Another year has come and gone, and the Toronto Ukrainian Festival has successfully completed it’s 13th event. Here’s a quick run-down of some things that we’ve noticed – some positive and some negative:
What I liked
The dancing
Many different Ukrainian dancing groups came from far and wide to showcase their talents. These are the Barvinok dancers doing the traditional Hopak:
The food (and drinks)
What’s a Ukie fest without some great food? Varenyky, Borscht, Holubtsi, etc. along with import alcohol like Slava, Slavutich and Lvivski. Perogies became a rare commodity by Sunday.
"It’s the victims of communism that the memorial commemorates," she says. "Without the word ‘communism,’ the memorial will cease to have its intended meaning." Similar monuments, in Europe and in Washington, D.C., explicitly identify communism as the culprit in the millions of deaths they memorialize. She says her group is unclear on whether the monument can proceed, in light of the NCC’s concerns, but remains adamant that "the word ‘communism’ has to be in the name."
Jack is on the phone with Maureen Dowd when Tracy shows up asks him for $100,000. Jack tells him that this is not possible, but says that he has a better idea: use his celebrity image to endorse a product. After Tracy agrees, he comes up with "The Tracy Jordan Meat Machine". Armed with an "endorsement" from Dr. Spaceman (Chris Parnell) and hook-ups from Jack, the product is finally ready for sale. Soon after, a series of product defects prompts Tracy to tell Jack that he does not wish to endorse the product any longer. Jack finds a way to make it work: by rebranding it as a Whoopi Goldberg-endorsed product targeted for Ukraine.
I couldn’t understand Whoopi reading the phonetically correct cue cards, so I had to run this by Taras who confirmed that she was speaking Russian. But at least the sign is in Ukrainian. Points lost for ‘the Ukraine’ though, shame on you Alec Baldwin we are the Irish of the West!
Here are some photos I took when I went down to Buffalo last weekend for their great Ukrainian festival. It was my first time at an American Ukrainian festival and loved it!