Written by: Lawrence Rodriguez
Lawrence Rodriguez is a youth journalist for FOCUS Media Art Centre

On July 3rd, 2024, the community of Regent Park came together to form the vibrant weekly market of Taste of Regent Park. This weekly event, lasts approximately a month from July 3rd to September 4th, from 5:00 to 8:00 PM, featuring talented individuals and groups, such as local artisans, craftspeople, community organizations, food vendors, and entertainers. Opening for today is Snooky Tunes, a prominent Regent Park musician who encompasses the park with songs and music with his band.

A Taste of Regent Park allows its neighbourhood to come together as a community to experiment with entrepreneurial endeavours. If you come to this weekly event, you can expect to experience unique cultural cuisine, and talented local vendors selling clothes, jewellery accessories, art, crafts, food, and various other things set up in booths to sell to others in the neighbourhood. In these booths, you can also expect to find community agency information and resources. Among these booths are volunteers from local organizations such as Seventh Generation Midwives Toronto, Green Thumb, and Fred Victor, who is hosting the event with the help of event sponsors such as Daniels, and the Moez & Marissa Kassam Foundation. The goal of Taste of Regent Park is to stimulate social engagement, increase safety in Toronto's downtown east, increase good food access, and foster local employment and training opportunities.

If you missed this week's event, don't worry, as you can expect to find A Taste of Regent Park to return every Wednesday from 5:00 to 8:00 PM until September 4th, so stay wary of this amazing event, located at the heart of Regent Park. You don't want to miss it!