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On the outskirts of campus, McMaster graduates prepare a story of an apocalyptic diner to be performed at the fourteenth annual Hamilton Fringe Festival. For many of those involved, ???????????????????? ???????????????????? preludes the next big step in pursuing a career in the local theatre industry in Hamilton and beyond.
Full story is available at https://www.thesil.ca/
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On the outskirts of campus, McMaster graduates prepare a story of an apocalyptic diner to be performed at the fourteenth annual Hamilton Fringe Festival. For many of those involved, First Class preludes the next big step in pursuing a career in the local theatre industry in Hamilton and beyond.
First Class was first shown as part of the McMaster Theatre Programs’ graduating classes’ Honours Series Performances, and was selected via lottery to show alongside over 300 live performances from July 20 to July 30 at this year’s Fringe Festival.
The drama centers around three strangers trapped in a diner just days before the world ends. The three fight over the news of a spaceship, which is set to give the lucky few a first class ticket to a new, habitable planet.
McMaster Commerce graduate YiJian Zheng plays Benny, a young, gifted inventor with a villainous disdain for the poor, and who has had the privilege of having his ticket purchased for him by his parents.
Theatre program graduate Christina Stolte plays his foil. Her character, Callie, is a single mother, who is frantically finishing her application to earn a spot on the ship for her and her son.
The diner owner, Deejay, mediates the two and is played by Mohawk television and broadcasting student Funsho Elegbeleye.
The story explores themes of privilege, immigration and seeks to explore the grim question of who deserves to live or die when given the choice.
“I've always wanted to pursue a more artistic career. Singing, and [now] acting. I came to Mac mostly because my friends were here and they took commerce and my parents wanted to me have a commerce degree so that's what I chose. [But] my real passion is acting …"
YiJian Zheng
Co-writer and co-director Omobola Olarewaju was able to insert her own experience as a former international student into the characters.
“Coming from privileged background in Nigeria I was able to have both ends of the privilege [experience] … So I was privileged back home and came here and the international student life isn’t quite as [privileged] as what I came from I noticed there are a lot of limitations based on the fact that I'm not a citizen,” said Olarewaju.
“Deejay's character is kind of in the middle … I put a lot of my own experience into because he is also an international … an immigrant at the end of the world. [He] doesn’t have food ration rights, doesn’t have any of the normal things that people are entitled to, but still makes things work.”
This year, Olarewaju graduated from theatre and film and the economics programs at Mac, and like other members of the First Class team, she is immediately seeking to further her career in the theatre or film industry. She is currently working on a book, continuing her life-long practice of writing, while also seeking opportunities to work in television and film.
Unlike his fellow cast members, Zheng entered McMaster planning to pursue a career in commerce. In his third year, this changed when an extra male role needed to be filled for the McMaster School of The Arts’ production of Lady In The Red Dress.
“I've always wanted to pursue a more artistic career. Singing, and [now] acting. I came to Mac mostly because my friends were here and they took commerce and my parents wanted to me have a commerce degree so that's what I chose. [But] my real passion is acting … so when my friend told me about this opportunity with Lady in the Red Dress I took it."
Zheng resides in Richmond Hill, and currently has a full-time job to support his endeavour into a potential full time acting career. He hopes that opportunities to work in theatre, whether that’d be finally landing a role in a musical or working in the technical aspect of production, and that those opportunities present themselves close to the GTA.
The Fringe Festival is a means of showcasing the Hamilton theatre community, and it is this community that has both Stolte and Elegbeleye hoping that they can launch their careers in Hamilton specifically.
“[Hamilton] might not seem like the place to go if you were looking to be a skilled actor but I feel like it will get there, and aim hoping to be part of the people who find that, inspire that or who bring that to life ... I feel that Hamilton is going to be [my starting point]. ... it already is. People see that at the Fringe,” said Elegbeleye.
