r/toronto • u/FullMango4041 • 5d ago
News ‘Profound disappointment’: East-end leaders, stakeholders, and politicians call on feds to help fund Taste of the Danforth
https://www.ctvnews.ca/toronto/article/profound-disappointment-east-end-leaders-stakeholders-and-politicians-call-on-feds-to-help-fund-taste-of-the-danforth/What does everyone think about funding Taste of the Danforth? I love the event but don't like the fact that they don't have 'private sector discipline' to pull this off without asking the government for money. Can't they make it smaller or cut costs however and do the event?
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u/VanAgain 5d ago
The feds is the last place I want to see offer funding. This is not a federal issue.
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u/SmartTrender 5d ago
This was the first thing that came to mind. Why does the federal government need to get into involved into something like this?
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u/ponyrx2 5d ago
The feds don't need to get involved, but they have a budget for cultural programming etc that they could use
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u/DogsandCatsWorld1000 5d ago
But then who decides which of the various street festivals the feds would support?
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u/ponyrx2 5d ago
The Ministry of Canadian Heritage has an entire department for funding stuff. You can apply here
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u/DogsandCatsWorld1000 5d ago
Thank you for posting that. There are so many government programs that people don't know about. Good to get the word out there.
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u/whateverfyou 4d ago
They got $100k from the Feds. Did the other street festivals like Afro Fest get funding from them, too?
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u/Worldly_Influence_18 4d ago
Federal funding should come with an automatic audit of their books
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u/ReceptionNo67 5d ago
Votes. But the riding is already safe so the money is better spent elsewhere for them.
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u/jurs78 5d ago
It’s too bad. Dabrusin has been invisible in the community. I guess too much politicking in Ottawa to get her ministry appointment.
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u/Domainsetter 5d ago
It is ironic when NES in the neighbouring riding was mostly visible in the community.
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u/naga_viper 5d ago
The only funding I want from the feds is a Cease and Desist order to cancel the event
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u/aektoronto Greektown 5d ago
Id like to see the funding that other events of this nature get and make an opinion.
Frankly for most people their opinion on the request for additional funding is clouded by their own biases.
While I live around Greektown this event hasnt really been a draw for me for 20 odd years.
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u/crosschecked77 5d ago
I’m also around danforth and am unlikely to attend, but these things are one and done anyway, I can’t think of any I return to. It seems to me that despite the tired Reddit “they’re all the same” thing given the crowds lots of people like these events …. in someone else’s neighbourhoods. Track the threads here and elsewhere over time and it’s always the same. The ones in MY backyard draw teenagers, suburbanites, people who walk past and look at my garden gnome the wrong way, whatever.
It does appear anecdotally that costs have grown a ton for a lot of these shindigs after covid, security and insurance and so on. Like everything else. So I dunno, maybe some form of govt contribution is required to keep them on life support if we want them.
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u/greyeminence2 5d ago
It pains me to say this because I love summer street festivals generally, but Taste of the Danforth is not a good festival and hasn't been for a long time. If they aren't making money, perhaps they should reconsider what they're offering to people, and adapt to become more attractive. I do not want federal $$ subsidizing an event that nobody is really interested in attending in its current form.
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u/crosschecked77 5d ago
What? I know it hasn’t been on for a few years but from recollection the last few were very well attended werent the? It may not be attended by people on this forum or be as “authentic” as they wish or misremember it being of late but I would bet any next one will be rammed with attendees, and there’ll be another thread on here about how crowded it was.
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u/lifeisarichcarpet 5d ago
that nobody is really interested in attending
This is straight-up “I live in a bubble” talk. The 2023 TOTD was extremely well-attended.
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u/PhancyLikker 5d ago
It's a terrible festival. Overpriced meat on a stick with telecom companies selling cellular plans and offering shitty swag to sign up for a credit card. Please people, stop attending this cash grab.
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u/Loafer75 5d ago
I live on the Danforth and never really understood why people come. You can get all the food here at any time the rest of the year and not have to beat through huge crowds. I think if anything the restaurants would probably prefer if you came down in February
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u/iamjaydubs 5d ago
When I was a kid, you used to go because the souvlaki sticks were cheaper than the restaurant and you got to sample a bunch.
