Greektown gears up for the return of Taste of Danforth

Taste of the Danforth, one of Toronto’s biggest and most renowned street festivals, will return this summer, Coun. Paula Fletcher announced on Twitter.

Fletcher said the Greektown Business Improvement Area’s board of directors voted to hire an event planner for the festival in late February.

Breaking. Taste of the Danforth a go for 2023! Very happy that Board of Directors of @GreekTownBIA voted today to hire an event planner to assist them to plan and execute this year’s Taste #TOTD

— Paula Fletcher (@PaulaFletcherTO) February 28, 2023

The early stages of planning are underway, and the festival will be held Aug. 11 to 13, said Mary Fragedakis, the BIA’s executive director.

“We just awarded the contract last week,” Fragedakis said in a March 6 email.

The BIA has not yet had the opportunity to have a kick-off meeting with the event planners and further comment currently would be premature, she added.

Taste of the Danforth attracts up to 1.6 million people, according to the BIA.

But the pandemic prevented the event from being held in 2020 and 2021. What’s more, it was cancelled in 2022.

The BIA released a statement last year saying it didn’t have enough time to “adapt the event to … changes” and “was at too great a risk of not being as successful in the past.”

“That wasn’t fair,” said Olga Parussis, owner of the Pantheon Restaurant at 407 Danforth Ave. “We were disappointed that it was cancelled last year, but we look forward to it this year.”

Parussis, who has been participating in the Taste of Danforth since her Greek restaurant opened in 1997, said the festival brings in a lot of people and they can see what the Greektown has to offer. “We missed it,” she said.

The event will be the first for The MoMo House, which recently opened at 679 Danforth Ave.

“I am glad the Taste of Danforth is coming back, which is great for the neighbourhood, and especially for small businesses like us,” said owner Garab Serdok.

“It will really help us a lot,” he added. “It’s kind of like mixed emotions to me. Maybe I am expecting too much.”

“Taste of the Danforth is one of the most successful annual street food festivals in Canada and a beloved Toronto summer tradition with a weekend full of food, fun and music.“

Greektown BIA

Greektown is a vibrant Toronto neighbourhood with numerous restaurants, cafes, bakeries and lounges serving authentic Greek cuisine together with a variety of other multi-ethnic establishments, offering something for everyone who visits.