Category: Events and Festivals

Kite festival

Hopeville Kite Festival

by BJM Publishing, posted in Adventure, Events and Festivals, Family and Friends

Many years ago, I took my nephews to a kite festival and they were just as enchanted as I to see all the various kites flying above them.  Today there are much more elaborate kites available, and on show in abundance this past weekend. Kite flying apparently originated in ancient China over 2,000 years ago. (some say South Pacific)

A quaint little Ontario town by the name of Hopeville located just west of Dundalk held the largest kite festival in the province Saturday, Aug 29 through Sunday, Aug 30th., which turned out to be “a magical weekend of flight, music, food and more.”

Although it is a free event, organizers welcome donations to help put on the festival year after year. The festival address is 125849 Southgate Rd. 12 in Dundalk, Ontario and if you missed it this year, you will likely be able to catch it next August as it is an annual event. The Hopeville Kite Festival is proudly funded by the Government of Ontario. The Family Fun Zone is made possible by a grant from Community Foundation Grey Bruce.

Attendees could bring their own kites or purchase one at the venue — the festival welcomes flyers of every skill level.  There was a designated fly zone for the public and many people brought their own lawn chairs just to sit and marvel at all the kites soaring above and around them.  Where else would you be able to see an ice cream cone flying about.  Not to mention an astronaut, a sea horse, a tall ship, octopi, fish, and dragons.  You could get dizzy just from having to swivel your head around to catch them all.

Dragon
Gone fishing
Octopus
Racing
spiky collar
Octopus

Tip: The ultimate trick to flying a kite is maintaining tension on the string. Always stand with your back to the wind, let the kite catch the breeze, and pull gently on the line when it dips or feed it line when it climbs. Never let the line go completely slack.

Some interesting facts regarding kites:

The smallest kite in the world which actually flies is 5mm high.

The largest number of kites flown on a single line is 11,284. This record is held by a Japanese kite maker.

The longest kite in the world is 7,700 metres in length.

The largest kite in the world is the Megabite 55 x 22 metres (630sq metres).

The fastest recorded speed of a kite is over 120 mph. (193 km/h).

The record for the highest single kite flown is 3801 metres (12,471ft).

Some Japanese kites weigh over 2 tons. And some of the longest Chinese Dragon kites are over 600 metres long.

You do not need wind to fly a kite.

Kite flying is one of the fastest growing sports in the world.

More adults in the world fly kites than children.

People were flying kites 1,000 years before paper was invented.

The first powered aircraft were large box kites with motors fitted to them.

Kites have been used for fishing, bird scaring, delivering mail and papers, forecasting the weather and frightening evil spirits away.

Benjamin Franklin used a kite to prove that lightning was electricity.

What began as a community kite festival has grown into an event that attracts professional kite flyers from across North America and visitors from Ontario and beyond. Now in its fourth year, the Hopeville Kite Festival continues to combine the excitement of a major kite display with the welcoming atmosphere of a rural Ontario community.

If you have never had the opportunity to experience a kite flying festival, let your inner child emerge and attend one. 

Upcoming 2026 Kite Festivals in Ontario

New Park Unveiling (Newmarket): September 19–20, 2026

Kites in the Field (Lucknow): September 26–27, 2026

Eau To Joy on the Beach (Erieau): October 17–18, 2026

Exploring Dale Chihuly: Master of Glass Sculpture

by BJM Publishing, posted in Events and Festivals, Gardens and/or Museums, Travel, Art

Dale Chihuly is a renowned American glass sculptor who has created a successful glass-blowing empire and has various works of art displayed throughout the world. His work is known for vibrant colors, organic shapes, and immense scale—often imitating natural forms like sea life, flowers, and botanical structures. Born in Tacoma, Washington, in 1941, Chihuly initially studied interior design at the University of Washington before taking up glassblowing.

In 1967, Chihuly earned the distinction of being the first American to work at the famous Venini glass factory on the island of Murano in Venice. His time there clearly influenced both his aesthetics and his glassblowing techniques. The team-based, fluid approach he learned there heavily shaped his collaborative studio model. Over the years he has created a number of masterful “Venetian” blown-glass works that look to the traditions of that city’s glass-making industry while also maintaining a striking sense of sculptural originality.

He co-founded the Pilchuck Glass School in Washington in 1971, turning the Pacific Northwest into a global hub for glass art. After a 1976 car accident cost him vision in his left eye, Chihuly stepped back from holding the blowpipe. Instead, he transitioned into an “orchestrator,” leading teams of master glassblowers to execute his vision. The Chihuly Garden and Glass complex at Seattle Center broke ground in 2011 and opened to the public on May 21st, 2012.

In 2016, The ROM (Royal Ontario Museum) featured an exhibition that showcased an extraordinary collection of glass in ways I had not seen before. 

‘The Fiori di Como’ at the Bellagio Hotel covers 2100 square feet and contains over 2000 hand-blown glass blossoms and weighs 20 tons.  It is an incredible feat of engineering and originality. 

You can also find a glass Chihuly ceiling in the lobby of the Soho Hotel in Toronto.

Suspended directly under the ceramic dome of the Victoria and Albert Museum’s main entrance on Cromwell Road is the V&A Chandelier; it is a massive, vibrant explosion of blue, green, and yellow blown glass. Another permanent commercial installation, the Amber and Gold Chandelier, is located inside Harrods of London.

His recurrent stylistic groups—such as Seaforms, Macchia, Persians, and Baskets—are staples in over 200 museum collections worldwide. In 2019 in Kew Gardens in London Chihuly had a fantastic open air exhibition that my sister-in-law, Joyce was lucky enough to see and who took the following photos!