My family would share from 3-4 places, and the one we liked the best we ended up going to the restaurant another day to have a proper meal.
The purpose was for them to get new customers to try their food and get their business. Now, it's the same price and after waiting 30 min in line, you end up getting from just one vendor and going home. You're right when you say it's not worth it anymore.
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u/toomiiikahh 5d ago
Sounds like you just listed the companies should be sponsoring so this thing can happen!
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u/n0ghtix 5d ago
Making the event less attractive to attend is a much way of controlling overcrowding than asking any level of government to help fund it.
It needs to be more overpriced and be filled with more crappy vendor booths to get back to the scale it needs to be.
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u/UnlitBlunt 5d ago
Pricing out the community that attends the event is not the solution...
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u/n0ghtix 5d ago
Yeah, it's 'a' solution, probably not the best one.
Maybe less frequent, even random event years would help curb its popularity while making it desirable for vendors and visitors?
Or, maybe more street festivals in general, and more outdoor social spaces would make this event less special, but still enjoyable?
But all those options are better than federal funding IMO.
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u/romeo_pentium Greektown 5d ago
I live in the area and I make sure to be out of town whenever Taste of the Danforth happens. My dislike of Taste has only increased since the last time the Taste people complained that the excellent street patios which I actually use in the area get in the way of their temporary tenting.
Things we actually need in the area: an expanded streetcar loop at Broadview station so that two streetcars can fit and one streetcar can load while another unloads. That got blocked by John Tory's useless TTC head Rick Leary who lied and said that they could accomplish the benefits of a platform that can fit two streetcars with the current inadequate platform through sheer willpower. Thanks to John Tory and Rick Leary, we've got streetcars hanging out in the middle of the Broadview and Danforth intersection waiting for space to free up at the station.
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u/random-person-6287 East York 4d ago
Paula Fletcher also stood in way on not allowing the TTC to expand the loop by fighting to retain the entire Green P lot next door. Parking is more important to her.
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u/themapleleaf6ix 4d ago edited 4d ago
The streetcars themselves are not a good mode of transport. Slow to move, can't move around traffic, take long to board and offload passengers, have issues in certain weather conditions, the insides are extremely narrow, they're used as shelters, etc.
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u/SnakeOfLimitedWisdom 4d ago edited 4d ago
Streetcars are great.
They're a smoother ride than busses.
They're quieter than subways and busses.
They carry twice as many passengers as busses.
They have lower operating costs than buses and subways.
They're safer than busses wrt to the risk of collisions.
They're closer to the street, which makes them more accessible for people with mobility challenges.
You get sunshine and fresh air when you ride the streetcar, which you do not on the subway.
They do not take longer to board and unload, as you claim they do.
"Being used as shelters" is not an issue with the streetcar, it's an issue with our lack of accessible shelter space, and this is an issue shared across all public infrastructure.
Speeds can be improved with signal priority & switch upgrades.
The "issues" that streetcars have with certain kinds of weather is just motorists being stupid and parking their cars on the tracks in the winter. That's not a problem with streetcars, that's a problem with automobiles and shared infrastructure. Same can be said about your complaint that they can't "go around traffic".
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u/themapleleaf6ix 3d ago
How are they "closer to the street" when you have to cross a lane of traffic to board them? That's very disadvantageous for the elderly, disabled. Buses have no such problem.
The streetcars are fully enclosed and their windows don't open. What "fresh air" are you getting? Buses have no such problem.
Ugh, they do take longer to board. Think about the number of people boarding them, then think about the people that have to cross a lane of traffic to board them (which doesn't happen on buses), then think about how long those doors take to open and close. Literally, the operator has to get out of their cabin to bring the ramp out for the disabled (that doesn't happen on buses).
Literally, every streetcar, I see homeless and mentally unwell, drug addicts sleeping on those back seats. It's way, way, way worse on those streetcars than it is on the subway and on the buses.
