 Event: Street Fair Date: June 22, 2008 Location: St. Joseph House
Street parties or block parties to promote the area, including businesses, and for neighbours to socialize in the Summer air can be a fun way to spend the weekend. Just step out of your home or work and mingle with your neighbours and any visitors from other areas. St. Joseph House, which is a drop-in house with activities and workshops, hosted this 'Street Fair' and set out a badminton net, large scrabble board, music and poetry mic, some tables with crafts, food and drink, and paintings for sale inside. There were 3 stilt walkers in costume and a puppet masked woman with a feather duster. People who use the House visited and sat outside. Talking to neighbours about what's going on with their lives and other activities is a nice pleasant way to get to know them better. Usually, we are all too busy working to really take time to know those we see regularly. So, a casual party in the Summertime is a relief from the daily schedule and routine work we are stuck with. Relaxing in the outdoors just chatting with people keeps us human. An event does not always mean a passive watching attitude, but a more active involved one is a good change sometimes. Of course, with hundreds of events and shows happening in Toronto daily, based on the listings in the free entertainment papers such as the NOW, Eye, and Xtra, competing for public attention is hard. But for those who walk by and stop out of curiosity, they can easily join in. Some events grow by daily promotion and word of mouth, or by membership lists, or articles published. As long as the regulars have fun that is most important of all since parties are supposed to be participatory in nature, not for performance. The cloudy weather and eventual brief rain shower, made it less than it could be, but there's always next year and the House is always open and welcome to interested individuals through the year. Maybe the large Scrabble board game and tiles will be played again, with Hopscotch, and Badminton, and who knows if a human Chess set will be the next neighborhood activity for the House next year... The participation of people is what matters most in these parties and it's just a matter of time and planning until the people come to play here!
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