Elegbeleye has been acting in a variety of different productions since childhood, and has performed for two years at McMasters’ African Students Associations’ Afrofest. Currently, he is working a working on a web series titled Catalyst.
“[Hamilton] might not seem like the place to go if you were looking to be a skilled actor but I feel like it will get there, and aim hoping to be part of the people who find that, inspire that or who bring that to life ..."
Funsho Elegbeleye
Stolte has been part of school and community theatre productions since her childhood. Originally hailing from Burlington, she also sees Hamilton as a place for making connections with theatre industry veterans.
"Some theatre in some location is awesome, but not so much in a career sense — more in a recreational sense. In Hamilton, I have a very distinct feeling that it is very productive in a career sense where you could get a lot of really good experience ... that will then help with furthering a career in acting or anything to do with theatre really,” explained Stolte.
While this may be the last chance to see First Class, it may not be long before the names behind the production appear again in Hamilton’s theatre and independent film scene. For these artists, writers and technicians, Hamilton continues to be an increasingly attractive place to hone their craft.
First Class will be play at Mills Hardware from July 20 to July 30. Show times and more information about the Fringe can be found at http://hamiltonfringe.ca/
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On June 24, Barton Street East was closed off for an afternoon for festivities to bring awareness to the area and celebrate the potential of its local scene. It was complete with live artists, sports tournaments, plenty of green space provided by rolling out grass, 4600 square feet of it, for the first year at its Green Street Challenge and a couple breweries were on hand too.
In a city where McMaster and Mohawk continue to have a significant amount of influence from the more obvious areas such as Westdale to the core areas of downtown and beyond, Barton Street represents a part of Hamilton that has relied on itself to evolve past its former struggles. A community effort from top to bottom, the festival continues to grow from its humble origins in a single park in a way that successfully mirrors its upwards trend.
A family festival by design, it featured over 25 000 attendants and over 70 vendors divided between four different sections: community, shopping, service and good eats.
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Since its inception in 2009, Supercrawl has gone from an ambitious festival for which the sky was the limit to an increasingly corporate event that features cookie-cutter versions of indie-rock bands and little else.
Every September, those that aren’t already engaging in the nauseating practice of blindly lauding their city (#hamont, if you were unaware) for the growth of its burgeoning art scene or the arrival of yet another coffee shop with a cute origin story, flock to James Street in their Sunday best (Blundstone’s and MEC) to take in mediocre bands like The Arkells (who were introduced as Hamilton’s version of The Beatles last year—yawn, I’d take Migos over both of them) or washed-up has-been’s from the early aughts indie-rock heyday like Kevin Drew, touring their latest solo record purely meant to pay the bills.
Those that had money at this past incarnation will have found somewhere to spend it amongst the fleet of food trucks and other vendors, while those that didn’t, namely Hamilton’s homeless population, were nowhere to be found within the blockaded streets to ensure that the wealthy patrons making their lone annual visit to the downtown core wouldn’t be bothered by the sight of real problems like systemic poverty.
The insertion of Charles Bradley and Sharon Jones into the lineups over the past two years might incline me to give Supercrawl a break if their presence at the festival didn’t reek of the faux-progressiveness of having a “token blackie” (as per Kanye West’s “Spaceship”). That the two most prominent musicians of colour to have visited Supercrawl in recent time both played soul/funk music (brilliantly, I might add) is depressing as it suggests that there is no room for other genres like rap or R&B that Hamilton’s wealthy elite might not find as palatable. It’s a shame that such is the case when there’s talent like Hamilton’s own Emay or Toronto’s Daniel Caesar, among many others, waiting around to be booked.
Something about recent lineups that featured revered but vanilla artists like Spoon and Yo La Tengo suggests that the Supercrawl booking staff have decided on the lineup by flipping through old copies of the now-defunct SPIN magazine (although the inclusion of Monster Truck this year indicates they read The Hamilton Spectator—a worse thought). That has to be the case, or otherwise I’m just not in the required tax bracket one has to be in to enjoy a set where Daniel Lanois continues to ride Brian Eno’s coattails well into 2015.
