What To Expect For Your First Kensington Market Pedestrian Sunday | The Full-Time Tourist

Ever wonder what would happen if you shut down the streets leading into the pedestrian hub of Toronto? That’s basically what Kensington Market Pedestrian Sunday is all about. Instead of cars, there are street performers, giant boardgames, food vendors and musicians.

Since 2003, Kensington Market has shut down its streets on the last Sunday of every month between May and October for its pedestrians. As the area is known for its local shops, fusion foods and unique conglomeration of culture, Pedestrian Sundays draw huge crowds, personalities and fun activities for people of all ages.

What to Expect During Kensington Market Pedestrian Sunday?

Hours: 12 – 7 p.m.

There are three main draws to Kensington Market Pedestrian Sunday. Firstly, KMPS draws local restaurants and food vendors to the streets. I always stop for some empanada colombiana’s from Latin America Emporium, otherwise known as the Colombian place with the blue garage door. I’ll also do a tour of gluten-free and vegan ice creameries, if it’s a hot summer day. My go-to is the coconut ice cream or ice cream pops at Sweet Olenka’s, or the cashew-based ice cream from Cosmic Treats! Otherwise, coffee is a must from one of my favourite coffee shops in the market!

Secondly, the local art and craft booths are some of the best in the city! While Toronto is forever having markets, Kensington Market Pedestrian Sunday is a great place to uncover local artists. I was definitely tempted a few times to buy these cute little cacti in tea cups while walking around the market stalls!

Finally, what KMPS is most known for is its street perfomers. Listen to the hillbilly in a cowboy hat, coveralls with no shirt, strumming a guitar and tapping a bell from the hotel lobby as he sings in an old country genre. Watch the belly dancer dancing to the beat of some hippie drummers under some trees in the park. Or join the crowd around the guy with a fire whip.

Oh yes. This is a man standing with a “flaming sex toy.” (His words, not mine.) Armed with witty words and a fiery whip, he is well worth the 10-minute act. Watch as he whips the ground, forming a wall of fire momentarily in the air before he goes deeper into this circus-worthy act!

What do you get with a degree in astrophysics and mathematics? According to this street performer: a giant flaming whip. Because what’s more exciting than a fiery snake-like object wrapping around a performer’s body before smacking it against the ground? Certainly not math or science. He cracks the whip and it just misses the strands of spaghetti that David, a ‘volunteer’ picked out of the crowd, is holding. Fire jumps off the asphalt. “This looked a lot easier on YouTube!” the performer says to the crowd. David laughs nervously and looks over at his girlfriend in the crowd. The whip cracks again, this time slicing the spaghetti in half. “There you go, David. Some pre-cut spaghetti for dinner!” the performer said, as he grabbed some charred pieces of spaghetti off the asphalt and stuffed them into David’s pocket. David leaves the small arena, waving to the cheering crowd. He had escaped the wrath of fire and pain. For more about Kensington Market’s Pedestrian Sundays, check out the Snapshot! on the blog. *** link in bio *** #thefulltimetourist

A photo posted by Deni Verklan (@thefulltimetourist) on Jul 30, 2015 at 10:19am PDT

But if you missed the fire whip dude last Sunday, don’t worry! There will be many more amazing performers on the last Sunday of May through October!

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Have you ever been to Kensington Market Pedestrian Sunday or something similar in your city? What’s your favourite part of KMPS?

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