Pride Toronto’s Festival Weekend and the TD Toronto Jazz Festival are among the latest casualties of the COVID-19 pandemic. The city has decreed that “major mass participation events” before June 30 will not be granted city permits.
“Festivals and events are treasured moments in neighbourhoods across the city,” Toronto Mayor John Tory said on May 31. “But the sooner we heed the advice of our medical experts…the sooner we get back to the things we enjoy and love.”
June will continue to be Pride Month, but there will be no Festival Weekend (June 26 to 28) or Pride Parade. The parade is a major tourist attraction.
“Our team is working hard to deliver Pride celebrations in new, creative and unique ways that ensure safety and physical distancing,” was statement attributed to Pride Toronto by various news outlets.
The TD Toronto Jazz Festival, slated to run June 18-28, is treating the directive as grounds for postponement rather than outright cancellation. “We are hopeful that we can move the festival to a later date this summer and will provide more updates shortly,” reads a notice on the festival website. Smokey Robinson was one of the original attractions.
The classical scene in Toronto has also been affected by the health crisis. The Toronto Symphony Orchestra has cancelled concerts through April. Among the cancelled concerts are appearances by incoming TSO music director Gustavo Gimeno with pianist Yuja Wang. Both the Canadian Opera Company and Tafelmusik have cancelled the balance of the 2019-20 season. This new decree puts all large audience Toronto classical music concerts until June 30 under risk of cancellation or postponement.
Read: City of Toronto decree
