One of Toronto's biggest street festivals was just cancelled for the second straight year

There are two main events that residents of Toronto would say traditionally herald the end of summertime each year: The Canadian National Exhibition (CNE), which runs 18 days until Labour Day to close out the season, and Taste of the Danforth, once the city's largest street and food festival, taking place each August.

While we are all eagerly awaiting the opening of the former this Friday, unfortunately, the latter has just been called off — and, it's now the second year in a row that this has happened, indicating a very precarious future for what has for so long been a key staple of the region's annual calendar.

Since its advent in 1993, Taste of the Danforth has grown to welcome more than a million people across three days each summer, taking over a 1.6-km-long stretch of the main street.

The last iteration that locals have been able to enjoy was in 2023, which followed a forced break during COVID-19. But even then, things appeared a little rocky, as organizers had technically been permitted to host the event in 2022, but said they didn't have enough time to plan it.

In particular, they noted not being able to "adapt to changes in the streetscape," ostensibly pointing to the CafeTO curbside patios borne out of the pandemic era.

Shortly afterwards, rumours that the 2024 edition was also dead in the water started to spread, with one Danforth business telling blogTO that, despite being an entire nine months ahead of time, the Greektown on the Danforth BIA was already considering calling it off.

"Board members announced that all pre-registered attendees would cast a ballot to vote for or against the three-day event," the owner, who spoke under anonymity, told us at the time.

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

The 2024 event indeed ended up being axed after a vote among BIA members, who would have had to pay higher member fees to cover the necessary funding amid a shortfall.

At the time, the primary issues identified were, along with obvious budgetary challenges, lower attendance rates year-over-year and a loss of connection to the fest's original ethos, honouring the neighbourhood's Greek origins and businesses. There was no formal word at the time about future years, but the news that this year's Taste has also been cancelled just broke this weekend.

Local businesses claim Taste of the Danforth is cancelled for 2024 and possibly for good 👀 https://t.co/2cy7ffcuLL #Toronto #TasteoftheDanforth #Cancelled

— blogTO (@blogTO) November 29, 2023

While there has yet to be an official statement about why, one can assume the financial and organizational setbacks and concerns of the last few years have persisted and, perhaps, worsened.

The BIA has yet to respond to blogTO's request for comment by the time of publication, but has told other outlets that it does hope to revive the fair in 2026.