It’s a beautiful, sunshine-y, summery day for an outdoor festival! Word on the Street is a Toronto classic I sorely missed during the pandemic. Its return last year was a highlight of my gradual return to normal life, and this year makes it officially back to being one of my favourite annual traditions.

Quick note: the festival doesn’t go all the way to Museum subway station this year; rather, it starts at Queens Park and follows the crescent up to Wellesley, with a small side arm by Grosvenor Street. I got off at the correct subway station only because the media booth was close to College, but I overhead a few other attendees laughing about how they got off at Museum station and were confused about the lack of bookish booths.

Lots of bookish and theatre swag at the festival this year. I was especially grateful for the cardboard fans from Mirvish and the Toronto Public Library union. Plus, check out this awesome Fabio card from Happily Ever After Books!

Meeting author June Hur was definitely a highlight for this year’s festival. Turns out she used to work at the Toronto Public Library, and she was at the TPL worker union’s booth giving away signed copies of her book The Red Palace. If you love Korean history and murder mysteries, I highly recommend checking this book out! It was one of my top 10 books in 2021, and I wrote a gushing review of it for Quill and Quire.

Just in front of the TPL union’s booth is that of the Royal Ontario Museum, and I couldn’t resist taking a photo of their absolutely adorable baby T.rex banner. Seriously, I would be a goner if I saw that creature in the wild. And not just because they’re such a deadly predator, but because I’d be so smitten by their cuteness that their parent may be right behind me before I even realize I’m in danger! Anyway, for anyone who likes museums, there’s a raffle for a free ROM membership, copies of A Field Guide to the Trees of Ontario for sale, and also ROM staff with objects you can touch and learn about.

I was also thrilled to see Happily Ever After Books back at the festival this year. They’re a bookstore dedicated specifically to romance books, which makes them exactly the kind of store I’d love to spend hours browsing in. They don’t have a physical storefront and focus mainly on online sales, so it’s always a bonus to see one of their pop-ups. Probably no surprise, their booth was often crowded, and I echo another customer’s wish that they had a bigger booth, because I definitely wanted more.

Somehow, I managed to control myself to buying only two books from Happily Ever After: The Make-Up Test (nerdy medieval lit romance? yes please!) and Behind the Scenes (because I absolutely loved the author’s other book Satisfaction Guaranteed). Bonus: the store owner, Jenny, has an incredible memory for faces, and recognized me from last year’s festival!

I also want to shout-out Word on the Street’s incredible media relations team. Their booth had coffee and tea for bloggers, bookstagrammers, and media outlets, as well as some fun bookmarks and ARCs. All of us got a copy of The Witch is Back and a choice of two other books. I selected Sunshine Nails and A Death at the Party, but it wasn’t an easy choice! The other books on the table also looked great, and if the blogger just before me hadn’t snapped up the final copy of Lisa See’s Lady Tan’s Circle of Women, I would’ve had a much harder time deciding.

The children’s area was a beautifully whimsical space called The Fantastical Book Garden. You entered through a storybook and exited through a beautiful illustration. And inside are book flowers. I didn’t look closely at all of them, but one flower featured Chris Hadfield’s An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth. Kudos to whomever on the festival team designed this space. It felt like stepping into another world, and I especially love how it’s framed as a Fantastical Book Garden rather than just “The Kids Zone,” or some such. As an adult with no kids, I likely would’ve walked right past a Kids Zone, but this design invited people of all ages to experience the magic for ourselves.

I also always enjoy the Mirvish booth, and this year had a definite Harry Potter theme. There was a figure-eight railroad with the Hogwarts Express, buttons for each of the houses, and a poster of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child signed by the cast!

Also pictured is a Dundurn Press tote, which I won at the publisher’s spin-the-wheel game. It’s apparently the biggest of the prizes they have available, which makes me extra happy I won, and I especially love that the tote even has a side pocket with a button.

Another bookish treat was the Toronto Public Library Bookmobile. I didn’t go in, because my backpack was pretty bulky with books at this point and the bookmobile didn’t look very spacious. But bookmobiles make me think of small towns and children’s books, and it was a nice cozy touch in the heart of the city. I also won a pen at their spin-the-wheel game, which is perfect, because I go through pens pretty quickly.

Books I loved seeing: the Nguyen Kids series by Linda Trinh at the Annick Press booth. I reviewed the first book, The Secret of the Jade Bangle, for Quill and Quire, and absolutely loved it. And it was great to see Maria Ressa’s How to Stand Up to a Dictator at the Another Story Bookshop booth. Maria Ressa is a Nobel Peace Prize winner and an award-winning journalist from the Phillippines. She tirelessly speaks truth to power against authoritarian Philippine governments, and I very much admire her work and her courage.

Other highlights were a Soapbox Science area by Toronto Metropolitan University. I can’t remember what this particular scientist was talking about, but I overheard another telling folks how X-rays worked. Also, how awesome is Poesy? You could sit with one of their poets and they would compose a poem for you on the spot!

And finally, the highlight of any outdoor festival — the junk food! The corn on the cob and potato twists are my classic go-to’s at any festival. The Choco Churros looks so yummy I’m sorely tempted to come back tomorrow just so I could give it a try. Also, as someone who’s trying to reduce my meat intake, I’m beyond thrilled that this festival had a booth just for veggie hotdogs. I didn’t get a chance to look at their menu, but I’m curious if they actually offer a variety of options. (Fingers crossed!)

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Thanks to the Word of the Street Festival for inviting me and my blog to be part of the fun!