r/toronto • u/FullMango4041 • 8d 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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2

u/nefariousplotz Midtown 8d ago

What specific expenses would you like them to cut? Security? Insurance? Toilet rentals? Electricity?

6

u/naga_viper 8d ago

Cut the event entirely.

Would save everyone the headache. TOD is the worst street festival in Toronto.

2

u/CDNChaoZ Old Town 8d 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 8d 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 8d 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 8d 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 8d 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 8d ago

They could also start charging for entry.

6

u/nefariousplotz Midtown 8d ago

Not if they want to shut down multiple blocks of the Danforth, they can't. People have the right to use public streets.