Turning away from the mediocrity of the festival product, even the attention that Supercrawl brings the city is one-dimensional. In the past couple of years it seems like every entrepreneur that read about Toronto professionals migrating to Hamilton invested in the area with profit being their end goal. One only has to look at one of Hamilton’s most Instagrammable buildings for signs of this, with a portion of the Lister Block’s ground floor having recently become home to Wendel Clark’s Classic Bar and Grill. The former Toronto Leaf is one of many retired athletes to invest in an obnoxious eponymous sports bar and is certainly guilty of beating a white knight drum.
In a recent interview with The Hamilton Spectator, Clark said, “We want to be a part of the downtown and trying to help bring life back to the city and help get people downtown. You want to keep life going and people down there. It enhances the city, and hopefully we can help be a big part of that.”
While dissecting a shoddily-worded sound bite from a former hockey player might be considered poor form, the sheer generality of Clark’s intentions and the unvaried demographic of old white people that I’ll call Tommy Bahama-wave baby-boomers I’ve seen there whenever I’ve walked by is worrying. To think that thirty dollar steaks are going to in any way enhance the city is more than a little arrogant, and detracts from the more important work to be done throughout the Hamilton community. If you’re in need of a watering hole, just go to The Brain.
With the imminent arrival of the new Liuna GO station just down the street and the unfortunate promise of more disappointing Supercrawls to come, James Street is in danger of emulating Westdale in its snobby catering to the “well-meaning” upper classes.
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Despite the cold weather, hundreds gathered in downtown Hamilton for the twenty second annual Gandhi Peace Festival on Saturday, Oct. 4. in support of the peace movement.
“I am happy today to be here in the company of people who understand that we live in a time where there are more wars than ever,” said guest speaker Itah Sadu, an entrepreneur and community builder in the Toronto area, in her keynote speech. “In the spirit of Gandhi and Mandela, we can walk in a non-violence expression of resistance.”
The festival had humble beginnings as a community event, but has grown to include a range of entertainment, guest speakers, an award ceremony and a peace walk.
“In the beginning, we used to do a potluck dinner,” said Jay Parekh, the Chair of the Gandhi Peace Festival Organizing Committee. “The numbers have grown […] this year a little bit less because of the cold weather, but last year we had over 500 [people].”
The festival aims to promote non-violence, peace, and justice, and build community among peace and human rights organizations. This year, the theme was Nelson Mandela’s Life and Legacy.
Leo Johnson, a new member of the festival organizing committee, was invited specifically to help the festival with this new theme. For the last four years, the festival has been centered upon the life of Gandhi, but this year they have taken a new approach.
One of Johnson’s goals is to encourage the peace movement in Hamilton to grow beyond the single-day festival.
“What I’m hoping to do with my involvement is make a platform where people from all walks of life in Hamilton can project themselves […] not just at this event but on an ongoing basis, said Johnson. “Be it the ebola situation in West Africa, the situation in Syria, the situation in Ukraine, I believe that the festival and peace movement in Hamilton should be present.”
Johnson was a refugee who fled from Liberia during the civil war, and came to Hamilton in 2006. Since then, he has started his own community building organization called Empowerment Squared and has received numerous awards including the YMCA Peace Medal. He is also a graduate from McMaster University in the Political Science program.
The festival has been around since 1993, and continues to work towards creating a permanent community of peace in Hamilton.
“I don’t believe the culture of peace and the movement of peace is the lifespan of an event,” said Johnson. “I think it’s every day.”
The festival is sponsored by the McMaster Centre for Peace Studies, the India-Canada Society Hamilton and the City of Hamilton.
Although The Silhouette is a pretty big university newspaper, the name doesn’t quite hold the same weight I like to think it does when applying for media accreditation to shows outside Hamilton.
