Toronto’s Little India Street Festival | Gerrard Street Walk (July 2026)

[00:00:07]There's a sweet action shot of a dude crossing the street.

[00:00:11]The original cinematic opening to this video was a 506 Carlton streetcar coming around the bend from the intersection of Gerrard Street East and Coxwell Avenue, making its way south to the intersection of Gerrard Street East and Coxwell Avenue.

[00:00:29]And yes, you heard that correctly.

[00:00:31]That's a bit of a quirk in Toronto geography.

[00:00:36]I'll explain that in a moment.

[00:00:38]On the west side of the intersection here, though, it is known as Fairford Avenue.

[00:00:43]And there's a southbound 22 Coxwell bus making its way down to Queen Street.

[00:00:57]Down to what was formerly known as Lower Coxwell, but now it's M Dabema I think they call it.

[00:01:08]Whoa, that was a weird double spin the camera, but hey there, it's Sunday, July 12th, 1:51 p.m. is the time. The temperature is about 28° C. And in this one, I'm going to be heading south down to Gerrard and Coxwell again, where the Festival of South Asia is taking place. And then I'll be just walking west through the festival, probably over to Greenwood.

[00:01:37]It's not going to be a super long video or anything like that.

[00:01:43]I just recorded a members video walking through Monarch Park from Greenwood subway station. So, if you're a channel member or Patreon supporter, you should be able to find that for your viewing pleasure.

[00:02:01]Hello.

[00:02:06]What a beautiful space this is.

[00:02:11]Rather than cut through it though, we'll just take the sidewalk down to Coxwell.

[00:02:29]But what happened was the city of Toronto incorporated the land east of here, I think around 1908.

[00:02:36]And that was formerly Lake View.

[00:02:41]Lake View Road or Lake View Drive, if my memory's failing me.

[00:02:46]But the city wanted to extend Gerrard Street, so they renamed that Gerrard Street.

[00:02:52]So it makes this very long, bizarre dog leg.

[00:02:57]And then I think after the fact, Gerrard Street ended up getting extended south of here.

[00:03:02]So rather than rename that part of Gerrard, they just called it something else. And I think that's known as Eastwood.

[00:03:12]A lot of locals will call that Upper Gerrard.

[00:03:24]And this festival I'm heading to runs for just 2 days, yesterday and today. Unfortunately, the Salsa on St. Clair Festival was canceled today. My original plans were to record that festival today, but I decided to record it yesterday.

[00:03:45]And tragically at night, there was a shooting there.

[00:03:50]Apparently, it was a targeted shooting, and the police have since cleared the area, but there were a couple of lives lost and four other people sent to the hospital.

[00:04:06]Look at this.

[00:04:11]I think this home went up about 9 years ago or so.

[00:04:16]It's not quite ultra-modern, but almost.

[00:04:21]And it was originally part of this complex with these buildings.

[00:04:27]There goes a 506 Carlton off route.

[00:04:31]That'll be going south all the way to Queen Street cuz they don't run the street cars along Gerrard for the festival.

[00:04:43]How much is the property at 303 Coxwell Avenue in Toronto for sale for?

[00:04:52]>> The property at 303 Coxwell Avenue in Toronto is currently listed for sale at $1,349,999.

[00:05:00]It is also available for rent at $3,500 per month.

[00:05:08]>> And I think that used to extend left and someone built that there. So, there's an idea as what you can do with that space.

[00:05:16]I think ideally you'd want to own both, though.

[00:05:23]What's that? Dollarama?

[00:05:25]There's a No Frills Supermarket just up on the left. That used to be, I believe, a Dollar Tree, but it lost the fight with Dollarama.

[00:05:43]Rainbow Hair Salon, haircut 16 bucks and up.

[00:05:47]It's a damn good deal.

[00:05:53]So, that's probably your local supermarket if you live in the area.

[00:06:01]There's a bowling alley over there. I have never been.

[00:06:07]That lady seemed happy. I don't know if they do five-pin.

