Yesterday, August 19th, playing hooky from work, I reveled in the guilty pleasures of wandering around the Ex in the sunshine when I should have been chained to my desk under blue-green fluorescents. Later this week I’ll make the annual trip with my wife, kids and a few of their friends. We will see the SuperDogs (compulsory), the petting zoo (optional as the kids are now teenagers) and look for clothes bargains for school (practical). That will be fun — it just can’t compare to a totally free day.
A list of everything I saw and heard would be long and boring so let me tell you about a few highlights:
Music
I was getting a little footsore so I welcomed a chance to hear something international and cultural while I rested in the theatre at the International Pavilion. It turned out to be a performance by Habeeba’s Belly Dancing Troupe. The ladies were enchanting and the music was… stimulating.
I loved the Blues Brothers Tribute (a favourite movie) but then I was lured away by the sounds of bagpipes (another favourite) and I listened to the pipers and the brass band in the Mardi Gras parade.
I stumbled on my musical highlight for the day completely by accident — the CNE Express train had a problem so we all had to get off near the Casino. I heard an amazing trumpet solo coming from the direction of the Casino patio. I don’t know the name of the band but Spider Jones came up on stage and screamed out “Mustang Sally”, “In the Midnight Hour” and more — I got a few pictures and settled in for the show.
Amazing
I have seen him before, but I am still amazed at the skill of the CNE’s rock star, Daryl Maddeaux. Daryl makes incredible towers carefully, seemingly impossibly, balanced stones. You have to see it to believe it. I talked to Daryl for a few minutes and he patiently demonstrated his skills to several skeptics who thought there must be some sort of trick. For them, Daryl took off a rock from the top of a tower, let the skeptics heft the stone, then he demonstrated how with great concentration, he feels for just the right spot to balance the tip of a boulder.
David Hamill is a magician of another kind. He enthralled a crowd at the busker’s stage with a mixture of magic and humour. Maybe anyone can learn a magic trick with enough practice, but it takes real talent to attract a passing crowd and keep them watching and laughing while you effortlessly perform one illusion after another.
Breathtaking Spectacle
After last year’s Aerialist and Ice Skating show, I knew HIPPIKE would be something special. I expected feats of strength and graceful acrobatics — but I wasn’t prepared for ten-year-old twin girls standing on galloping horses. It is supposedly a Gypsy Legend (according to the CNE Guide). I don’t know what the story is supposed to be, but it is a spectacle of soulful singing, death defying horsemanship, beautiful women, beautiful horses and the strongest young men you are ever likely to see.
Then the really dangerous stuff: JUMP JET features more acrobatics only this time the performers do it in the middle of sound and light show inside a fireworks display. I couldn’t follow a story line with this one either — but when the spectacular spacecraft shooting coloured fire around the trapeze artist is right above your head you are too amazed to think about where you are in the story arc.
I had a great day. Too much happened to tell it all in one page. I haven’t mentioned the Midway or the food (great new kinds of food) or hundred other features that keep me coming back.
This year’s Ex is different. The Ex isn’t the same fair I looked forward to every summer when I was a kid (and dreaded because it meant going back to school right after). Only Tiny Tom Donuts and the Princes’ Gate remain exactly the same. I think its better.
I also took about 500 pictures. That’s why I really liked going alone even my patient wife won’t stand still for me taking twenty shots of the Ferris Wheel because I just can’t seem to frame it right. I will post a few if the blog allows it.
James