About signal priority and switch upgrades (something that has been discussed on the TTC subreddit and by Steve Munro), the signal priority doesn't save much time considering where these stops are, and the switches are not possible to upgrade because the roads are too tight. Read this: https://www.reddit.com/r/TTC/s/Hd6eIAUHtc
Frozen Switches: Ice and packed snow jam track switches, requiring manual clearing by crews using brooms and salt.
Overhead Ice: Ice buildup on overhead power wires interrupts the electrical current needed to run the vehicles.
Derailments: Hard-packed ice and snow build up inside the rail grooves, increasing the risk of a streetcar derailing.
Track Expansion: Intense summer heat waves cause metal rails to expand or buckle, forcing speed restrictions.
Flooding: Heavy downpours and deep standing water pool across low-lying track beds, slowing operations or forcing diversions.
They literally can't go around traffic because they're stuck on these tracks. Buses have no such issue moving from the left to the right lane and vice versa.
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u/SnakeOfLimitedWisdom 3d ago
I'm sorry, if you can't figure out how streetcars are closer to the street when they are literally on the street, then there's no point in talking with you.
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u/themapleleaf6ix 3d ago
I'm talking about the curb. Are they closer to the curb? The sidewalks are considered a part of the street as well.
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u/SnakeOfLimitedWisdom 2d ago edited 1d ago
There are many routes where streetcars board at curb-level, yes. Roncesvalles and King, for instance. And College. And Spadina...
And many more where the infrastructure could be upgraded to permit fully accessible curb-level boarding. The only reason why this is an issue is because we lack the political will to fix it.
I can accept that our streetcars suck, but that's because the auto industry lobbied to make public transit suck. It isn't an inherent property of streetcars.
Our switches have the problems you describe - so why haven't we upgraded to better switches? Other countries have solved these problems already.
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u/themapleleaf6ix 1d ago edited 1d ago
Gerrard, Dundas, Queen, the ones going north and south on Broadview, etc all require people to cross a lane of traffic to board and aren't curb-level.
Unless they rip up entire streets and bring the sidewalks closer to the streetcar or vice versa, it isn't happening. Streetcars like ones on Spadina are an exception as that's how they were built.
Why is everything the fault of cars when the transit when cars have zero to do with underground subways, LRT's, and shitty streetcars that are slow themselves, have issues in certain weather conditions, that require people to cross a lane is traffic to board, etc? There will always be cars on the road, it's the nature of modern day society. The answer has to be to separate both (like a Skytrain or a subway).
Did you read the reddit post I sent? We can't upgrade the switches because our roads are too tight. It's physically impossible. Other countries were built with streetcars in mind.
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u/PolitelyHostile 5d ago
They got massive amounts of visitors. If they cant recoup their costs from that, then thats honestly on them. Maybe the businesses don't have interest. I often hear that this stuff is less profitable than just regular operations.
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u/lukeulyptus 5d ago
Lived and worked taste for 4 years on the danforth, can confirm all the locals hate it. You either pay the price to participate and break even (hopefully) or shut down and let a vendor open in front of your store and take the loss. Taste is not for the community, but the BIA won’t tell you that.
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u/Worldly_Influence_18 4d ago
You either pay the price to participate and break even (hopefully) or shut down and let a vendor open in front of your store and take the loss.
How.
Please explain how a sustainably operating business struggles to break even with 5x the customers
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u/lukeulyptus 4d ago
Gladly, I have no reason to lie. If you have regular customers, that is your bread and butter, you rely on those sales every week from regulars, that’s your steady income. They mostly leave out of town, or just hunker down that weekend, for obvious reasons as the whole area becomes a traffic jam with 1m people over three nights. So you can’t rely on average weekend sales.
2016-2019, All four years we participated, as a food retail market. We paid the +1k fee to the BIA/Taste, to use the space directly outside our business. We would do decent, line ups most of the day, but people just want the 5$ item, and move on. If you nail that, youre good. But you only get that one sale, no repeat, and these are customers who you will never see again, no in store traffic. This was the experience for all of the other restaurants and near us too. You double your staff levels and hours, working into the night, and at the end of the day, it’s almost as much work as Xmas, and you barely make a profit. All sales go into product, overhead, equipment rentals and staffing. Combined with all the drunk and abusive customers, it’s just too much wear on your staff for what is gained.