This summer has been different in that respect — barring my heartbreaking denial from One Direction’s ACC show — with one of our number getting a pass to Osheaga. That said, I was still surprised when I got an email from Riot Fest staff saying I’d gotten two press passes. I had pondered buying a ticket earlier in the year when I heard The National were playing, but I had passed it off as an unnecessary indulgence considering I’d already seen them twice during their three-night stand at Massey Hall. With the pass taking money out of the equation, I joined the thousands of others on the subway to Downsview Park. The festival lineup was one that boasted a lot of acts that were past their prime, but that didn’t matter for those looking at it as an opportunity to see bands they used to love when they were still pubescent.
After meeting up with my friend and walking past Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne (he’s also a flaming asshole) in the press tent, I walked over to the Rock Stage where Taking Back Sunday boasted a pretty large audience for a midday set. I only caught the tail end of the show, having shown up pretty late, but from what I gauged by the crowd’s temperament, TBS seemed to have aged well. The same couldn’t be said for their fans.
Brand New was next on the docket after a break for lunch and the struggle to find a dry place to sit amidst the muddy wasteland. There was another big turnout for the emo heavyweights who could never be accused of trying to pave new ground. They’ve always made scream-heavy songs with pretentious long-winded titles, but those always found a way to weasel into the hearts of angsty teens who took themselves equally as seriously. Since I hadn’t heard them for a while, most of Brand New’s songs sounded difficult to differentiate between. Regardless of the fact that I’d moved on from such music, it was cool to see a lot of people crowd surfing and losing their minds in a good way.
DFA was the first band I was genuinely excited to hear at the festival, and for the most part I wasn’t disappointed. I had missed their 2012 Hamilton Place show, so it was nice to finally get to see them. With a new album coming at long last this month, DFA is still a big draw off the strength of their debut alone. They played a good amount of their hits, but sprinkled in some newer material that didn’t really register with the bro-filled audience. Lead singer and drummer Sebastein Grainger took a break from proceedings to remark that “95 per cent of you are probably from Barrie or Orillia,” which to me sounded like a polite way to call someone white trash. I just wish they had played as loud as Brand New.
“People still listen to Billy Talent?” I thought as I trekked across the entire park to take in the native Ontarians’ set. It turned out a good number of Riot Fest attendees still do. What’s more impressive is that guitarist Ian D’Sa is still styling his hair in the same ridiculous fashion as he was when I first discovered the band in the early aughts. As corny as most of their music is, I still found myself in the mosh pit during tracks like “Red Flag” and “River Below.” Lead singer Benjamin Kowalewicz’s constant swearing seemed more of an attempt at remaining relevant in a fast-changing musical landscape than an actual desire to say “fuck you” to any establishment.
The Cure were really high up on my list of bands to see as I had missed their Osheaga set the previous year. Robert Smith and his rotating cast of band-mates didn’t disappoint for the most part. The audience was predominantly middle-aged and, as a result, rather subdued. I didn’t care if no one else was moving around and really let loose during “Just Like Heaven”.
The lady standing next to me had her phone out the entire set. The stark brightness of her phone compelled me to look down in annoyance. I read her latest text: “This is a photo of The Cure. My new boyfriend has taken me to Riot Fest. This whole day I have been subjected to gay band after gay band…I can’t believe he likes this crap.” Although I did have some grievances about the set — mainly that it was too bogged down by deep cuts — I wouldn’t have gone that far. Her conservative attitude was one that I think a lot of the people at the festival shared and it was quite sad to see. I left early to avoid the rush to the subway.
I had been looking forward to Day 2 as I was slated to interview The Bots, a two-piece rock outfit from L.A., before their early set. As their surname denotes, Mikaiah Leh and Anaiah Leh are brothers, and it showed in their impressive performance. Aptly dressed to deal with the heat in all white, both seemed to be on the same frequency as they ripped through their brief but lively set.
