Attendance at 2010 Toronto Ukrainian Festival Tops Half a Million

This year’s Toronto Ukrainian Festival attracted a record breaking audience of 516,441!

In its 14th year, the 2010 festival saw visitors from Canada, the USA and abroad during the weekend of Sept. 17-19.

“There is no doubt that the headline band from Ukraine Mad Heads XL as well as a very strong performer line up helped to bring the people to the Bloor West Village and our Festival," said Jurij Klufas, Chairman of the festival. “Our unique programming concept presents non-stop programming of Ukrainian music, song and dance from the very beginning to the very end of our Festival,” he said.

The Toronto Ukrainian Festival, being the largest Ukrainian festival in North America, never fails to attract politicians of all stripes. Mark Warawa, Conservative MP from Langley B.C. and Chair, Canada-Ukraine Parliamentary Friendship Group brought greetings on behalf of Prime Minister Harper and the Government of Canada. Gerard Kennedy, Liberal MP for Parkdale-Highpark and Jack Layton, Leader of the NDP praised the Ukrainian Canadian community's contribution to the building of Canada.

“This was the largest parade to date with TV food celebrity Ken Kostick leading the way,” said Parade Manager Tamara Mischena. The winning non commercial entry was Desna Ukrainian Dance Company of Toronto who incidentally are celebrating their 35th anniversary. The winning commercial entry was Buduchnist Credit Union.

Volunteer Manager Anna Heychuk was very happy with her crew of dedicated volunteers who began their shifts as early as 8 am daily and continued to 1 am on Friday and Saturday nights and until midnight on Sunday night.

In addition to the local Bloor West Village restaurants, businesses and services, Vendor/Kiosk Manager Irene Nazarewycz made sure to provide lots of tasty food and interesting shopping options. The Kozak Beverage Garden was operated by the Parents Committee of the Ukrainian Youth Association of Mississauga.

This year’s Main Stage emcee’s were Ryan Boyko, Justina Lewkowicz and Marta Czurylowicz. The youth program emcee’s were Odesa Kelebay and William Pidzamecky.

For more information visit the festival’s website.