Riverside Eats & Beats Streetfest, in its 5th year, was described by Riverside festival-goers and businesses alike as ‘the biggest and best celebration yet’ with:
- 2 days of fun activities celebrating 150, Indigenous roots and local business and community
- 10,000+ people coming out to Riverside on June 3rd & 4th
- 50+ participating restaurants, vendors and retailers hosting events/ activities
- 20+ live performances by Toronto musicians and artists
- 6 street closures over the weekend packed with fun & meaningful activities and attractions
- 350+ volunteer hours contributed
This event could not have happened without the support of so many amazing people!!!
THANK YOU:
- Riverside Eats & Beats 2017 Sponsors: the Riverside BIA, Ontario 150, BMO Queen & Saulter Branch, Hullmark Developments, Downtown Automotive Group, & Metroland Media!
- Riverside Eats & Beats Marketing Committee: Adrienne, our Event Chair, for helping host a fantastic Munro Street closure party; Chef Scott for bringing Toronto Food Tours Culinary demos, a pig roast, and a walking tour to the festival, Karen for event photography, Lynne for leading the Riverside ArtWalk Tour, Giancarlo, Alexis and Jeff for coming out and lending their muscle to help run the show. Glenn, Maria, John & the whole Ralph Thornton Community Centre team for lending event equipment and hosting ESCAPE childcare activities all weekend. Dave for open the doors at Eastbound all weekend, and Lynn for bringing support and great activities via BMO.
- Riverside BIA Board: Rosie, Adrienne, Dave, Natasha, Athena, and Ellen who hosted amazing activities during the festival. Special thanks to Ryan at Hullmark for sponsoring the event, and to our Chair, Mitch for helping lead our Samba Toronto parade and supporting our special MomenTO activities with the City of Toronto and Councillor Paula Fletcher.
- Street Closure Hosts: Big thanks to: Barb Nahwegahbow for hosting the Indigenous & Ingenious Summer Show & Sale on Broadview; Arts Market for hosting a fun pop market on McGee; to Nell & Natasha for hosting their always-popular free annual BBQ on McGee; Oma Chiropractic, Quince Flowers, and Switchback Cyclery for hosting the Munro Block Party; Queen/Saulter Library, who hosted activities on Saulter; and Artists’ Network for cross promoting and collaborating on outreach with the Riverdale ArtWalk, so our two events come together as one.
- Riverside Restaurants, Retailers and Community Centres who hosted excellent activities: Shout out to the many who hosted great food tasters, specials and other activities including Kaboom Chicken, The Wine Rack (we love your dancing grapes!!), Tabule, Arts Market, Common Sort, Downtown Toyota & il ponte, Dimensions, Pulp Kitchen, Eastbound Brewing Co, Butchers of Distinction, The Opera House Grill, Mary Macleod’s, The Peasant Table, The Comrade, Smash, Chi Junky Studio, The Broadview Hotel, Here & Now, Irish Design House, Bergstrom, Sash & Bustle, Broadview Bakery, Mustard Seed, I’ll Be Seeing You, Lan Restaurant, and Sugar Loaf!
- Artists, Musicians, Artisans and Vendors who helped enliven our streets and community spaces: Don Valley Stompers; Youth Drum, Suzanne Smoke & Cedar Smoke; Metis Fiddling & Jigging Trio; Lindsay Foote; Samba Toronto; the Entertwangers; Elana Harte f/t Jen Benton; Dustin & Pat; Tune Your Ride’s bicycle-powered line up; Evolve Skate Camp and PirateLife, plus many more fantastic local artists and vendors.
- Our local political reps: Councillor Paula Fletcher for her ongoing support in helping make these street events a success, and our MP Julie Dabrusin and MPP Peter Tabuns.
- Graphic designer Geo who created the fresh, enlivening promotional materials that helped make this event come to life and captured people’s attention online and on the streets
- Other Eats & Beats Volunteers: all our fabulous, hard-working George Brown ESL Students, our Marketing Committee members, and other volunteers for their essential support and extra hard work this year!
- Riverside BIA Maintenance staff Drew for helping get the moving parts into the right place at the right time
- Last but certainly not least the amazing, strong BIA Office Team: Jennifer, Bradley, Anjuli, and Barb for supporting every step to make this event a success!