Toronto has a new festival in town - the Toronto Light Fest. The soon-to-be annual event is held in the Distillery District which abounds with darling shops, funky art galleries and (relatively over-hyped) restaurants. TO Light Fest features art installations from both local and international artists that revolve around light, shadows, and how they interact. Held during a normally rather dreary time of year, the festival hopes to brighten up the evenings of those normally curled up indoors with their Neflix accounts. On the website, the creators shared the fact that they wanted to bring about a "magical urban world" that everyone can enjoy. Bringing people together in the dead of winter? What a lovely concept.
It's being run by the same group that organizes the Christmas Market, which should give you an indication about the future success of the project. I went on the first Saturday that it started, and between the cold and my hangry demeanour, I was a bit underwhelmed. There were a ton of people and the restaurants were packed, but I might have had too high of expectations (and too little to eat earlier that day). The amount of times I had to avoid annoying Instagrammers who monopolized the walkways or stopped dead in their tracks made it difficult to appreciate the beauty and fun of the festival.
The one thing that could have made this better? Mulled wine, which was being sold around the corner from where we were. A tad disappointed that I didn't find it while I was there on Saturday. Oh well, always next time!
I plan on taking my camera down to the free event again to try and get some more shots, but here are a few from my iPhone. It's worth a visit, because lets face it - What else do you have to do this winter?
Information
Runs: January 27-March 12, 2017 from sundown till 11pm
Cost: Free!
Are you planning to experience the new festival, or have you been? Comment below.