BIG on Bloor 2008

People constantly asked me "What kind of a festival is it?" and my most accurate response would be "It's all over the place".

I think people have an idea of what festivals should be like to be worth going to. Like Taste of the Danforth with Greek vendors, or Little Italy with the high-end Italian bars and restaurants, or the Roncesvalles Polish festival, or the Ukranian festival in Bloor West -- all of them playing off the ethnic market.

This festival went counter all of that. It was cheap and easy to sign up, by purchasing a table online and promoting yourself. It used the internet to advertise the vendors. It was open to anyone who wanted to showcase their work/products/services. It set out to support the local restaurants and to avoid external vendors not from the community. It was meant to support local musicians, use local resources and encourage local residents to come out and support.

Miraculoulsy for the first year, we actually pulled it off. You may not believe me, but I was expecting a disaster, considering how much work was involved and how little infrastructure we had. Over 30,000 people come out in peace. It was something the area hadn't witnessed, ever I think.

I can go on and tell you about the discovery of BIG from the ThinkTank classroom, the first meeting we attended; the ideas we all had for what the festival should be; my friendship and bonds with people involved, listening to each one of them; my move to the neighbourhood; the charrette I planned before any logistics came together; the hiring of people, the mistakes, the headaches, the yelling; the collaboration of Dougal Sid and I; the 13 page detailed map I designed from scratch for the City to get the permit for the street approved one day before the festival; the one day program design of 400 listings and ofcourse the amount I learnt from all this chaos.

I will only tell you that it was well worth it and as a graduating student influenced by social design, this was the best thing I could do for myself to prove that it is possible to apply what you learn. You just have to believe in it and see yourself as part of the community, not apart from it.