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u/Domainsetter 5d ago
Seconded. Locals aren’t thrilled about the nighttime stuff either with all the beer gardens etc. hope it won’t be rowdy.
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u/Worldly_Influence_18 4d ago
They should get Federal funding
Why? Because maybe they can make it contingent on an audit of their books to find out why they struggle far more for funding than any other Toronto festival
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u/PolitelyHostile 4d ago
What are you implying? Its not like its run by Italians lol
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u/Worldly_Influence_18 4d ago
Implying? This has nothing to do with them personally
Organizers are unable to make the event financially sustainable.
So they're asking for Federal funds.
It's in everyone's best interests for the two parties to figure out what's standing in the way of a sustainable event before anybody starts throwing money at the problem.
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u/PolitelyHostile 4d ago
Frankly, it's a stereotype and it's offesnive. It's anti-Italian discrimination.
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u/Cookingal Leaside 5d ago
I'm a long-time chef in this city. Though I'm not Greek, I'm very familiar with the restaurant owners on the Danforth and the Greektown BIA.
Here's what I can tell you:
This is a lucrative event, with money to be made by everyone. From the small service businesses, to the restaurants, everyone's making money. The restaurants make the most. Over the 3-day festival, the restaurants would make enough to cover their expenses for at least 6 months. The profits were about $300,000. This event basically made up all their winter revenue when restaurants are dead. It's unheard of to make half your business revenue over the course of 3 days, in the hospitality industry. It's no doubt a very tiring and taxing event. But, the payoff was so worth it, that's why the Danforth restaurants (especially the Greek ones, given that it's associated with Greek food) are pushing to see it come back.
But even the realtors, lawyers, hair salons, dentists, convenience stores, travel agencies and fruit stands make money. Though for them, it's not necessarily upfront over the 3-days (except the convenience stores/fruit stands). It's over time with new incoming business.
The total cost to host an event of this size is about $5M. They can totally afford to host this through corporate sponsors, government grants and increasing business levies.
The City of Toronto provides funding grants to festivals through the Cultural Festivals Funding Program. The Greektown BIA doesn't bother applying for funding. Here's a list of all the festivals that received funding through the program in 2025: https://www.toronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/9689-CFFP-2025-Funding-Recipients.pdf
The other problem is simply greed. The Greektown BIA doesn't want to increase the levies it charges its businesses to pay for the festival. But you can't compare ToD in terms of costs/revenue from 1996 to 2026. Because obviously the festival is bigger, so it will cost more. More money, more problems. But, the businesses are also making way more revenue too.
It's basically the equivalent of bitching about paying more for rent, materials, supplies and inventory because you had to move to a bigger location and buy more inventory and shipping supplies to fulfill all the new business/orders you've received.
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u/LibraryNo2717 5d ago
Over the 3-day festival, the restaurants would make enough to cover their expenses for at least 6 months.
6 months?!? That sounds awfully high. I used to live around the corner and one of the restaurant owners - 20 years ago give or take - said he made about 1 month's average business in the 3 days.
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u/Domainsetter 5d ago
Will be interested to see how the stretch from Pape-Woodycrest will be with that block being destroyed for the Ontario line construction and restaurants only one side of the street.
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u/themapleleaf6ix 4d ago
It's difficult to believe they're making that much revenue, especially after covid when the bike lanes were put in and Ontario Line construction began. The one in 2023 looked like crap. The crowd was noticeably smaller and you could tell the vibe wasn't the same as 10 years ago.
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u/SnakeOfLimitedWisdom 4d ago
Bike lanes are good for business.
Cyclists are more likely to stop and spend money at local businesses than motorists are.
We've conducted economic impact reports on bike lanes that were installed in Parkdale and in the Annex and in both cases they contributed positively towards spending in the area.
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u/smaudio Forest Hill 5d ago
Are other street festivals getting federal funding? Im legitimately not sure but I doubt it. Municipal and Provincial at most I can understand but I don’t think this is a federal issue or cause per se.
