Prepare for ‘war’

By James Dalziel –

Local volunteers and supporters are drawing up the front lines in a multi-year battle to raise funds for the War of 1812 bicentennial celebrations planned for 2012.

The 2012 celebrations will mark the last time Canada was invaded and U.S. soldiers sacked this city in the Battle of York.

“It takes three to four years to build any synergy up to an event (like the bicentennial), so we’re really promoting this festival,’’ says Lorna Ekblad, one of the organizers. “We want to create a buzz around it so it’s a place to go next year, too.”

The Old Town Toronto Alliance, led by Downtown businessman Michael Comstock, aims to have a “heritage product” in place that will be a showpiece for the Old Town and all of Toronto during the bicentennial years of 2012 to 2014.

“Starting this festival now and repeating it up to 2012 might save Toronto from the embarrassment of the typical thrown-together, last-minute city staff effort, focused only on Fort York,” Comstock says.

The project will help people understand “that there is an Old Town area where Toronto began, where pioneers lived and died and built the city,” Comstock says. “We have a history we should celebrate and learn from.”

Over the years, he says, “Toronto has been repeatedly destroyed by fires, stupid urban renewal, poor planning controls and now speculative real estate development. Still, we can find a bit of history here and there in Old Town.”

He adds, “It might even (light) a fire under the butts which have delayed the reclaiming of the First Parliament Site for 12 years, or the North Market redevelopment for 10 years. Maybe even persuade people to stop tearing down our old warehouses to be replaced with all-glass towers.”

The Old Town of York—from Union Station to the Don River and from Queen St. to the shoreline—is the site of one of the most famous incidents of the War of 1812: the burning of Upper Canada’s parliament buildings at The Esplanade and Berkeley St. in April 1813.

British forces retaliated in 1814 by attacking Washington and burning the White House and other public buildings.

A single historical plaque in Parliament Square Park marks the general location of the old parliament, but politicians have agreed with local citizens that something more substantial should be erected on the site now occupied by a Porsche dealership.

Plans for 2012 include battle re-enactments and other commemorations involving U.S. border cities and American media.

“We have created a new interpretive map of Old Town and will be advertising on media such as WNED-TV, which has more subscribers in Toronto than Buffalo,” Comstock says.

The Old Town Toronto Alliance is a non-profit organization whose members have joined to brand Old Town Toronto 1793 as the area “Where Toronto Began”—a historical site and destination for tourism and business. Last summer, the alliance produced a two-day event in tandem with tributes to black-separatist leader Marcus Garvey. It celebrated the life of Thornton Blackburn, an escaped slave and pioneer of Toronto’s transit system, at the government-designated Blackburn site, at Eastern Ave. and Sackville St.

This year’s fund-raising festival, aided by sponsors and a $10,000 city grant, includes a nostalgic concert at St. Lawrence Hall, historical walking tours, a photo competition, readings and folk music.

On Sept. 12, a heritage concert at St. Lawrence Hall will feature music from 1793 through the 1930s. The Arioso Quartet will play music of 1793 to 1812, Chris Whitley and Diana Braithwaite (a Juno award winner) will cover the Underground Railroad years, and the Happy Pals will offer jazz of the 1930s.

On Sept. 13, history experts Bruce Bell, Bill Genova and Richard Fiennes-Clinton will conduct walking tours that start at the St. Lawrence Market 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., including a visit to the Distillery District. The Corktown Business and Ratepayers’ annual picnic will take place at the Sackville Playground.

Finally, on Sept. 14, walking tours will be held at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Tales of Old Town, featuring acoustic music and corn roast featuring Ontario food and drinks, plus readings by Sally Gibson from the new book Toronto’s Distillery District: History by the Lake and Karolyn Smardz Frost, author of I’ve Got a Home in Gloryland: A Lost Tale of the Underground Railroad, will be held at the Enoch Turner schoolhouse (Ontario’s oldest) on Trinity St. 

Tickets cost $18.12 for Friday’s concert and $17.93 for Tales of Old Town.  The historical walks are priced at $5, with proceeds donated to the Homework Club, a children’s charity.

For more information or to order tickets in advance, visit oldtowntoronto1793.com or call 416-861-1793. With an extremely limited supply, tickets at the door cost $20.