Mikaiah’s voice has deepened since the band’s early days and it seems that has given him a lot of confidence behind the microphone. As hard as it is to attract an audience so early in the day, the band’s talent proved to bring many to look up from their phones. The brothers showed their charisma during the quieter folksy tracks that fill out the rest of their upcoming album, Pink Palms, out Oct. 13. During those more demure, introspective tracks, wiry frontman Mikaiah kept the crowd engaged with his collected demeanor. He later won their adoration with his rabid guitar antics during ‘5:17, which spurred a circle pit to open in front of him.
No one has ever faulted three-piece Cape Town outfit Die Antwoord for not being left field enough, and they definitely stayed true to this for their Riot Fest set. DJ Hi-Tek took the stage first to spin a song whose lyrics we won’t dare print in these pages. Ninja and Yo-Landi Vi$$er promptly joined him on stage, dressed in neon orange tracksuits despite the blazing heat. The crowd seemed like it wanted to join the two rappers in their high-spirited revelry, but the sun appeared to have gotten to everyone not in the immediate vicinity of the stage. That said, there was a good number of fans up to the task of jumping and waving their hands in the air. Power to the topless crowd-surfer. Everyone left not quite knowing what they had taken in.
I hadn’t seen Stars since last summer’s inaugural Field Trip festival, so I was happy to see them take the stage to raucous applause. As always, Amy Milan and Torquil Campbell brought their own contagious brand of utter joy to the masses as if they were put on this Earth for that sole reason. Campbell took this responsibility so seriously that he shouted “be happy” at the crowd, who obliged with little dissent. Campbell spoke his mind about Canadian politics, saying that we only had one year of Harper left and that he would hate how much fun we were having. The only disappointment the set left the crowd with was the knowledge that it had ended after only forty minutes.
Seth Cohen’s favourite band was up next. The show was bittersweet for me, as my love for them had admittedly waned since my adolescence, but the knowledge that Chris Walla was leaving the band following this tour made me incredibly nostalgic and put me in a really emotional place. As others will attest to, being so emotional isn’t that great when you have to deal with the whoppingly beautiful 8-minute barrage of sadness that is “I Will Possess Your Heart”.
The rest of the show proceeded without issue, meaning I didn’t start sobbing. Frontman Ben Gibbard admonished that they were probably the least punk band on the bill before launching into a spirited rendition of “Soul Meets Body” that had everyone singing along (read: me shouting my off-key version at others). I didn’t see as many couples making out as I thought I would.
The National are the band I came to the festival for. Also the band who unfortunately was not doing any press on this stop of their lengthy tour in support of the excellent Trouble Will Find Me. I’ve seen their live set so many times I can tell what song they’re going to play just judging by what guitars the roadies give to Aaron and Bryce Dessner, but the show was fantastic regardless. Matt Berningner consumed his mandatory bottle of wine onstage and didn’t bother with much banter. Instead, the band opted to squeeze as much awesomeness into their hour-long set as possible.
Why Riot Fest gave the ever boring City & Colour the headlining slot ahead of The National is beyond me, but at least I didn’t have to sit through an hour of Dallas Green’s sleep-inducing music to get to the good stuff. While the setlist was composed of mainstays — from the booming “Bloodbuzz Ohio” to “Fake Empire” — the inclusion of Boxer deep-cut “Ada” came as a incredibly pleasant surprise. Later, Berninger got the crowd going in the best way he knows how — by descending into it during “Terrible Love”. The festival’s 8:40 p.m. set cutoff time was so strict that there was no room for the acapella version of High Violet bookend “Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks”. I’m sure Metric wouldn’t have minded, but shit happens and the band put on the best show of the weekend.
