Toronto International BuskerFest for Epilepsy has taken over Toronto’s Downtown Yonge Neighbourhood for four wild days of all-ages fun – rain or shine through to Sunday, August 30. The 16th annual Toronto BuskerFest showcases an array of over 170 of the best street performers from around the globe: comedians, contortionists, magicians, musicians, daredevils, acrobats, clowns, fire jugglers and more!
Over the course of the four-day festival, there will be more than 400 performances on 10 main stages and four music spaces along the Yonge Street strip from Queen St. to College St. (including Yonge-Dundas Square).
The new Family Fun Zone will be located on Yonge Street between College and Gerrard Streets will feature face painting, balloon twisting, music, free workshops for kids in the Scotiabank Tent, games, a midway and busker acts from an incredible line-up of international performers, all geared especially to the family audience.
Epilepsy Toronto is working to ensure all visitors enjoy the festival with ease. At the BuskerAccess Tent, located in Yonge-Dundas Square (near the festival’s Info Tent), visitors with disabilities are provided with assistance such as an escort to one of the accessible stages by volunteers wearing an identifiable accessibility symbol on their shirts. Non-verbal performances will take place daily throughout the festival. Definitely making the festival truly accessible for all!
Visitors to Toronto BuskerFest are asked to #DonateAtTheGate to Epilepsy Toronto. The buskers keep the money from the “hat” passed after their performances except for shows on the Scotiabank Stage in Yonge-Dundas Square, where each act will do a benefit performance with all proceeds going to Epilepsy Toronto. There are more fun ways to raise money for Epilepsy Toronto:
Heart of the Festival – Epilepsy Toronto Benefits
The Scotiabank Stage in Yonge-Dundas Square serves as the charitable epicentre of the festival. All proceeds raised by performers in Yonge-Dundas Square throughout the festival are being donated to Epilepsy Toronto. Note that the ever-popular Fire Show returns on Friday, August 28 at 9:30 p.m.! This awe-inspiring spectacle of fire juggling and manipulation features Dream State Circus, Zap Circus, Pyromancer and more.
Scotiabank Day
On Friday, August 28 from noon to 11 p.m., all donations made to Epilepsy Toronto in Yonge-Dundas Square will be matched by Scotiabank. Be sure to contribute, if you are the fest.
Look Up – Look Way Up!
A returning sponsor of Toronto International Buskerfest, Samsung Canada is helping attendees donate to Epilepsy Toronto with a fun, digitally driven donation program. Every Facebook, Twitter or Instagram post which includes the #SamsungBusker hashtag will see Samsung donate $1 to Epilepsy Toronto – up to a total of $10,000. For an added 15 seconds of fame, posts including the #SamsungBusker hashtag will appear above the crowds on Samsung’s largest outdoor LED billboard in Canada, perched above the north-west corner of Yonge St. and Dundas St., until Sunday, August 30th.
These are some of the reasons to head over to Toronto BuskerFest this weekend, but there are plenty more. For full festival programming and artists names, please visit torontobuskerfest.com.
