Pedestrian Sunday - Kensington Market

After church, yesterday, I walked over to Kensington Market for their last Pedestrian Sunday of the year. They hold it the last Sunday of every month from May to October.

Pedestrian Sunday first started in 2004. The idea was to close certain neighbourhood streets to vehicular traffic and open them up for people to stroll through while enjoying a diverse assortment of food, music and other performances put on by the local community. At the same time they were trying to "make a statement about climate change, while creating the experience of what a livable city and a sustainable future could be simply by giving walking priority over the habit of driving. It’s a local action that joins a global ecological movement. By hosting a Pedestrian Sunday, a community takes back their common space and celebrates a day of cleaner air." or so says their website.

I arrived in the area at about 3:30 p.m. Pedestrian Sunday was already in full swing. The streets were bustling with people taking in a multitude of sights and sounds. While down here you'll find a myriad of ethnic groups represented by both merchants and residents alike. As well, there's an eclectic mix of cafés, restaurants and vintage clothing stores that's sure to put a smile on the face of any humdrum guy or gal you know. It's a kaleidoscopic ride for the senses to say the least. Musicians were playing curbside with their bands. Various street performers entertained the mass of onlookers. You could grab a chicken empanada from Jumbo Empanadas to go, or sit on a patio at Aspetta with a cold bottle of Peroni and watch the world go by. The choice was yours.

Two performers of note I enjoyed watching were the crazy, half-baked, half-naked, sword-juggling unicyclist DynaMike (Michael Bonnici) and the improv song and dance puppetry of Mr. Verg's Theatre of the Absurd (pictured above). He's an artist I've had the pleasure of seeing in various incarnations a couple times in the past.

DynaMike is totally nutty. But, in an amusing and entertaining way. He plays well to the crowd often getting them to take part in his performance. He starts by gathering everyone around and picking certain audience members to help him with his props such as his swords for juggling or stretch unicycle. This is followed by a balancing act with various objects and a finale that has him strip down to his skivvies then juggle three swords while balancing high atop his unicycle, all the while poking fun everyone that helps him.

Mr. Verg (a.k.a Alexander Winfield) is a little more cerebral. His creative and highly amusing, one man puppet show is utterly charming to both adults and children alike. For the price of a handful of spare change he will sing a song with his funny accent about any topic you care to put forth. According to his CityNews.ca interview he came upon the idea of performing his show back in 2006 when, in his words, he "had enough of trying to make do with very poor part-time jobs." He can be reached at sheepWpunks@gmail.com if you wish to inquire about his services or where he may be performing next.

All-in-all, it was a delightful way to pass a couple of hours on a lovely fall afternoon in the city. Next time you're here, you should make a point of dropping by.