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Toronto’s Holiday Fair in the Square cut short due to severe storm warning

The annual event experienced last-minute changes due to province-wide weather warnings

By: Vihaan Bhatnagar

A vast cement terrain (Nathan Phillips Square) mid-snowstorm with snow on the floor and illuminated structures scattered.
A deserted Nathan Phillips Square during Friday’s snowstorm. The Fair in the Square was originally scheduled to end on Friday. (Vihaan Bhatnagar/CanCulture)

The Holiday Fair in the Square shut down earlier than planned on Wednesday due to severe storm warnings. With slushy and unsafe weather events being predicted on Thursday. Parts of Ontario, including Toronto, saw a huge snow and wind storm Friday, the day it was initially scheduled to end.

 According to Geoff Bobb, executive director of Epilepsy Toronto, the event would raise money to support programs and services for Epilepsy Toronto, a counselling agency for people with epilepsy. During the 2022 event’s 19-day run, an estimated 400,000 visitors attended the fair.

With these numbers, Bobb said Epilepsy Toronto hoped to make as much as $50,000.

“We have to still do all of the final accounts, but it looked like we were close to [the financial] target,” Bobb said in a phone interview with CanCulture. “We obviously missed the last couple of days of the festival because we had to close early because of the impending storm, so that cuts into our profit margins at the end, particularly just before Christmas.”

A dark photograph with a line of stall vendors to people at night
Venders at the Holiday Fair in the Square interact with customers at the Cavalcade of Lights at Nathan Phillips Square on Dec. 6, 2022. (Edward Lander/CanCulture)

The 2022 Fair, the first in a few years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, featured a Santa’s Village, where guests could take photos with Santa for a small donation to Epilepsy Toronto. It also included an Artisan Marketplace that sold handcrafted items from local vendors and a Tasty Festive Fare that featured seasonal snacks and tasty cuisine from Toronto’s finest food trucks.

The event also housed a Polar Point Barselling an array of holiday favourite drinks and Holiday Midway featuring a classic carousel along with games and prizes. There were also multiple performances throughout the month, including the Amadeus Choir and the Festive Cheer Carolers.

A carrousel at night
The musical carousel at the Holiday Midway attraction at the Holiday Fair in the Square on Dec. 6, 2022. (Edward Lander/CanCulture)

“I learnt about it [the fair] through Epilepsy Toronto,” said Rastin Samie, a supervisor for the event. “They have a lot that I can use as somebody who has found it difficult to find an appropriate job and kind of a place to feel like myself.”

The event was managed by the organization staff who worked alongside as many as 300 volunteers to organize, run and take down the festival.

“I feel like they’ve given me a lot of resources, including a career foundation to find suitable roles for me to fill,” said Samie.

“The idea is to provide something that is an accessible and free event for the public, and to support the charity and provide a bunch of small businesses the opportunity and a forum to make some revenue,” said Bobb.

Epilepsy Toronto plans to use the profits they made over the run of the fair to provide mental health support to those with epilepsy, according to Bobb.