Ever since I was a little girl, it’s been my yearly pleasure to visit the CNE (Canadian National Exhibition) held in Toronto to herald the end of summer. Fondly referred to as the ‘ex’, the CNE runs for the last two weeks of summer and is host to visitors from around the world. There are rides, games, exhibits, and shows for every age and pocketbook.
As I child, I remember filling a bag with free goodies offered at every booth. Those freebies are hard to find these days, as are some of the exhibit buildings. Every year it seems that some of my old favourites are gone and new displays are added. More than once I’ve wished for the good old days of the ex, but not this year.
Why the change? My usual routine has been to spend my days walking from building to building, visiting the booths, looking for something familiar. But this year, I went with a number of young people who had little interest in exhibits. Rides and games were too expensive at $5 and up. That left the shows.
The ex has always had shows – some for children and some for a general audience. I’ve just never bothered to see more than one or two of them during my visits before. As I said, this time was different. We needed a plan so that we could see as many shows as our time allowed. The CNE grounds are huge, so we couldn’t afford to be going from one end to the other. There is a shuttle if we’d wanted to ride, but it runs every 15 minutes and is quite popular.
We started first thing in the morning at Kids World near the Dufferin Gates. One very smart move on the part of the CNE was to move the kiddy rides from the general midway over to this Kids World area. Much less crowded and easier to watch them. There, you’ll also find a petting zoo, a reptile exhibit, crafts, science and lego activities, kids entertainers, and other activities for young children.
Our favourite was the pizza making workshop. Each child was given a small piece of dough and shown how to knead it. Cameras clicked as the parents watched the small pizzas being thrown into the air by the eager young cooks. Afterwards, each child was given a slice of fresh baked pizza that had been cooking as they worked. Then colouring books were passed out with coupons for a free pizza on the back. Not a slice, but an entire three topping pizza.
After Kids World, we started to make our way to the other end of the ex, stopping whenever anything caught our attention. Those included the fishing display, the farm building, and the food building, where we grabbed a foot-long hot dog for under $2. Then on to the illusion show.
What started as a crushed pop can was stroked until it filled out again and lost its dents. Then the opening at the top of the pop can closed back up when the magician’s hand passed over it. Next, he pretended to fill the can with his finger. I was left shaking my head as the tab was pulled off the once empty and broken can and glass of pop was poured out of it. There was also an unbelievable escape act that I can’t even begin to explain.
Our next show was the Super Dogs. If you’re a dog person, you’ll enjoy every minute, although one of our teens thought it was a bit long. One of the highlites for me was a lady from out west who danced with her dog.
After the dog show, we watched dancers from Russia. They were all ages and seemed to enjoy performing as much as we enjoyed watching them.
My grandson spent quite a bit of time at the armed forces display, especially since he was allowed to sit in a tank, a jet, and a boat.
A daily Mardi Gras parade passed through the grounds as we made our way to the final show of the day – a mix of figure skating, acrobatics, multimedia, and singing. The star of the show was Elvis Stojko and the whole cast was amazing. That one show alone was worth more than the cost of admission.
There were a number of other shows playing at various bandstands throughout the ex grounds, but it would have taken another whole day to visit them all. The cost is a mere $15 per adult, $11 for seniors and children over two. As a senior, I managed to spend the whole day at the CNE, including food, for under $20. So it is possible to enjoy the ex no matter what your income.
If you’re in the Toronto area, there are still a few more days to enjoy the Canadian National Exhibition. The grand finale is always Labour Day weekend when the air show also performs. Go ahead and enjoy a Canadian tradition, then tell me about your visit.
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