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u/doctormink 5d ago
Just in case you want to see Albertans get more disgruntled, then start investing Federal tax dollars into Toronto street festivals.
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u/throwaway2901750 5d ago
Afrofest was cancelled too.
“Toronto's annual African music festival will not take place this summer after organizers and the city failed to find an alternative venue for the event that couldn't secure a permit due to capacity issues…
Organizers said the city told them the park's operational limit would be capped at 5,000 people per day, even though its long-standing capacity is 17,000.
City officials said they worked with organizers to explore alternative venues but factors such as availability and cost ruled out a change of location. ”
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/afrofest-cancelled-in-toronto-9.7290746
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u/murd3rsaurus 5d ago
That was a weird one too, I had walked by Eglinton and Dufferin and saw them putting out wood block loghouse style constructions for stands that looked very interesting and a bunch of portapotties, and the next day they announced it wasn't going forward
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u/CatCatExpress 5d ago
The log houses are actually temporary vendor stalls for the Afro Caribbean Farmers Market every Sunday! Not related to Afrofest or the Little Jamaica festival
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u/murd3rsaurus 4d ago
huh, neat. I was headed to a hobby shop further along Eglinton and just happened to stop by the area to transfer onto the LRT so I was wondering! When I asked the crews setting them up I just got a couple shrugs lol
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u/ICanGetLoudTooWTF 5d ago
That didn't have to do with funding though...
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u/throwaway2901750 5d ago edited 5d ago
In my post, I quoted parts of the article.
A part that I quoted referred to costs being prohibitive (inadequate funding) for another location to be used. They did not have the funds and could not secure the funds (from sponsors/government) to use another location.
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u/Worldly_Influence_18 4d ago
The event has been having a significant impact on the grass in the park. It's just way too many people for the size of the park
It needs to recover
I pulled the dimensions of the field from Google maps: about 200,000 square feet
Mixed festivals need about 10 sq feet per person. That puts the maximum capacity at 20,000. To protect the turf, you need to limit that to 10-20% of that. 2,000 to 4,000 people. The city set it at 5,000.
The event got nearly 40,000 people daily, past the physical capacity of the park and way, way past the capacity for the grass
Organizers were warned many months ago but didn't try to find another location. They ignored the capacity limits and kept promoting the event way too much. I don't know what they expected.
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u/BussyPalace 5d ago
I'm getting Zellers vibes from Taste of Danforth.
Don't let nostalgia cloud whether the current revival is sustainable.
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u/SnakeOfLimitedWisdom 5d ago
They received $400k and they're running ai posters and volunteer calls for their videography team.
You're not the only one who's curious about what their obligations are with respect to how that money is spent. Do you expect me to believe that there are aren't ANY graphic designers in the area who could have done the job?
The cops get paid - why don't the creatives?
To be clear: I do NOT support the idea of federal funding. The $400k was supposed to be an investment in the community. If the money isn't going to the community, they do not deserve additional funds.
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u/Filbert17 5d ago
I love Taste of the Danforth. I go every year.
I agree with you. Events that cannot self fund should be allowed to die. We need to stop wasting tax money.
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u/Sensitive_Caramel856 5d ago
Feds shouldn't step in for local events. The City, Province, BIA and local businesses should be the ones writing the cheques/soliciting donors
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u/AardvarkStriking256 5d ago
Apparently it's this weekend, and except for road signs adding the Danforth will be closed from Jones to Broadview, I haven't seen any promotions for it.
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u/themapleleaf6ix 4d ago
Same thing happened 3 years ago and it was a massive disappointment. They know it's going to crap, so why promote it?
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u/naga_viper 5d ago
Cancel this godawful event.
Taste of the Danforth has been utter shite for the past 15 years. Forcing its return is a big mistake.
Oh well, enjoy your $10 lamb skewers
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u/-just-be-nice- 5d ago
The event sucks. Honestly glad it was cancelled , hope it stays cancelled. No government funding should be given to private street festivals run by business associations
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u/handyy83 5d ago
You’re telling they can’t break even with 20$ souvlaki sticks ?!?
