The New Yorker + Canadian Tourism Summer Festival Tour
I can’t believe it has taken me so long to share this past assignment here, where in 2011 I covered seven festivals across Canada in partnership with Destination Canada and The New Yorker. Given I am both a Canadian AND a New Yorker, I couldn’t believe my luck. Little did we know – pre influencer, multimedia storyteller days – what we were creating. I blogged, photographed, produced video, posted on social, all while covering the following: Okanagan Wine Festival, Calgary Stampede, Luminato Festival, Toronto Film Festival, Stratford Shakespeare Festival, Montreal Jazz Festival and PEI Shellfish Festival. More of my photos can be seen here.
At the time, I was simultaneously working for Forbes, and taking off every few weeks for a new festival and destination. And made me proud to bring stories from so many beautiful places, sharing the wonderful people, and celebrate art, music, food, and culture along the way. I also made lifelong travel press friends on some of the stops whom I still speak with regularly now. Canada is obviously a huge Country (2nd largest in the world), with a small population (36 millions), but the rich mosaic of mutliculturalism and distinct traditions are an incredible thing to explore. Let me break down my stops below, as we visited The Okanagan (BC), Calgary (AB), Toronto (ON), Stratford (ON), Montreal (QC), Charlottetown (PEI)
The sunning Okangan is western wine country in Canada, producing some extraordinary wine, produce and views.
The Calgary Stampede just celebrated 120 years and is THE rodeo destination in North America.
An annual ten-day celebration of the arts in Toronto, the largest city in Canada
Toronto International Film Festival
Largely considered the most important film festival to premiere at, one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually.
Stratford Shakespeare Festival
An an internationally recognized annual repertory theatre festival running annually from April to October in the city.
The greatest! Musicians from around the globe show up for this one (even Prince played a three day set in a tiny club). The Festival International de Jazz de Montréal holds the 2004 Guinness World Record as the world’s largest jazz festival.
Join the “Biggest Kitchen Party in Atlantic Canada” boasting good friends, good times, good music and lots of world-famous Prince Edward Island shellfish.