The west end of Toronto was hopping to the sights, sounds, and smells of Toronto's Ukrainian Festival in the community of Bloor West Village this weekend. Not far away, the Polish Festival was also underway in Roncesvalles. Jokes about who makes the better potato dumplings and sausages were aplenty, as were the potato dumplings and sausages themselves, but of course.

It was interesting to see that MPs with Ukrainian heritage for both the Liberal and Conservative Parties took the opportunity to campaign some. I also found the significant presence of vendors selling fajitas, poutine, Italian sausages, gyros and watermelon was a little strange (and not all that well-received, based on the lack of action at them and comparatively long lineups for Ukrainian food). Maybe if they put cabbage and salt pork in the fajitas, things would have gone better for them.

I had a chance to take in a bit of the Ukrainian party this afternoon, and tried to capture the essence of the event before the rain came down again.

The slideshow is also available in fullscreen view.

Photos by Jerrold Litwinenko.