There are few things more satisfying than an ice cold glass of beer after a long day of work. Beer drinkers can range from those who like a casual glass of beer to commence the weekend to beer aficionados who can name the type of beer from a single sip. No matter what side of the spectrum you land on, all journeys towards loving beer start with a single sip. The Because Beer festival that is coming to Hamilton’s Pier 4 Park on Friday, July 11 and Saturday, 12 aims to provide a means for people to discover some of the good craft beer from over twenty-five breweries that Ontario has to offer.
Because of the volume of beer that will be available at the festival, I sampled a few beers from some of the breweries that will be in attendance in hopes of providing you with a cheat sheet of what I thought were the best beers from each of the breweries sampled.
Collective Arts Brewing
Best beer: Rhyme & Reason : 4.75/5
Collective Arts Brewing merges art with beer as each label uses art from local artists. Each bottle is uniquely designed and artists are able to submit their work to the brewery in hopes that it will end up in a beautiful six pack. The fusion of art and beer gives this beer the advantage but does not overshadow the crisp flavour of the beer. Rhyme and Reason is full of hops and has a citrus and pine flavour to it and is on the lighter side. The aftertaste is complimentary and not overwhelming, making this beer the perfect evening beer.
Beau’s All Natural Brewing Company
Best beer: Lug Tread Lagered Ale : 3/5
Beau’s bottles are slightly smaller than a two-six, coming in at 600ml and have very attractive labels. I was very close to picking The Tom Green Beer simple for the fact that it exists, but one sip of the Lug Tread had me convinced instantly. Lug Tread is flavourful, crisp, and medium bodied, starting with a sweet taste and ending with a pleasantly bitter aftertaste. This beer reminds me of summer, but overall, it’s lacking that bit of specialty that would bring it to the top of micro-brews in the province.
Great Lakes Brewery
Best beer: Thrust! An IPA : 4/5
With an attractive label that features a rocket ship, Thrust! An IPA quickly caught my attention. Often times the packaging doesn’t live up to the content but unlike that guy from the bar, Thrust! An IPA was as smooth as it was attractive. The India Pale Ale is honey-like in colour with a citrus flavour that compliments the slight grapefruit bitterness to it. Filled with citrus hops, but not in a way that’s overwhelming.
Amsterdam Brewery
Best beer: Amsterdam Natural Blonde Lager : 4.5/5
This common beer is often in local watering holes, but is still one of my favourites. It is crisp, and unique in flavour. This beer is great for all-year drinking but especially lovely in the summer. Amsterdam Blonde is pleasantly fragrant and has a light fruit flavour. This beer is simple yet satisfying and keeps me coming back for more.
Wellington Brewery
Best beer: Special Pale Ale : 2.5/5
At first sip, the beer tasted like nothing special but overall drinkable. The more I drank, the more bored I got. The amount of hops make the Special Pale Ale overwhelming and not in the good way. It tastes of malt caramel and is slightly creamy, which sounds like it would make a fantastic beer, however, Wellington’s Special Pale Ale left something to be desired. I would drink this beer if looking for something outside of PBR or Bud Light but for anyone who likes smooth, crisp, beer, this wouldn’t be my first, or even fourth choice. I didn’t even finish it, which says a lot.
Grand River Brewing
Best beer: Curmudgeon IPA : 3/5
This copper coloured beer is flavourful, however, it’s maltiness is a little too much for me. There is a bitter aftertaste that I can see as being pleasant, but is just slightly overwhelming for me. The slight caramel taste and hint of fruit flavours are redeeming factors and kept me sipping for longer than I thought I would. Overall, I probably wouldn’t go out of my way to buy this, but I can see the appeal.
Double Trouble Brewing Co.
Best beer: Prison Break Breakout Pilsner : 3/5
Double Trouble Brewing Co. has cleverly titled beer including, Hops and Robbers and Fire in the Rye but the standout beer for me was the Prison Break Breakout Pilsner. The blue can had entertaining illustrations and the deep but subtle hops give the dark gold beer extra body. Unfortunately, the illustrations on the can is the best part of the beer as it is quite filling making the last half of the beer hard to drink.
