The Bentway Block Party is back! This day-long, free, celebratory street party across The Bentway site includes musical performances, family-friendly games and workshops, food and drink, and much more.
Headlining this year’s Block Party are futuristic funk duo from a faraway galaxy, The Illustrious Blacks from New York City, and Toronto drag royalty Priyanka, Canada’s Drag Race Winner-turned-Pop Star. The party will be hosted by the fabulous Bombae (Currently on Canada’s Drag Race Season 3).
Daytime entertainment includes an afternoon of sunny and bright DJ sets by Valeroo, Ace Dillinger, and John Caffery, curated in partnership with Yohomo, that will get you moving and on to the dance floor.
Join us for a family-friendly Street Fashion Workshop led by acclaimed Toronto designer Meesh and co-presented with Fashion Art Toronto. Bring a denim garment to redesign, or select a new piece from the racks to create your own unique denim street wear. Afterwards, you can strut your stuff in the afternoon Street Fashion Show, with The Bentway as your runway.
Throughout the day you’ll see performances from some of the world’s leading Sign Spinners, whose jaw-dropping moves transform advertising into sports and entertainment, courtesy of AArrow Sign Spinners, and Toronto Kiki Ballroom Alliance who’ll light up the the dancefloor with a fierce runway performance featuring Toronto’s Ballroom Legends.
Join us, and your neighbours from across the city, as we come together to celebrate Summer in Toronto!
Schedule
Join us for the Street Fashion Workshop and Fashion Show, presented with Fashion Art Toronto. Drop in during the afternoon to create your own fabulous denim street wear, and strut your stuff on The Bentway’s runway. Participants are welcome to bring their own denim garments to modify and beautify, or pick what catches your eye from one of our clothing racks. This workshop will be led by acclaimed Toronto fashion designer, Meesh.
Fashion Art Toronto is an annual multi-arts fashion event and the longest-running fashion week in the city. The event is celebrated for its 18-year commitment to providing an inclusive platform for Canada’s fashion and artist communities and presenting thought-provoking fashion shows and immersive multimedia art installations.
Micheline Wedderburn is a fashion designer, artist, and maker, with a fashion label under the name Meesh. Wedderburn creates wearable art by repurposing vintage fabrics and textiles, dying and painting on denim and incorporating unusual materials. She was sustainable before it was a thing. She received the Black Designers of Canada Award of Excellence in 2020 following her virtual fashion show presentation on the Bentway grounds for Fashion Art Toronto.
Meesh has presented her work as part of Fashion Art Toronto, Artist Project, and Hippie Market. Her most recent solo show of miniatures presented at the Show Gallery on queen street west, showcased her favourite local businesses built from scratch in miniature form.
AArrow Sign Spinners are some of the world’s most talented sign spinners that transform advertising into an artform. From street corners of Baltimore and Houston to The Bentway, they’ll be attracting attention performing jaw-dropping tricks that are part dance, part sport.
Join us throughout the day as we present these incredible performers, and try your hand at your own sign spinning tricks at our Freestyle on the Dancefloor in the afternoon.
Strut your stuff and strike a pose in the afternoon Street Fashion Show, with The Bentway as your runway. Following the Street Fashion Workshop, we’re inviting the public to walk the catwalk in their new denim outfits or express their inner fashionista from the front row. The Street Fashion Show is co-presented with Fashion Art Toronto, and will feature tunes by DJ Ace Dillinger.
AArrow Sign Spinners are some of the world’s most talented sign spinners that transform advertising into an artform. From street corners of Baltimore and Houston to The Bentway, they’ll be attracting attention performing jaw-dropping tricks that are part dance, part sport.
Join us throughout the day as we present these incredible performers, and try your hand at your own sign spinning tricks at our Freestyle on the Dancefloor in the afternoon.
The Toronto Kiki Ballroom Alliance is a for-youth-by-youth grassroots organization that started out of the need to bring Ballroom Arts and a sense of community to Toronto. Founded in 2010 by Twysted Miyake-Mugler and Legendary Motha Vixen as a space to nurture the needs of Black and other radicalized LGBTQI+ youth facing various barriers and trauma, the TKBA provides a safe space for LGBTQI+ youth to be seen, protected and celebrated. The TKBA is modeled after the underground 1960’s New York Ballroom Scene, and for The Bentway Block Party they’ll light up the dancefloor with a fierce runway performance featuring Toronto’s Ballroom Legends.
The Illustrious Blacks are Afro Electro Disco Space Punks who descend to Earth bringing infectious grooves to encourage all earthly beings to Live The Hype Life. Sonic Boom is their live DJ set that includes elements of performance art, fashion, and dance. From hypnotic House to delicious Disco, The Illustrious Blacks bring high vibrational frequencies to The Bentway.
Priyanka is a multi-talented entertainer, musical artist, and content creator taking the world by storm. Otherwise known as Mark ‘Suki’ Suknanan, this star’s power and charisma have always been something special. Suki hosted the legendary children’s network, YTV, before Priyanka’s iconic 2020 crowning as the first-ever winner of Canada’s Drag Race. With her recent debut EP Taste Test hitting 5+million streams and launching the viral hit single, Come Through, as part of a unique episodic music video saga, the question isn’t “what’s next,” it’s what isn’t?”