O Canada: Remembering Canada Day 1994

Picture it, Toronto, 1994…

A little shout out to Sophia on the Golden Girls, “Picture it, Sicily, 1942.”

A number of folks have been bugging me to spend some time writing about some of my various adventures while traveling.? I have been fortunate to travel a great deal in my life, once upon a time, mostly for work while making the most of weekends wherever the client was, and as much as possible for fun, like Boulder and Breckenridge, Colorado most Januarys in the nineties, and as I was wishing a friend a happy Canada Day I thought I would share a brief story of Canada Day 1994.? I am hoping things are still this way in Toronto, but I haven’t been there in quite a while.

In March of 1994, I was sent to Toronto to work on a project we had going with Sears Canada.? It seems silly now given that they have long since ceased to exist, but at the time they had a hundred and ten stores nationally and were a fairly large, little brother to Sears Roebuck.? Sears Canada had not changed any of what they did or how they did it in at least forty years and a fairly new, hard-charging Partner with the firm sold them a piece of work to completely reinvent what they did and how they did it.? This work was being run out of the Chicago office and everyone I knew wanted to go to Canada, me as well!!

By the time Canada Day came close, we were all very much settled in Toronto and loving every minute of it.? Again, I have not been there in a long time, but at the time, Toronto was a cleaner, safer, smaller version of Chicago.? Right on the lake with a beautiful lakeshore walkway and a great deal to do and explore.? The food was very much on par with Chicago and the theatre was far superior, at least when it came to the bigger Broadway-type shows.? At the time Phantom and Miss Saigon were there, along with many others, and the theater community in Toronto took the same approach as with shows in New York and London, where they would completely gut the theatre and rebuild the interior to fit the show perfectly.? So these shows were not so-called “traveling” shows, they were long-run theatre shows.

In addition to the theatre and the food the city was very walkable, and actually quite good for rollerblading throughout the city and all along the lake.? We would also go on beautiful runs from where we were staying right in the city.? We would leave our apartments and run up the hill and into the University of Toronto campus.? This was a big beautiful, and vey green, campus which made for a great place to run.?

We also happened to be there just after the Blue Jays had won the World Series.? Going to Blue Jays’ game was strange because their fans were FAR too polite.? The stadium was extremely quiet unless the Blue Jays did something amazing and then the crowd would cheer all at once, almost like an orchestra responding to a conductor at the beginning of a piece of music, and then they would go back to their quiet murmur.? It was odd.? The Maple Leafs were a lot more fun to watch, although still some oddities.? The Leafs were pretty good, and they were still in their old “barn” back then, the original Maple Leafs Garden.? Maple Leafs’ Garden was built for watching hockey and being loud.? It was three tiers, and the tiers were each stacked on top of one another so no matter where you sat you felt as if you were right on top of the ice.? The most significant oddity, or at least difference from watching a game in the States, is that if you wanted to get up to get food or use the restroom, you had to wait until a whistle.? No one was allowed to leave or return to their seats during the action.? I understand the reasoning, to ensure no one misses any of the action, but this took a bit of getting used to.? The Argonauts were in town, and I vaguely remember going to a game, but I’ve never really gotten into Canadian football and the rules were different enough that I didn’t love that experience, and the Raptors were a new team at that time, which I only know because I ran into, literally, John Salley one day walking through town.? They were brand new to town and we never checked them out.

I remember the lakefront being wonderful, be it walking, strolling, running, or rolling, it was a beautiful place to visit.? I was also fortunate enough to be invited by “Captain Bob,” one weekend to go for a sail with him and his wife on his simply gorgeous forty-two-foot boat.? Bob was a Vice President from the client that was a bit odd, but in a wonderful way, and called himself “Captain Bob.”? The details of the boat itself I don’t recall, except for the fact that he had added every possible technological advance he could buy such that it made it possible for him to sail her himself.? Features such as auto trim and the like.? His wife was a gourmet cook, or close to it, and they sailed us well out into the lake, so we had an amazing view back toward the city but were completely out of earshot.? We dined; we smoked Cuban cigars rolled in cognac.? It was quite something.

I tell you all of this to tell you about Canada Day.? We had obviously become quite settled in Toronto and so a bunch of us made a plan to stay for the weekend.? July 1, 1994, happened to fall on a Friday night that year, and we partook in all the festivities.? As you can imagine, our neighbors to the North are as passionate about July 1st as we are about July 4th, and it is similar to our celebration in that there is an epic amount of food and drink and fun, and in Toronto, that fun culminates in fireworks that come in the form of Their Annual International Fireworks Competition.? This thing lasted forever and was simply epic.? The competition took place on the lake directly across from one of the parks that sits on the lakefront.? Each of the countries had forty-five minutes for their show, and each was choreographed to music.? I do not recall exactly how many countries took part on that day, although I do distinctly remember China, Italy, and Canada, and I remember it lasted for HOURS!!? It was amazing!!? I have always loved fireworks paired with music when done well.? Having grown up in the Northeast and having been fortunate to witness events such as the Boston Pops Fourth, and New York’s New Year’s Eve, I’ve just always been a fan of well-done, bigger-is-better, fireworks shows and the Canada Day event in Toronto that summer is something I have never forgotten…and Italy won, which given my heritage made me a bit happier still.

Anyway, just thought I would share the long version of the Canada Day celebration story.? Happy Canada Day all!!