Afrofest moves to the beach

By Suresh Doss On May 12, 2012

One of the city's most popular festivals, Afrofest, has a new home this year. The festival moves eastward from Queen's Park to Woodbine Park.

Permit issues with the City of Toronto nearly cancelled last year's show. Luckily, the event organizers were able to drum up enough support from the public and city hall to put on a great show—arguably one of my best Afrofest experiences since I started attending about 10 years ago. Here are a few details from organisers about what to expect at this year's Afrofest in Woodbine Park:

Afrofest 2012 is a chance to discover Africa in the heart of Toronto, presented by Music Africa. Held annually since 1989, it is a free showcase of the rich and diverse African culture, on the weekend of Saturday July 7 and Sunday July 8 at our new location – Woodbine Park, Lakeshore Boulevard East and Coxwell Avenue.

The festival features music, dance, drumming and theatre, with over 25 bands, both local and international. With a bustling African marketplace, boasting more than 60 food and craft vendors, artistic displays, a Children's Village, a drum area, music workshops and organized fun and educational activities for youth and children, Afrofest is the African cultural event of the summer!

In addition to the performances on the main stage there will be non-stop activity at the Baobab Stage, with music and dance workshops, including by main-stage performers. The Children's Village area is designed to teach and inform about the diversity of the culture through art and crafts, drumming, and storytelling.

This year, Afrofest is going green! The festival will dedicate the weekend to promoting green initiatives and that of community and local not-for-profit organizations doing work to preserve the environment.

In addition to the music programming, Afrofest is also well known for being a great food festival that has managed to maintain its roots—representing a continent's diverse culinary scene. In recent years, the selection of vendors has gotten better and better.

Afrofest 2012 runs July 7th and 8th
12pm – 10pm
www.musicaafrica.org

Written by Suresh Doss

Suresh Doss is the publisher of SpotlightToronto.com and Rickshawmag.com. Founder of the Food Truck Eats festival, Suresh has been a pioneer for the Street food movement in Toronto. In 2011, He was awarded the VQA Promoter’s Award for outstanding achievement in the Media category in the promotion of Ontario VQA Wines. Suresh is also the Global Editor for Whitecap’s StreetEats series of travel guides, which focuses on the best street food across North America.

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