If you should find yourself travelling and have the opportunity to see some of his work, especially in a landscaped environment, I urge you to go and see up close and personal these fantastical works of art. You will not regret it!

Erté: A Journey Through Art and Elegance

by BJM Publishing, posted in Adventure, Art, Events and Festivals

Romain de Tirtoff was born on  November 23, 1892 in Saint Petersburg, Russia to an aristocratic family. He was a pioneering Russian-born French artist and designer known as the “Father of Art Deco”. His designs included dresses and accessories for women; costumes and opulent sets for opera, ballet, and dramatic productions; and posters and prints. Moved to Paris, France, in 1912 against his family’s wishes to pursue art. Adopted the pseudonym Erté, which is the French pronunciation of his initials R.T. (Romain de Tirtoff).

He joins the ranks of the elite who are known worldwide by their first names, such as Cher, Madonna, Twiggy, Elvis, Bono, Adele, etc.  Erté designed over 240 covers and thousands of illustrations with Harper’s Bazaar over 22 years starting in 1915.  (A collection of Harper’s Bazaar illustrations was published in Designs by Erté [1976] with text by Stella Blum.) He also crafted extravagant costumes and stage sets for the Folies Bergère in Paris, Ziegfeld Follies in New York, and Hollywood films.  This is the stage of his career that entrances me the most.  His costumes were exceptionally brilliant and unique. He worked in many fields, including jewelry, sculpture, and interior decor.  He worked for nearly eight decades and died in Paris, France in 1990 at 97 years of age of kidney failure.

He wrote his autobiography, Things I Remember in 1975. Erté’s legacy serves as a reminder of the intersection between art and society, illustrating how a singular artistic voice can resonate across generations and shape cultural narratives. The name remains a symbol of elegance and aesthetic excellence, firmly rooted in the annals of art history.

The only thing I have seen that comes close to the theatricality of Erte is in some of the wearable float costumes of Toronto’s Caribana festival.  If you have the opportunity, you should try to get to spend the week-end at the Parade, a tad pricey for a hotel room during that time but the amount of colour, tinsel, sparkles, feathers, skin, and dancing is incredible. A cornucopia of visual delight or a photographer’s idea of heaven!

Erte
Deco days

Cherry Blossom Season

by BJM Publishing, posted in Events and Festivals, Gardens and/or Museums

Cherry blossom – or sakura – season in Tokyo, Japan is truly a magical experience. Thousands of trees burst into bloom, dousing the streets with stunning shades of pink. The flowers are a national obsession and people flock to parks to hold hanami (picnic) parties. Often featuring food, drinks, and social gatherings, these parties take place in parks and gardens to celebrate the short-lived, beautiful blossoms.

Vancouver is arguably the cherry blossom capital of Canada, home to more than 40,000 cherry trees planted across the city beginning to blossom early March to May. In 1925, the mayors of Kobe and Yokohama presented the Vancouver Park Board with five hundred trees of the Ojochin variety for planting at the cenotaph in Stanley Park, in honour of Japanese Canadian veterans of WWI.

In 1958, three hundred more cherry trees were donated by the Japanese consul as a symbol of friendship between Canada and Japan. These trees were soon planted along Cambie Boulevard, between 49th and 33rd Avenues, in Queen Elizabeth Park, and around the cenotaph in Stanley Park. 2025 marked a century since the historic introduction of the Ojochin tree to Vancouver. Over the past hundred years, cherry trees have enticed and enamoured locals and visitors alike; their significance to the city’s arboricultural, cultural, and social landscapes is abundant. Queen Elizabeth Park would be the best place to see the blossoms if you are restricted on time visiting Vancouver.

Generally, late April to early May is the best time to see these blossoms in Ontario. As they only blossom for a week or two at best, it would be wise to check online when optimum dates would be. Places to visit in Toronto include High Park which has approximately 2,000 trees and is extremely popular so walking, cycling or using the subway is highly recommended.

With almost 500 trees, Centennial Park in Etobicoke is home to the second-largest cherry blossom tree collection in Ontario.

Named in honour of Kariya, Mississauga’s sister city in central Japan, Kariya Park is a serene Japanese-inspired garden featuring a pond, boardwalk, pavilion and a beautiful grove of over 300 cherry blossom trees.

Trinity Bellwoods Park (Toronto): Features roughly 70 Sakura trees with iconic views of the CN Tower.
Exhibition Place (Toronto): A quieter spot with a significant canopy of cherry trees near the Princes’ Gate and Princess Margaret Fountain.
University of Toronto (St. George & Scarborough): Several, including a large cluster on Arboretum Lane at the Keele campus and near Robarts Library.

Outside of Toronto is the Royal Botanical Gardens in Burlington/Hamilton area which features a large collection of tress located south of the lilac dell and the Niagara Parks Botanical Gardens in Niagara Falls where cherry trees bloom in mid to late May near the entrance. Shakespearean Gardens in Stratford, Spencer Smith Park in Burlington are other spots.

Top contender in the U.S.A. is The International Cherry Blossom Festival is held in Macon, Georgia, every spring. Macon, known as the “Cherry Blossom Capital of the World,” has around 300,000–350,000 Yoshino Cherry Trees that bloom around the city in late March every year.

The Year of the Fire Horse

by BJM Publishing, posted in Events and Festivals

The Chinese New Year is being celebrated around the world in different venues and Cities to honour the Year of the Horse, particularly the Fire Horse for 2026. Celebrations started on February 17 and will conclude on Wednesday, March 03rd.

The Year of the Fire Horse is special because it occurs only once every 60 years, representing a rare convergence of the Horse zodiac sign and the fire element. This pairing creates a high-energy, volatile year known for rapid, intense, and often chaotic change, fueling both massive ambition and potential instability. Seems to be on point so far!

Year of the Horse