[00:06:10]Yeah, it looks like five-pin in that picture.

[00:06:14]I think there's a pub fit for less. I think that's a discount fitness chain that's part of the GoodLife umbrella.

[00:06:27]There's some people walking right in my heels. I'll let them by.

[00:06:31]Shoppers Drug Mart There's an excellent brewery just south of here. You can see it.

[00:06:45]Called Godspeed.

[00:06:51]Oops, ice cream.

[00:07:03]So, here's Gerrard Street East, the western part of it. It's kind of silly that that dog leg is so long.

[00:07:15]But, it continues here as Eastwood.

[00:07:24]Really, it would have made a lot more sense to have that continue as Gerrard Street.

[00:07:33]Looks like the patio in front of Godspeed is pretty busy.

[00:08:00]>> And into the festival we go.

[00:08:03]It's interesting how they don't have those yellow barriers that are able to stop vehicles in front of this one like most of the other street festivals. They just have a cop car blocking.

[00:08:13]I wonder if there's increased police presence as well given what happened yesterday.

[00:08:22]This festival runs from noon till 11:00.

[00:08:27]Obviously, it's free.

[00:08:34]And the purpose is really to showcase the local businesses and celebrate South Asian culture.

[00:08:43]One to one MMA.

[00:08:54]I like how not crowded it is.

[00:08:56]Bouncy castle.

[00:09:01]So this neighborhood name or this stretch of Gerrard Street is known as the Gerrard Street India Bazaar.

[00:09:08]But what's interesting is there isn't really a large local South Asian population.

[00:09:21]I think it attracted a lot of South Asian businesses when a local theater in the '70s converted to a Bollywood theater.

[00:09:28][music] And there's been a lot of Indian and Pakistani and other South Asian businesses since.

[00:09:42]There's a few different stages.

[00:09:46]Bangladesh Pavilion.

[00:09:56]It's a really neat neighborhood, but I don't come here very often.

[00:10:00]Cuz it's kind of annoying to get here through transit.

[00:10:08]>> [music] >> Bubble tea.

[00:10:10]I know.

[00:10:13]>> [music] >> Oh, put some umbrellas up.

[00:10:27]I'd be tempted to grab some food.

[00:10:30]>> [music] >> I could eat it in the shade.

[00:10:33]There's a plump two-headed dog.

[00:10:38]>> [music] >> So, this is kind of the northern edge of the broader Leslieville neighborhood.

[00:11:04]Look at the prices.

[00:11:20]The mayor often has a booth at various festivals.

[00:11:24]If you need to do your business.

[00:11:30]One thing I love about this neighborhood is how colorful it is.

[00:11:38]And there's a lot of beautiful, quiet, tree-lined residential streets.

[00:11:46]But unfortunately, transit, as I mentioned, is kind of annoying. The 506 Carlton streetcar runs through here, but that's a streetcar that obviously runs in mixed traffic, which means it is super hokey.

[00:11:59]The lack of a dedicated right-of-way or signal priority can make it kind of painful.

[00:12:18]$35 Chai Culture, $7.99 [music] for a creamy shake.

[00:12:33]Samosas, two for five.

[00:12:38]This is one of my favorite buildings, especially at night. It's always so colorful and looks pretty awesome when it's lit up.

[00:12:47]But the surrounding neighborhood has a population of about 14,000, 68% of whom are Canadian-born.

[00:13:07]And it's got a much larger local Chinese-Canadian population than South Asian.

[00:13:21]But it was in 1972 that a local businessman started showing Indian and Pakistani films at the former Eastwood Theater, which was right here.

[00:13:33]And that's what brought a large South Asian population into the area.

[00:13:38]And by the early '80s, the whole area had developed into a hub for all things South Asian.

[00:13:58]And one of the great things about this festival >> [music] >> is it's not just your usual churro trucks and other food trucks you see at every other festival.

[00:14:12]It actually feels like it's sticking to its general theme.

[00:14:21]>> [music] >> Police on bikes.