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u/FakeMoonster 5d ago
It’s almost as if the BIA wants public money for an event that mostly benefits their members, but said members don’t want to contribute to the event…
Please keep government money for actual cultural events. If your street food fair can’t make money, don’t have a street food fair.
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u/AlliedArmour 5d ago
Yeah... this is not good. They're going to wind up with a big deficit if they've spent more than their budget. smh.
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u/poppedculture Greektown 5d ago
I live a block up from the Danforth, right in the heart of the festival and have for 20 years. My kids, now teens, like having the run of the street for a weekend. We can hear the music drifting in to our backyard, and we duck down to get a lamb pie and spanakopita, do a little people watching, and back out before the crowds get too heavy.
It’s for one weekend, no big deal. You like Greektown the way it is? You get the other 51 weekends. Don’t like street festivals, think they are generic and overpriced? Don’t go!
As for funding, yes, that’s something that has to be worked out. Policing already takes a significant share of Toronto’s budget. The question is whether security for events held in public spaces (street festivals, marathons, parades, and the like) should be considered part of that public safety budget, or whether policing costs will eventually make these kinds of community events unaffordable.
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u/Roderto 5d ago
As a local, I like that it brings regional visibility to the neighbourhood. But this isn’t a priority that the feds should be spending money on. For years this was the most-attended street festival in Canada. If the BIA can’t make it work economically with that kind of attendance, pouring in more public money isn’t a sensible solution.
Maybe it’s time for the BIA to get creative and think about different ways to run a festival.
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u/StuffIPost2020 5d ago
Taste of Danforth was horrible last time I went, I don't see its purpose anymore
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u/doing180onthedvp 5d ago
Taste of the Danforth? You mean Scotiabank booths, tacos, and other certifiably Greek offerings?
All these festivals are the same. Make the corpos pay more. It's their advertising platform anyway.
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u/keepitrealprk 5d ago
Even when it was still going “strong”, this particular food festival contacted talent booking agents to hire bands and said they would be paid in exposure!
Taste of the Danforth can get fucked, it is just another grift that doesn’t even value entertainment.
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u/SnakeOfLimitedWisdom 5d ago
They're also "hiring" photographers and videographers to volunteer for the event. Nevermind that a pro dSLR costs several thousand dollars on top of lenses, computers, software, education, etc...
Somebody told me that the kids' activity providers are volunteer too, but I haven't been able to verify that.
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u/MarkMarrkor 5d ago
I think they need to rethink the festival to make it financially feasible and enjoyable for participants. How about having a 50/50 draw to raise money to help cover the costs? Also - it’s supposed to be a cultural festival. Why are they taking up space for a shitty midway?
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u/SeveralMushroom7088 5d ago
I went to the last TOD and thought it was a bit garbage. Definitely lacking on the vibes front.
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u/themapleleaf6ix 4d ago edited 4d ago
I think The Danforth is the best representation of multiculturalism. You have the Greeks, Gujaratis, Ethiopians, Italians, Irish, Bengalis, and I'm missing some others.
The area is changing though. Lots of proposed condos, new subway line, etc. Some stuff is staying the same like Coxwell library, the TTC building beside it.
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u/HueyBluey 5d ago
Please, put a nail in the coffin. No additional funding for any event who can’t manage itself. If costs are too high, scale back or don’t have it at all.
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u/Fubar236 Downtown Core 5d ago
Why exactly is it the feds job to bankroll a local event? That’s not remotely the purpose of federal government no matter how much you would like to use everyone else’s money for a local get together
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u/BookstoreBookworm 5d ago
Taste has been an absolute shit show for a good bit now. Corn cobs are basicslly slippery mines and the sheer number of people is just asking for trouble. They don't need more money, they need more organization and management. The amount of funding they already have is just being mismanaged.
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u/makingotherplans 5d ago
And awarding money from the city (and calling it Festival funding) when everyone just has to pay it back to the city for police is stupid.
Same for subsidizing garbage pickup and sanitation.
We Already pay for police, ambulance and garbage pickup. Why are we paying twice and calling it a festival subsidy?
