — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 14:00:00 +0000

The annual Festival of India took place this past weekend and, despite the hot and steamy weather, brought an energetic wave of colour and spectacle to downtown Toronto and across the bay to Centre Island. The festival’s parade—along Yonge Street from Bloor to the lakefront—featured three tall floats, each carrying a Hindu deity and pulled by devotees. At the end of the parade the deities are carefully removed while the floats are stripped of their decorations. Participants crowd around to receive the flowers from the floats, considering it good luck.

Newmindspace’s Bubble Battle Bursts on Bloor

Miles Storey — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 19:45:00 +0000

The annual Newmindspace Dr. Seuss–inspired Bubble Battle happened this weekend at the intersection of Bloor Street West and Spadina Avenue. People brought a wide variety of weapons to Matt Cohen Parkette, a shaded game-themed space, where children and adults alike clambered over the domino sculptures, dodging clouds of soapy beads. One addition to the arsenal this year: a pie in the face for one participant.
Photos by Miles Storey/Torontoist.

The Best, the Cutest, and the Craziest of Woofstock 2011

Miles Storey — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 17:45:00 +0000

The annual streets-teaming-with-dogs-in-sunglasses-and-funny-costumes festival Woofstock marked its territory in the St. Lawrence Market neighbourhood this past weekend. During the festival dogs were given a new leash of life and refuse to be boxer’ed in, showing off the latest in canine fashions, only pawsing to peruse the many stalls dedicated to doggy products, some that are neuter the city.
(This is the effect Woofstock has on otherwise sensible people.)
Amidst the market atmosphere dogs took part in various competitions on the stage in Berczy Park. Walking away with the best costume prize was ‘Spider Dog’—a tiny chihuahua in a spider man outfit. And winner of the stupid dog trick contest was Izzy, who narrowly beat out Princess—the skateboarding bulldog—by playing catch-the-balloon with the crowd.
All photos by Miles Storey/Torontoist.

Scene: Toronto Marathon

Miles Storey — Mon, 16 May 2011 18:00:00 +0000

WHERE: University Avenue and Richmond Street West.
WHEN: 11 a.m. on May 15.
WHAT: Runners in the 34th annual Toronto Marathon made their way along cold and rainy downtown streets heading for the finish at Queen’s Park. Brendan Kenny was the first man across the line with a time of 2:27:20, and Melissa Begin won the women’s title with a time of 2:54.51. See lists of top male and female runners here.

Cherry Blossoms in High Park

Miles Storey — Mon, 09 May 2011 13:00:00 +0000

For some people the first sign of spring comes when bars open their patios. For others it’s signaled by the Good Friday parade. But for many, spring starts when the grove of cherry trees in High Park blossom and thousands of people rush to take in the spectacular scene, thrusting cameras and children (and this year, especially, mothers) up towards the blooms.
The trees—Somei-Yoshino Sakuras—were gifted to Toronto by Japan in 1959. As of Sunday the flowers were about 90 per cent out, so you can enjoy the phenomenon for several days more.
Photos by Miles Storey.

An Ice Affair

Miles Storey — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 13:30:00 +0000

This weekend, the Village of Yorkville Park hosted the “Circus Extravaganza”-themed IceFest Ice Carving Competition, with eleven sculptors taking part. Wen Xie was named winner by popular vote. The finished sculptures will be up in the park for the next week, or until they start to melt—with today’s weather, of course, that process is already well underway. Ice sculpture: ephemeral, but still fun!

Scene: Lake Devils

Miles Storey — Sun, 23 Jan 2011 17:30:26 +0000

Photo by Miles Storey/Torontoist.

WHERE: The shore of Lake Ontario, shot from a car park just east of Ontario Place.
WHEN: 10:24 a.m. on January 23.
WHAT: When temperatures plunge this low—it’s currently –19°C (with a wind chill of –30°C)—bodies of water give off vapour, making the waterfront this morning a very otherworldly place. This effect is called “evaporation fog” or “sea smoke,” and occurs when extremely cold air moves over a warmer body of water. The accelerated evaporation of water into the air causes the moisture to re-condense as visible fog because the air becomes over-saturated. The fog is caught in the upward air currents and swirls into tendrils sometimes called “lake devils” that can reach the equivalent of several stories in height.

This Year’s Toronto Zombie Walk A No-Brainer

Miles Storey — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 13:45:00 +0000

Thousands of flesh-eaters gathered in Trinity Bellwoods Park this past Saturday for the annual Toronto Zombie Walk. Organizers Adam Pearson and Thea Munster—Thea still sporting the engagement ring Adam gave her during last year’s walk—passed out prizes for the best zombie-style walks, moans, and costumes. Then the zombies shuffled and lumbered along Dundas Street and through Kensington Market to Christie Pits, by which time the rain had started to wash away the blood trail behind them.
Photos above.
Photos by Miles Storey/Torontoist.

The Great Bubble Battle of Toronto

Miles Storey — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 15:35:00 +0000

After Toronto’s torrid weekend at the hands of the G20, Newmindspace’s annual Dr. Seuss–inspired Bubble Battle stepped up to sooth nerves with a gentler kind of combat this past Saturday. This year’s venue was the erstwhile official G20 protest zone in the northern end of Queen’s Park, right in the shadow of the war memorial of Toronto’s own 48th Highlanders. Background music was supplied by Pride‘s nearby but well-fenced-in Dyke Day event.
Photos by Miles Storey/Torontoist.

Streeter: Pride and Prejudice Edition

Miles Storey — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 15:00:00 +0000

Streeter collects only the finest overheard conversations. Hear something? Send it to streeter@torontoist.com.
Overheard on Thursday afternoon, on the westbound Queen streetcar, stopped at Spadina for a Chinese community parade.
Woman, as dragon puppets pass by: Is this the Pride Parade?