Canada Day Celebrations at Queens Park and Bell Lightbox

There were so many celebratory activities to choose from for the July 1st Canada Day holiday.  We decided walk down to the Bell Lightbox to watch a free viewing of National Film Board Canadian animated shorts.  

En route, we passed by Queen's Park just in time for the ceremonial twenty-one gun salute.  From two blocks away, it sounded like a bomb explosion and took us a couple of seconds to realize what it was we heard.  As we approached, it was clear that the young children in attendance were not impressed, as many of them were crying from fright at the loud noises.  It was fun to watch the formal drill involved in loading and firing the cannons.  After several tries, I managed to capture a photo of one just as it fired.

At the Bell Lightbox, we watched a series of old Canadian classic short films, several of which really highlighted our country's culture and history... very apropos for Canada Day.

"The Sweater" was about the young French Canadian boy who suffered the horrible shame of having to wear a Toronto Maple Leafs jersey instead of the beloved #9 Canadians jersey of his hero Maurice Richard, which all his friends on his hockey team wore.

Log Driver's Waltz is a whimsical musical short based on a Canadian folk song.  It  starts out with live footage of men guiding timber down a river, but quickly cuts to animation.  The song describes the appeal of the log driver to young women who like to dance, since no other professions ("not doctors or lawyers or merchants") are as nimble on their feet.

A strange cartoon called "The Big Snit" featured about a couple (who looked like Wallace and Gromit characters) arguing over Scrabble.  This brings back memories of my own grudge-Scrabble matches with Rich.  Watching the man shuffle his tile full of 7 "E"s made me laugh and remember my own "Old MacDonald" tile, consisting of "EIEIOEE" .. so I knew exactly how he felt!

The finale was the old favourite "The Cat Came Back" with the familiar tune that was recognizable within the first few tuba notes.  "Old Mr. Johnson had troubles of his own, He had a yellow cat that wouldn't leave his home" no matter how hard he tried, and did he ever try!

All but one of the shorts that we saw are available on YouTube, but they were still fun to watch on the big screen.

We also looked in on the new TIFF exhibition called "Fellini: Spectacular Obsessions".  It seems mostly focused on La Dolce Vita with separate displays dissecting and explaining the motivations for each of the famous scenes, like the one at Trevi Fountain, and the Jesus statue dangling from the helicopter.  Since we had recently visited a much more comprehensive Fellini exhibit in Barcelona, we didn't spend too much time in here.

It was also Pride Weekend and although we didn't get to the parade this year, we did walk around the Church and Wellesley area one evening to take in the vibe. 

During our Canada Day walk we saw this sign at the Church of the Redeemer that said "We all Belong", as well as a huge Pride flag hanging from the ROM.  These demonstrations of acceptance made me proud to be a Torontonian.