Toronto Welcomes 22nd Bloor West Village Ukrainian Festival

Yuri Bilinsky, New Pathway – Ukrainian News.

Last weekend, Toronto welcomed the 22nd annual Bloor West Village Toronto Ukrainian Festival. This year’s Festival had a record number of street vendors (89), and had some firsts – a rock musical, “Got To Be Free”, as the feature performance; and a varenyky eating contest by Pelmen Foods.

“Got To Be Free” featured a live rock band, bright visual effects, interactive scenography and such noteworthy cast members as the Chairman of a Ukrainian commercial bank, Volodymyr Lavrenchuk, and a Canadian lawyer, Director of the Investment Support Office with the Government of Ukraine, Danylo Bilak.

This year’s festival headliner was ROCK-H, a rock band from Uzhhorod, a Ukrainian city on the border with Hungary. ROCK-H sings in local Transcarpathian dialect, or Zakarpatsky talk, and their name in that dialect means “group”, “gathering”. The band members call their style “Pidkarpatsky rock” which reflects the Zakarpattia region folklore with its polygonal melodies.

Every year the Festival devotes specific attention to enhance tourism and cultural travel to various regions of Ukraine. This year the focus was on Lemkivshchyna in the westernmost areas of Ukraine. The Lemko Cultural exhibit and photobooth were organized by the Canadian Lemko Association (Об`єднання Лемків Канади). The headliners ROCK-H were specifically selected because of their Lemko-flavored crossover music which enhanced the overall Travel to Lemkivshchyna theme.

This year’s Fashion Show, which was shown numerous times during the Festival, was aimed to spread awareness about a rare and life-long disease called pulmonary hypertension. The Butterfly in Blue Fashion Show showcased designers from Ukraine using women with pulmonary hypertension as models wearing blue outfits and butterfly accessories. Pulmonary hypertension is a rapidly progressing disease of the heart and lungs with patients often having blue lips and fingers. The fashion show was organized by the “Association of Rare Diseases of Ukraine – Pulmonary Hypertension” (PHURDA) and LMBF “Sisters of Dalila”.

The 2018 BWV TUF Parade’s Honorary Marshal was Michael Bociurkiw, a global affairs analyst, writer and speaker. He is a contributor to CNN.com and a regular on BBC World News, CNN International and Al Jazeera. Bociurkiw is a Ukrainian-Canadian, he has devoted many years of work in Ukraine, most recently as spokesperson for the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine.

The parade included 2000 participants, among them Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, the leader of the opposition Andrew Sheer, Ukraine’s Ambassador to Canada Andriy Shevchenko, Ukraine’s Consul General Andriy Veselovsky, Ukraine Canadian Congress National President Paul Grod with both vice presidents Alexandra Chyczij (Toronto) and Andrea Kopylec (Edmonton).

PM Trudeau also actively visited the Festival’s cultural pavilions, met up with the Ukrainian Credit Union’s CEO Taras Pidzamecky and greeted the audience on behalf of the Canadian government at the main Northland Power Festival Stage. He underscored the government’s solidarity with Ukraine against the Russian military aggression. PM Trudeau was introduced to the audience by the Minister of Foreign Affairs Chrystia Freeland. The Prime Minister, together with Honorary Parade Marshall Michael Bociurkiw and former Parade Marshalls Chrystia Freeland, Victor Malarek and Jim Temerty cut the symbolic ribbon, thus officially opening the 22nd Bloor West Village Toronto Ukrainian Festival.

Parade Prizes were awarded to the Yavir Dance Group (Best Non-Commercial Entry) and BCU Financial Group (Best Commercial Entry).

The Pelmen Perogie / Varenyky Eating Contest has been held at different times throughout the three festival days. The winner managed to eat 20 perogies in record 1 minute 29 seconds.

According to the Festival’s Committee, they welcome the members of the Ukrainian Canadian and wider community to submit their ideas to make next year’s festival a new and unique experience.

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