Mediocre Fireworks with Pedestrian and Vehicle Chaos in Toronto

January 1, 2024January 1, 2024canada, Fireworks, new year, sad fireworks, sad NYE celebration, stampede, toronto, Toronto Fireworks

Toronto, city with over 2,7 Million people living in Toronto proper and over 6,7 Million people living in the GTA has seen a very forgettable New Year Eve celebration and very mediocre fireworks. This year celebration in Toronto down town core will be surely remembered as human stampede and traffic collapse.

Whoever was adventurous enough to go for fireworks display to Toronto waterfront last night could probably not believe the sadness of “the biggest fireworks in Canada”. At least that’s how this event was advertised as! I am not sure what the biggest firework was in Canadian history but this year, Toronto’s new major and city council have organized a mediocre new year celebration in a world known, world famous and biggest Canadian city.

No free public open air celebrations this year, no live music, no performances and off course no world wide televised fireworks! But why? Has Canada become so mediocre? Don’t we all deserve to be among the best in the world, proud to be among the best in the world for at least one night? I guess, this is too much to ask from the city who collects taxes from it’s 2,7 million residents, from thousands of businesses and tourists. Probably 30 years ago CN Tower was enough to amaze many residents and visitors alike but in 2023/24 this is simply not enough Toronto!

Traffic collapse and human stampede

For the night to be even more sad, driving for instance to city core was an impossible journey and for the lucky ones who managed to arrive on time and find an impossible place to park needed to watch out for felt like two million people rushing to water front area. And this is not an exaggeration! From Don Valley Parkway to QEW to Lake Shore Road and to all down town streets, traffic came to a full stop for at least 2-3 hours! Traffic lights were changing from red to green but pile up of cars just could’t move! To my surprise Police officers were nowhere to be seen! Not a single police officer to regulate traffic, direct people or to protect visitors from possible harm! Just few special constables who were themselves confused at the display of sheer chaos! I could not stop but to crack jokes and compare the traffic gridlock and human stampede to zombie apocalypse. I could not but to think about, what would happen if someone gets injured or if a fire breaks out? How would ambulance, firefighters and police officers manage to come to the place of accident in time? Nah, why would something happen in mass of felt like two million people and traffic chaos? What could possibly happen?

Best Fireworks in Canada

And the ten minutes of sad fireworks was over! Felt like two million people started to walk the opposite way as the last fire cracker was extinguished! What a nightmare. Mass of people wanted to go back to their destinations. As you can imagine, the chaos just evolved into new level of mayhem. Luckily we managed to arrive home safely just past 4 AM! Nothing special, just about 3,5 hours drive from downtown core to Newmarket. Light speed fast for 55 km drive.

Walked into my home, and I sat down, turned on the TV and it hit me! I flipped the channels and came across televised NYE Fireworks from Rio, London and Dubai. I could have shared a tear or two, looking at the glory of fiery display of nations celebrating new year, compare it to our “biggest fireworks in the country”, turned the other cheek waiting for the second slap. Got tired of waiting.

After couple minutes of the movie running in my head, turned off the TV and went to bed!