When you live in a Condo unit on the ninth floor, you do not get any trick-or-treaters to the door. I did notice that the Concierge had a basket of candy on his desk, so they may get a few guests coming to the foyer of the building, but none venture up the elevators. I did have a cute plastic Jack-o-Lantern glowing orange in the window but that was it for Halloween. Last year, we were new to the city and stayed in for Halloween, but this year I decided to go out and see what the evening was like.
I decided to go out to Church Street to see if anything was going on. During Pride week, they closed the street for one day and it was quite the event, so I thought there might be some Halloween festivities going on up and down the street to celebrate All Hallows Eve. As soon as I exited the building I knew something was happening, the usual quiet Mutual St was one solid traffic jam, and I could hear noise from the direction of Church St, one block away.
As I turned towards the street, I could see that barriers had been set up and the street was again closed so it could become pedestrian only. I discovered that Halloween on Church St was quite the event!
The entire street was closed to traffic for six blocks, so traffic was routed down our quiet Mutual St causing a night long traffic jam. The crowds on the street were amazing. The entire six blocks were packed with people. Many were dressed in costumes, but there were many just out like me to see the Halloween sights. There were sections of the street that were so packed with people that you literally just had to allow yourself to be carried along with the crowds. The bars along the street were hopping and some had entertainment outside as well as inside, and the music had people dancing it the streets when there was room to do so.
The night was almost Summer warm, so the costumes were spectacular since people did not have to dress for October temperatures. All the way up and down the street, costumed revellers posed in their costumes for photos, and some of the best costumes were held in one place with so many people wanting pictures with them.
I was amazed at the number of scooters, strollers and dogs scattered and crammed into the mass of people. Obviously Toronto dogs are accustomed to the crowd scene and I was amazed at how calm some the canine costumers were, and I saw few costumed toddlers in strollers upset by the witches, vampires, goblins and just plain weird costumes they were surrounded by.
There were police present at the road blocks and the blocked intersections, but overall the massive Halloween party was happy, cheerful and fun while I was there.