[00:14:25]I sometimes hear hear people mumble about why does there have to be police at these things?

[00:14:34]Well, last night guess who it was going straight into the fire trying to chase down an active shooter.

[00:14:47]>> [laughter] >> This is the main station you could say.

[00:15:23]attitude, hey? Hey, come How are you?

[00:15:26]Look at you with the floral dress and your sunglasses.

[00:15:31]You look cool. Okay, tell us your Tell Tell everyone your name.

[00:15:35]>> Swara.

[00:15:36]>> Swara.

[00:15:38]Let's hear it for Swara, everyone. Come on.

[00:15:40]>> [cheering] >> So, Swara, tell me one thing. Swara, who's the better dancer, you or your mom, Keethana?

[00:15:47]>> Both.

[00:15:48]>> Both. Oh my god. This girl has learned the good words of diplomacy. Yeah? Both.

[00:15:55]Your mom said you performed three times, like twice last week. Is that right?

[00:15:59]>> Yeah.

[00:16:00]>> Yeah. And then why not did you perform here with us? We wanted to see you dance as well.

[00:16:03]>> Looks like he's going to try to coax her.

[00:16:05]>> I was like >> I was like, "I'm a star. I need a break, man. I need a break. Come on."

[00:16:16]>> Famous Buffet.

[00:16:20]>> Okay, so yeah.

[00:16:21]>> So, the festival only runs for a few more blocks.

[00:16:30]Water, corn, lemonade.

[00:16:32]The first year I came here recording it, I ended up walking past the then mayor, John Tory.

[00:16:44]Like this was very much a neighborhood created by destination shopping.

[00:16:53]Sure.

[00:16:56]Oh, thank you.

[00:17:01]All right. Nature Valley.

[00:17:07]Snack, these are going to be really helpful, actually.

[00:17:15]It's It's to have a granola snack or something like that in the bag for after a stream or video.

[00:17:24]I do wonder if what happened last night has led to a lighter crowd.

[00:17:34]Crypto and currency exchange BitTrust.

[00:17:41]>> [music] >> I wonder how much their spread is.

[00:17:47]What a perfectly designed restaurant on the corner here. The color that really pops. That's excellent.

[00:18:07]>> [music] >> But this festival's been running for 24 years, or rather it's the 24th edition.

[00:18:16]I think it missed a few due to the pandemic.

[00:18:21]>> [music] [music] >> Fresh juice, five bucks.

[00:18:34]And here we have the [music] Lahore Taste and Burger House.

[00:18:37]Lahore Chat and Desi Burger.

[00:18:40]And Desi [music] Burger there, apparently Desi Burger's just a general word for food or a type of food.

[00:18:47]>> [music] >> So it's not like they're all copying one another.

[00:18:51]And this is a famous Pakistani [music] restaurant, one that closed for a very long time. And there was a lot of speculation that it wasn't going to reopen.

[00:19:00]But it has.

[00:19:03]I have a friend who married in [music] or he has an Indian wife, and this is one of her favorite restaurants in the city, and we would come here sometimes [music] a long, long time ago.

[00:19:16]They used to have an old tuk-tuk. Well, they've got a few of them here.

[00:19:23]That's not the one they used to have, I think.

[00:19:34]Mambo Italiano Well, things really thin out after here.

[00:19:47]If you're interested in coming next year, I recommend maybe bookmarking the webpage.

[00:19:55]I'm sure they have a full schedule of events online. I don't really try to line up my visits with that stuff. I just come and whatever is going on is going on.

[00:20:05]>> [music] >> I missed the big parade yesterday at the Salsa and St. Clair Festival.

[00:20:11]>> [music] >> Kebab wrap, $10.99.

[00:20:25]So, this was put on by the local business improvement area, otherwise known as BIA.

[00:20:32]And I think this was an operational bar the first time I passed through here when I was recording. Karaoke nights every Friday.

[00:20:39]Not anymore.

[00:20:47]And we have left the Gerrard Street India Bazaar with much lighter security than most street festivals in Toronto.