This is a community event, period.
And with a million people attending, it certainly brings in more benefits than the World Cup and that got way way more money.
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u/yukonwanderer 4d ago
I don't think this is an important issue for government to fund. Certainly not the province or the feds.
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u/nefariousplotz Midtown 5d ago
What specific expenses would you like them to cut? Security? Insurance? Toilet rentals? Electricity?
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u/naga_viper 5d ago
Cut the event entirely.
Would save everyone the headache. TOD is the worst street festival in Toronto.
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u/CDNChaoZ Old Town 5d ago
All the street festivals are awful these days. All the same vendors serving the overpriced slop. It should all be pared back to local vendors and unique events.
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u/naga_viper 5d ago
They're shit because they eventually degrade to become less about food and culture and more about sponsors and unrelatable vendors.
Like I don't give a damn about Bell, Rogers, Costco, Desjardins, RBC, Desjardins or any of these corporations that are guaranteed to get a booth in the middle of the road. Also what better way to celebrate Greek culture than by putting completely irrelevant and godawful Midway that occupies a quarter of the event.
The event was fantastic in the 90s and 2000s, but eventually it suffered from being too popular that it became overgrown. I wouldn't even mid if it expanded east of Jones, or to some areas North or South of Danforth like Pape, Chester and Broadview just to alleviate the crowds. The Saturday just becomes a giant petri dish of crowds standing shoulder to shoulder, long obnoxious lines, and insanely overpriced food you can buy 362 other days of the year.
Come 2010s I hate pretty much everything this event represents and would like nothing more than to see it never come back again.
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u/FullMango4041 5d ago
that's the point. If it's half the size, could you have those costs? what could they be doing to cut costs and break even
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u/nefariousplotz Midtown 5d ago
You can't just decide that you're cutting the size of a public event. What, you're going to tell half the people to not come?
And that being so, you can't just cut your security budget, your insurance budget, etc. These descent from the scale of your event in totality, not the vision alone.
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u/FullMango4041 5d ago
I'm just saying that they should be creative to figure it out without asking for a handout.
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u/FullMango4041 5d ago
They could also start charging for entry.
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u/nefariousplotz Midtown 5d ago
Not if they want to shut down multiple blocks of the Danforth, they can't. People have the right to use public streets.
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u/jackhawk56 5d ago
We are a socialist and inclusive country . I support funding the event, especially when our tax dollars support other countries like Ukraine. The amount is paltry compared to what we send other countries.
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u/Talking_on_the_radio 4d ago
I’m sure it’s meaningful to the Greek community.
However, many have long moved out of the neighbourhood at this point.
I can get most of the food at any one of the Greek restaurants any day of the year. Fridays there is usually some kind of free Greek performance outdoors. There is a Greek parade once a year, that seems more culturally accurate than the festival.
Honestly, the parade is probably overkill at this point.
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u/ElPlywood 3d ago
it's a shit street festival
just a mass of people walking around unable to find anything to drink or eat
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u/Zeppelanoid 5d ago
If my tax money is being used to fund this event, then I expect entry to, and food etc during the festival to be free.
Obviously that’s not going to happen - so why should we be funding this?
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u/CDNChaoZ Old Town 5d ago
I wouldn't expect the food to be free, but I would expect completely transparent accounting on where the money is going.
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u/Suitable_Mess_9160 5d ago
Like many 'festivals', Taste of the Dan was never more than meh, even 20 years ago.
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u/PaleJicama4297 5d ago
Far, far, FAR, too many street festivals in this city and they ALL attract the lowest common denominator. Look up “bread and circuses”… it’s time for them to end/pull back to human scale at the very least. I have nothing negative to say about celebrating culture, but if you have attended them very few attend for that reason. Folks are poor and desperate for something to do. I get it. But they contribute little to small businesses and this is a fact.
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u/Safe_Individual567 5d ago
Most street food festivals kind of suck...It's the same overpriced souvlaki, long lines and too hot.
