Kensington Market Winter Solstice Festival set to celebrate its 35th year

A festival commemorating the official start of the winter season is returning for its 35th year.

The Kensington Market Winter Solstice Festival is an arts-based event that will feature more than 200 performers such as musicians, actors, and puppeteers roaming the streets to honour the winter solstice and celebrate the longest night of the year.

Traditionally, the event has incorporated a parade, ending with a fire-lighting finale and performance at Alexandra Park. But due to the park's revitalization work and ongoing construction in Kensington Market, the event will include blocked off-streets and enclosures that will allow for a stationary celebration, said Gabriella Caruso, artistic director of Red Pepper Spectacle Arts and organizer of the festival.

"It's more intimate, it's about finding and reconnecting to our kindred spirits," said Caruso.

Despite some changes to the festival, it will still include many of its familiar elements such as fire artists, fire lanterns, lights and new warming stations for festival goers to connect with one another.

As part of the 35th celebration, a new countdown-to-the-festival series was underway leading up to the event, co-organized by the Kensington Market Community Land Trust. 

The countdown included art shows, performances and Indigenous treaty education events that began in November, according to Dominique Russell, co-chair of the land trust.

Russell says a special passport was created as part of the countdown, with stamps being given out to shoppers at participating businesses in the market. Shoppers will have until Jan 5. to obtain a stamp from at least 20 different businesses for a chance to win a $1000 shopping spree in Kensington Market.

"We're kind of bringing attention to the festival, to the solstice as the culmination, but also that the market is diverse in part in its people and in its businesses. And so that's what the Countdown to Solstice festival is celebrating," she said. 

Although Kensington Market is often home to many festive events, Russell says the solstice offers a personal experience for those who attend and participate.

"Although it's become really huge, it's still local, handmade, participatory, and so it embodies this spirit of Kensington," she said. 

Caruso says organizers hope to see the festival return to its traditional parade format next year. The event kicks off at 6:00 p.m. and runs until 10:00 p.m. on Dec. 21.