I suggest you make your way down to Pier 4 Park on July 11 to make your own conclusions about the best craft beers. For those who are new to the sport of beer drinking, there will also be informative sessions including how to master a perfect pour, how to pair food and beer, and how to tell good beer from bad beer. Additionally, music and food are the perfect compliments to a weekend of great beer, so there will be musical entertainment and over ten Hamilton food trucks at the festival. Entry to the Because Beer festival is forty dollars for the entire weekend or twenty-five dollars per day, which includes a tasting mug and four craft beer samples for one day or ten craft beer samples for the weekend. Drinking beer is an art form, one that I will hope to perfect during Because Beer.
By: Jaslyn English and Mary Ann Boateng
McMaster students and Westdale residents take advantage of the diversity of vendors and community groups along Sterling Street.
On Sunday Sept. 23, McMaster hosted its first Open Streets event - a day in devotion to the idea of closed off streets making a more open community. The event lasted from late morning to late afternoon, running in conjunction with Open Streets Hamilton happening on James St N.
Open Streets Hamilton brings together different communities within the city in an attempt to bridge the gap between residents, small businesses, cultural organizations and special-interest groups.
The McMaster event featured a closed off portion of Sterling Street, turned completely pedestrian for the day, as well as a campus section stretching the length of University Ave. from the student center to the edge of the BSB field.
The Hamilton event is part of a broader movement in various cities across North America. According to its website, openstreetsproject.org, the object of Open Streets is to “temporarily close streets to automobile traffic, so that people may use them for walking, bicycling, dancing, playing, and socializing.”
Hamilton has been running the event biannually on James St North since spring 2010, and this is the first time it has come to the McMaster campus.
Mary Koziol, former MSU President and Assistant to the President on Special Community Initiatives, was one of the organizers of the event.
“We started the project because we wanted to eliminate some of the barriers people perceive to be around campus,” she said of Open Streets. “We wanted a way to welcome community members onto campus and vice versa.”
University Ave. was lined with booths representing several clubs, organizations, and events within McMaster itself. The campus was also equipped with a stage for live performances.
The festival continued down Sterling Street, where booths of many Westdale shops as well as community-based organizations were located. This area of the event promoted the idea of outer-campus community that Westdale provides for McMaster’s students.
“I’ve seen a lot of familiar faces,” said the vendor at the Hotti Biscotti table, commenting on the similarities between this event and Clubsfest, hosted during Welcome Week on the McMaster campus.
Nate Walker, owner and operator of Nate’s Cakes, an eco-friendly alternative to the food truck, explained how vendors benefit from a festival like Open Streets.
“The event provides me the opportunity to know all the university students, he said on Sunday. “Festivals like this are where it’s at… If [it] happens again, I will definitely come back.”
Vendors and community members alike remarked that the event brought the community together, a notion mirrored by McMaster president Patrick Deane’s message recorded before the event took place.
The president saw the event as “bring[ing] down the boundaries between the university and the community” and was hoping for a “cross-pollinating effect” between McMaster and the broader Hamilton area.
While there was a diversity of age groups and walks of life from both the university and neighboring communities, the event failed to grasp the attention of the “broader Hamilton community” that the President was seeking to attract.
“It’s too bad there aren’t more people,” remarked a Westdale woman to her family, two hours after the event had started.
Yet after using one of the every-half-hour shuttles equipped with its own student tour guide, and taking in the atmosphere of the downtown portion of the event, it became evident that a crowdless, laid back vibe was as much a part of the Open Streets project as were the street vendors, and added to the neighborhood feel of the event.
McMaster participated in Open Streets as part of its celebration of the University’s 125th anniversary, but Koziol hopes the festival will continue in the coming years.
“What we are trying to do is a better job of opening our arms and welcoming the community and creating more and more partnerships and a broader network so that people don’t see McMaster as a community in itself but as just one part of this broader tapestry.”
