Lori Beazer (left) and Sandi Folkes (right) are the organizers of the Taste of Little Jamaica festival. (Courtesy: @tastethecaribbean.ca)
Toronto summers are always filled with multicultural street festivals and a new one called the Taste of Little Jamaica was close to arriving in the city, but has now been cancelled just two weeks prior.
Little Jamaica is a neighbourhood in Toronto located at Eglinton Avenue West area between Marlee Avenue and Keele Street, and was given the nickname in the late 1970’s.
Originally set to kick off in Little Jamaica on July 18, word of the festival first made its rounds on social media mid-May, born out of an amalgamation of two existing Caribbean food festivals: Taste the Caribbean and Toronto Patty Festival.
Toronto Patty Festival Director Lori Beazer says that organizers recognized that due to issues within the Little Jamaica Business Improvement Area (BIA), there likely would not be a Little Jamaica Festival for the summer once again. Last year, the festival was also suddenly cancelled, with the BIA citing funding and permit challenges as the cause.
So, Beazer made it her mission to team up with Taste the Caribbean Executive Director Sandi Folkes to shine a spotlight on the culture and flavours of the community even for just one day, especially after the decade-and-a-half worth of unraveling Little Jamaica has endured. For more than 15 years, construction on the now-open Eglinton Crosstown LRT had literally torn the neighbourhood apart, decreasing foot traffic to the area and forcing the closure of more than 300 businesses along Eglinton West.
“Hosting these events, especially in Little Jamaica — they’ve been hard hit for so many years, it just lets people know that this is still home,” Folkes told The Brandon Gonez Show. “This is where our parents came when they first migrated to Canada. This is where we gathered. This is what we know. This is our culture.”
But when it comes down to what caused the cancellation this time around, Beazer and Folkes seem unsure on what went wrong on the City of Toronto’s administrative end. Both ensure that paperwork — and they mean lots of paperwork — were submitted on time, but Beazer suggests the City may have been stretched thin in terms of offering support amid hosting the FIFA World Cup.
“We would require police services, and transportation,” she explained. “We’ve been doing this work in Little Jamaica. We wanted to do something special, but I do think, in fairness, that it has everything to do with FIFA.”
Both organizers remained optimistic, despite the disappointment, and answered “yes” with no hesitation to the idea of Taste of Little Jamaica bouncing back for 2027.
“It wasn’t just for Jamaicans, it was for the Caribbean diaspora,” Folkes said. “It’s for everybody to come out and experience different Caribbean cultures.”
There’s still so much more in store this summer for Torontonians to dive into when it comes to Caribbean culture, as both organizers say there are tons of events coming up. Returning to the St. Lawrence Market, Folkes’ Taste the Caribbean will take over Market Street on August 2 and September 6, even bringing some vendors that were signed up for Taste of Little Jamaica.
Meanwhile, Beazer says the fifth season of the Afro-Caribbean Farmers Market kicks off July 5, occurring every Sunday outside of Fairbank LRT Station until October.
The Brandon Gonez Show spoke with locals who were disappointed to hear the cancellation of the Taste of Little Jamaica.
“I think it’s very sad and stuff like that, because it brings everybody together from the Caribbean,” shared Tanesia C. “The year before last year I came and I had an amazing time, so it was good. It’s sad to say.”
Priscilla A. shared that this is a cultural experience for people who are not just of Caribbean descent, but also anyone in the city.
“I feel like it brings the community together,” said Priscilla A. “I would say probably like, 10 years ago there weren’t so many Africans and culture like this, so when they do stuff like this, it actually brings joy. People get to learn more about their country, and it just brings fun to the summer too,” she adds.
