Ford government delays paying Taste of the Danforth full $200K premier promised

Months after Premier Doug Ford promised to revive the Taste of the Danforth with hundreds of thousands of dollars in provincial funding, the cash from Queen’s Park has been slow to arrive, leaving festival organizers facing pressure over unpaid bills.

The popular street festival, which typically attracts up to a million people to Toronto’s Greektown, took a three-year hiatus in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Since then, it has struggled to regain its financial footing.

Faced with the potential permanent end of the festival, Ford promised to rescue the Taste of the Danforth earlier this year with taxpayer funding from Queen’s Park and City Hall.

“I’ve got an idea — I’m going off-script, I always get in trouble. Do you know what I miss? I miss the Taste of the Danforth,” Ford said in February in an off-the-cuff moment at an unrelated news conference.

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“I will commit, and I’ll talk to our friend the boss there (Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy) to see if we can put money into revitalize Taste of the Danforth.”

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In June, the government followed through on the funding commitment, offering $200,000 to the GreekTown on the Danforth Business Improvement Area, twinning the amount pledged by the City of Toronto.

“People were very happy. It’s a major event in this community, it’s a major event in this city and having the province come onside was a really good sign,” said Peter Tabuns, the NDP MPP representing the area.

The BIA received a funding agreement letter from the provincial government in April, paving the way for organizers to plan the event, book guests, and hire security for the festival over the weekend of Aug. 7.

Six weeks after the souvlaki was served, organizers are still awaiting the full funding amount from the province to arrive.

“The BIA has been saying to me, and I gather to the province, ‘Look, we have vendors who haven’t been paid. We need you to come forward with the money,'” Tabuns said.

“As of Friday, last week, the funds hadn’t arrived.”

While the BIA declined an interview request from Global News, Tabuns said they haven’t received a specific answer from the Ministry of Tourism on the reasons behind the delay, only that the funding has been stalled.

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The Ministry of Tourism told Global News the government has been working with organizers to “resolve their several document issues” in order for the funding to be released.

“To date, our government has flowed over 60 per cent of the funding awarded to Taste of Danforth,” the ministry said in a statement.

“As with all public funding, there are strict guidelines in place to protect taxpayer dollars. As such, the entirety of the funding will be provided only once the organization submits their final reporting and audited financial statements.”

Tabuns said vendors have been increasingly flagging the payment issue to the BIA and suggested the delay risks trust built with suppliers.

“Vendors need money because it’s not the greatest economy. But if you’re going to have future events, they need to have confidence that they will get paid,” Tabuns said.

“So if you want to have a successful event next year, vendors this year need to know that money came in … that it’s not a risk getting involved next year.”

The government has yet to commit to funding the festival in 2027.