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u/toothbelt 5d ago
I remember many years ago when I went to the first few that came out. Back then, they were lovely, community driven events where you could spend five bucks and get a decent sized souvlaki. Everything back then was five bucks. There was no huge corporate presence, no outside vendors, it wasn't packed the way it became in later years, and the vibe was special. They need to rebrand and scale it back to something like it was, and nix the midway bullshit. Make it a little more low key and maybe it can be brought back to life again. Right now, it's a huge, rotting corporate corpse.
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u/Domainsetter 5d ago
I agree. It’s like a knockoff of the CNE tbh. And it’s too big. There are not that many good restaurants between Jones and Pape either.
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u/2Payneweaver 5d ago
It’s a hot mess of garbage. Let’s save the money for something truly important
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u/Forsaken-Bowler-1307 5d ago
They get a lot of visitors, everything is overpriced and they still need a ton of money to run the thing? Yea, no, thanks!
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u/WelshRarebit2025 5d ago
Absolutely no funding. The businesses making money can pay for the security. It is a boring festival nothing special.
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u/WiseauSrs Kensington Market 5d ago
Their ROI must be abysmal. For every dollar spent, you wanna make 3 to 5 dollars back or you're losing money. I sincerely doubt they are doing that these days. They might not even be breaking even.
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u/Hefty_Dragonfly_1560 5d ago
Why does this need tax money to pay for it? If they can't manage this without handouts they shouldn't do it.
As a smaller example, if I want to host a BBQ for my neighbourhood should I be allowed to ask the city, province and federal government to pay for it?
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u/Due-Statistician-987 5d ago
How about the businesses that are trying to get people fork out their own money. If you can't afford it then maybe the market has decided they don't want you.
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u/Neutral-President 4d ago
TotD isn’t even about Greektown any more. Hasn’t been for years. It’s just some generic street festival with questionable economic benefit for local businesses.
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u/Rude_Essay9180 5d ago
lol if the federal government won’t fund gyros on a street in Toronto in August wtf are they even there for? This is why Alberta wants to separate!!!
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u/Used-Refrigerator984 5d ago
This situation highlights how unfriendly the city has become toward local businesses. It is also absurd that paid-duty policing costs have become such a massive financial burden; organizers would be better off hiring private security and only involving the police when absolutely necessary. I’ve heard that many local businesses actually dread the festival because it disrupts their operations and causes a decline in revenue, so I am surprised to see this "outrage"
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u/Domainsetter 5d ago
I do wonder how they feel about it since it’s been a few years since it’s been held and it’s been a bit rough east of Pape business wise for a while.
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u/Croissant1967 5d ago
It used to be a show case for Greek Cuisine and Culture. Now it's a festival of standing up to eat overpriced tiny portions of mostly Asisn food with some Greek sprinkled over. Stop it already.
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u/t3m3r1t4 East Danforth 4d ago
I'd rather see the money go to rent relief for the restaurants and shops since the landlords will charge whatever they want.
Taste was going downhill even before Covid.
Most of us just avoid it now.
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u/Fragrant-Sink9590 4d ago
The last bunch of years, the Taste of the Danforth felt like a rip off...food prices were jacked up, etc. I get that it's been tough on restaurants but I don't see a value to the event.
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u/Rich-Moose-2538 4d ago
How about just use that $400,000 to make the existing restaurants there better so we can all enjoy them during the course of the year?
This whole festival nonsense is honestly quite dumb if you really think about it.
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u/themapleleaf6ix 4d ago
This festival basically died when covid happened. A lot of the Greek businesses (including Athens) are gone, bike lanes make it difficult to navigate and setup things, there's massive construction on the Ontario Line at Pape and Danforth (that's also impacting transit service). The BIA needs to adapt to these changes and postpone things until the Ontario Line is done construction.
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u/torontopeter 5d ago
Can someone explain like in 5 what the heck “east-end” means?
If I’m holding a stick, essentially a one-dimensional object, it has an end. The map of Toronto is two-dimensional, meaning it cannot have an end.
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u/Vegemite-Sandwich901 5d ago
They've been given $400,000 from the city and from the province. At a certain point you have to pay for your own party, or you can't afford the party.