This weekend Toronto said a final farewell to the famous landmark discount store, Honest Ed's. We joined in the festivities, enjoying the sprawling art maze and performances throughout the massive building.
Honest Ed's, which closed at the end of last year, was a famous discount store run by Ed Mirvish that had been around since the late 1940s. Spread over multiple floors of several connected buildings, and adorned by its iconic lit-up sign, Honest Ed's was a landmark in Toronto, and remained an interesting place to explore right up until the end. This weekend, before the building is torn down to make way for new development, the Centre for Social Innovation organised one last send-off party, transforming the vast empty rooms of the complex into art installations and performance spaces.
We showed up on Saturday afternoon and the place was buzzing. It was strange to see rooms that had once been full to the brim with every conceivable product, now taken over by a wild assortment of art installations. Old signs declaring all sorts of bargains, and signed headshots of Ed Mirvish's famous pals still adorned the walls, however.
After posing inside of a giant birthday cake, we set off to get lost in the art maze. In every room throughout the building there were multiple art installations, ranging from walls covered in graffiti to a model of Toronto made of plush toys.
After posing inside of a giant birthday cake, we set off to get lost in the art maze. In every room throughout the building there were multiple art installations, ranging from walls covered in graffiti to a model of Toronto made of plush toys.
We couldn't believe just how big the store was. We had been in before and gotten lost, but this time the maze seemed to go on and on as we continued to discover more and more new strange spaces hidden throughout. The art installations were really varied and interesting, and seemed like a great used of the space. Some favourites include a live demonstration of spin painting by Callen Schaub and The Death of Dishonest Adbel by performance artist 2Fik (its kind of hard to explain because we were both a bit confused, but it was a cool concept). We also just really enjoyed exploring the building, and the surprise of something new around every corner.
It'll be sad for many to see the iconic signage disappear from Bloor and Bathurst, but at least Honest Ed's got a good send off. We really enjoyed our time exploring the immersive art maze, and judging by the crowds, so did a lot of other people.
Here are some more pictures from the event:
Here are some more pictures from the event:
(SLIDESHOW)
This time last year we were still enjoying Curacao, and two years ago we were learning how to cook some tasty Indian food.
