The 2023 Bloor-Yorkville Icefest

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The 2023 Icefest took place on February 18 and 19 in Toronto’s well-known Bloor-Yorkville shopping district.

The neighbourhood is lined with designer shops and hosts a variety of events every year, including the Yorkville Rose Festival、 Yorkville Murals festivaland many others.

Like other street festivals, the ice sculptures were displayed along the sidewalks, allowing visitors to browse the exhibits while shopping or dining.

The winter had been unusually mild, and the sculptures had all begun to melt. By then, it was almost impossible to tell what they had originally looked like.

Some had even collapsed. With little else to do, we simply wandered around and soaked up the feeling of streets packed with people again after the pandemic.

The children were having the best time. They did not care whether the sculptures looked good or not—just being out and able to play was enough to make them happy.

The streets were crowded. Perhaps after being cooped up for three years, people were willing to come out for a walk whenever they had the chance.

Since there was not much left to see of the ice sculptures, we photographed a few passersby and prepared to leave.

Besides the passersby, the neighbourhood’s distinctive buildings also made good subjects.

On our way home, we passed through the University of Toronto campus. This is one of its manhole covers—quite distinctive.

The last light of sunset scattered the trees’ shadows across the wall until it was almost impossible to tell tree from shadow—rather like the teeming crowds at the Icefest, which made it hard to tell whether the pandemic had truly disappeared at all… Still, winter was nearly over, and spring was not far away.

The 2023 Bloor-Yorkville Icefest

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