Over Half a Million Attend 2010 Toronto Ukrainian Festival

In its 14^th year, the Toronto Ukrainian Festival during the weekend of September 17-19, 2010 attracted from Canada, the USA and abroad another record breaking audience of 516,441 people.

 There is no doubt that the headline band from Ukraine MAD HEADS XL as well as a very strong performer line up helped to bring the people to the Bloor West Village and our Festival, stated Jurij Klufas, Festival chairman.  Long-term financial support from Eugene Melnyk, Jim Temerty and Ihor Ihnatowycz allows us to present a superb stage production for our vast array of performers every production year.  Our unique programming concept presents non stop programming of Ukrainian music, song an dance from the very beginning to the very end of our Festival. Through the very generous and continued support of the Ukrainian Credit Union as well as the Four Points by Sheraton - Toronto Lakeshore Hotel, and Aerosvit Airlines, we were able to once again feature a top band from Ukraine at our Festival,   continued Klufas.

The importance of this Festival, which is the largest Ukrainian Festival in North America, is never missed by politicians of all stripe.  Mark Warawa, Conservative MP from Langley B.C. and Chair, Canada-Ukraine Parliamentary Friendship Group, brought greetings on behalf of Prime Minister Harper and the Government of Canada; Gerard Kennedy, Liberal MP for Parkdale-High Park and Jack Layton, the Leader of the NDP, praised the Ukrainian Canadian community's contribution to the building of Canada. 

Using new satellite technology available through TABIA (The Association of Business Improvement Areas of which there are more than 70 in the Greater Toronto Area), TABIA Executive Director John Kiru stated  "As for how the numbers were calculated/derived, its simply done by applying a person identification algorithm through a CCTV camera that tracks movement of people through a designated area. The count is accurate as it performs 24/7 and doesn t have extrapolations of a moment in time but rather provides a true number of people that walked through the designated area.  This same technology was used at the Taste of the Danforth in August and registered 1.29 million attendees".

Tamara Mischena, Parade Manager, said  This was the largest parade to date with TV Food Celebrity Ken Kostick leading the way. The winning non-commercial parade entry was Desna Ukrainian Dance Company of Toronto, which is celebrating its 35^th anniversary. The winning commercial entry was Buduchnist Credit Union.

Volunteer Manager Anna Heychuk was very happy with her  crew of dedicated volunteers who began their shifts as early as 8 am daily and continued to 1 am on Friday and Saturday nights and until midnight on Sunday night .

In addition to the local Bloor West Village restaurants, businesses and services, Vendor/Kiosk Manager Irene Nazarewycz made sure to provide lots of tasty food and interesting shopping options. The Festival Organizing Team is completed with: Olya Grod - Vice President; Ivanka Podilchak - Entertainment Manager; Ola Cholkan - Youth Stage Program Manager and Ukraine band management; Alex Maslej - Webmaster and Logistics; Oksana Wells - Festival Sales; Natalie Wilson - VIP management; Bohdan Dyczkowsky - Logistics; Raya Shadursky - Logistics; Anna Heychuk - Translations; Natalie Hetmanczuk - Administrator; Bohdan Hontar - Manager of the Kozak Beverage Garden operated by the Ukrainian Youth Association of Mississauga Parent s Committee; and St.Vladimir Institute members Lida Smilka, Christine Kuzyk and Sonia Van Herden. This year's capable Main Stage emcees were Ryan Boyko, Justina Lewkowicz and Marta Czurylowicz. The youth program emcees were Odesa Kelebay and William Pidzamecky.

“The Shevchenko Foundation, AV-Canada, Nadia Jacyk, Jim Cardinal, Valentyn Swez, Borys Horodynsky and So Use Credit Union provide us with year to year financing to construct the incredible infrastructure needed to support a welcome visitor turnout of over a half a million people. To all sponsors, the Department of Canadian Heritage and the Ontario Tourism Marketing Partnership Corporation we say THANK YOU for without you, there would be no Festival  concluded Chairman Jurij Klufas.

For more information: visit www.ukrainianfestival.com or leave a message at 416.410.9965.