Local businesses claim Taste of the Danforth is cancelled for 2024 and possibly for good

For the second year in recent memory, rumours are swirling that Taste of the Danforth, which bills itself as the largest street festival in Toronto and Canada at large, will not be taking place next year — or perhaps ever again.

The owners of a local business who preferred to speak with blogTO under anonymity said that they and other stakeholders were invited to a meeting of the local BIA on Tuesday night that discussed the topic and conducted a vote on whether to continue with the annual event in 2024 and beyond.

Concerningly, they note, it appeared that only 30-4o of the BIA's 400 or so members were present at the time.

"Board members announced that all pre-registered attendees would cast a ballot to vote for or against the three-day event," the business owners said over email.

"The board stated that unless $350,000 was raised in sponsorship for Taste of the Danforth, the event would permanently be cancelled."

Following a vote that showed a "notable" but, to this business owner, unquantified opposition to continuing with Taste, "it was announced that instead, the 1.5 million dollar budget will be used towards the redevelopment of Alexander the Great Parkette."

The summertime celebration of the Danforth neighbourhood attracts some 1.65 million people to the bustling strip each year to enjoy food, drink, games, musical performances, and more from vendors in the community.

Last year's iteration was the first one since pre-pandemic — administrators had called off the 2022 fest despite being technically able to hold it, citing too short of a timeline to "adopt to changes in the streetscape" (read: CafeTO patios).

The GreekTown on the Danforth BIA did not respond to blogTO with a comment on this matter in time for publication.