[00:21:08]But, generally things are safe, but given what happened in Vancouver not too long ago at a Filipino street festival, what happened in Toronto last night although there's a been other incidents as well. I think these are overwhelmingly safe.

[00:21:27]I don't think we're going to see the death of street festival culture or anything.

[00:21:35]But I think I'm just going to head over to Greenwood and hopefully hop a bus up to Greenwood station.

[00:21:46]Mother Earth Center Somebody made a post online asking if there was a good indigenous restaurant in the city.

[00:21:56]Now, I remember seeing one right here in the past and someone dropped the name of this place. So, apparently it's really good.

[00:22:06]We'll see if it's still there.

[00:22:12]There's the Redwood Theatre.

[00:22:16]The Redwood Studios, I don't know much about that place.

[00:22:25]Oh, look who it is.

[00:22:44]>> Oh, hey Johnny.

[00:22:45]>> [laughter] >> Hey, how's >> How's it going, Saphan? Just finished the video walking through. I saw you, I thought I'd creep you out.

[00:22:50]>> I didn't even see you at first. I was going I'm going to check out the Festival of South Asia.

[00:22:55]>> Yeah.

[00:22:55]>> Yeah.

[00:22:56]>> Cool.

[00:22:57]>> Yeah.

[00:22:57]>> Well, peace.

[00:22:58]>> How was it? Packed?

[00:22:59]>> No. No, it's actually really nice. It's lightly crowded. If you want to get some food or whatever, you won't have any issues.

[00:23:04]>> Okay.

[00:23:05]>> All right, well, good to see you.

[00:23:06]>> all get home safe.

[00:23:07]>> All right, yeah, you too. Cheers.

[00:23:11]I think it used to be right here. That's sad if they left.

[00:23:16]Hopefully it was just a case of relocating.

[00:23:25]Sky Blue Studio across the street.

[00:23:32]That was Sapan. I think he was live streaming.

[00:23:35]He's going to get hit with some music copyrights.

[00:23:49]Which by the way, if you were wondering why some of the music was missing in this, that would have been why.

[00:24:00]You've made it to Gerrard or to Greenwood. I don't see a bus coming.

[00:24:16]Let me just look up when the next bus will be coming north here.

[00:24:22]All right, apparently in 9 minutes.

[00:24:39]So we're going to go north just a little bit.

[00:24:58]I just crossed over cuz I think this side is a little more interesting. Maybe I'll just walk up to the next bus stop.

[00:25:03]There's always a lineup at this place.

[00:25:06]At Sanford Avenue.

[00:25:24]My eyes.

[00:25:32]If you've been there, let me know down in the comments if it's worth all the hype and lining up for.

[00:25:56]All right, it says next bus in 8 minutes. I don't really feel like walking all the way up to Danforth Avenue. In fact, I just live-streamed south down Greenwood I think last week, if not the week before.

[00:26:41]Yeah, you might not expect there to be a South Asian enclave or any kind of enclave nestled amongst this neighborhood.

[00:26:56]>> Built as a house, someone converted it into an auto repair garage at some point.

[00:27:10]That looks brutal. No shade.

[00:27:17]The sun bearing down. Who wants to wait over there?

[00:27:25]If I wait on this side, I might make a bus stop.

[00:27:31]We're actually not that far from Danforth.

[00:27:37]This is a video about the Festival of South Asia and not one walking my ass up Greenwood. Look what a nice house. So, I'm going to end this right in this nice little shaded spot.

[00:27:53]Make sure I don't see the bus coming.

[00:27:56]So, I hope you enjoyed this. I look forward to your thoughts and comments down below. If you wish to support what I do, there's links to my Patreon and YouTube channel membership down in the description. If you need some new whatever those things are, sandals, slippers, whatever, you can find some right there.

[00:28:19]But, I hope you enjoyed it.

[00:28:24]And I will catch you on the next one.

[00:28:26]Yoink.

[00:28:28]>> [music] [music] >> Woo!