Mayor, police look to improve Halloween on Church festivities after 50,000 attend - Toronto Star

Mayor Olivia Chow said she and the local BIA will review how the event that brought 50,000 to Church Street can be structured better next year.

Chucky and his bride haunt Church Street at its annual Halloween celebration, where the mayor said 50,000 were in attendance.

Halloween revellers packed Toronto’s Church Street over the weekend, prompting city officials to consider ways to better manage the growing celebration.

At a press conference Monday, Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow said attendance at the annual Halloween on Church event reached approximately 50,000 people.

The two-night celebration held Friday and Saturday in the Church-Wellesley Village transformed the neighbourhood — also known as Toronto’s Gay Village — into a massive Halloween street party.

Social media posts show partygoers in spooky, eye-catching costumes making their way through large, densely packed crowds to bars and restaurants, posing to take photos, while music plays in the background. 

Halloween on Church street Toronto https://t.co/rBFqmFd5Nu pic.twitter.com/vor91SGbSe

The annual event is billed as an inclusive, family-friendly celebration of queer identity and self-expression, welcoming everyone to join the festivities, according to its website.

“Street festival needs to be done in a way that is safe, and people have lots of enjoyment from it,” Chow said Monday, adding she plans to work closely with the Church Wellesley Village Business Improvement Area and community members to improve safety at the event.

Two characters from The Purge take a swing during Halloween on Church Street.

Chow said the goal is to see “how it can be structured better, how it could be organized better, so that everyone can continue to have fun at Halloween nights.”

Toronto police Chief Myron Demkiw said officers work with local communities to maintain safety at all street festivals and ensure adequate police resources are available to deal with what’s happening. 

He added that discussions between Toronto police and the city manager’s office are ongoing to prepare for “next street festival season next year.”

“We are a city that enjoys street festivals at large, and we’ve learned over the years that the growth of them is something we need to consider and how we manage them going forward,” Demkiw said.

Police initially said 80,000 people were expected in a social media video where an officer shared tips to enjoy the festivities safely.

Adshayah Sathiaseelan is a staff reporter with the Star. She can be reached at asathiaseelan@thestar.ca.