TORONTO COSPLAY PICNIC OVERVIEW

The first annual Toronto Cosplay Picnic was a ton of fun. It started bright and early on a Thursday morning by the Toronto ferry docks. It was hard to miss the swarm of colorful costumers gathering to take the ferry to Centre Island (yes, Toronto has islands).

The weather looked to be an issue. In the morning, it looked as if it was going to rain, but by the afternoon it cleared up, and it proved to be the perfect sunny day for the picnic. Moreover, by the end of the day, over 60 people showed up. That's a better turn out than any of us expected, especially considering the fact this was the first time this event was held.

After a little wait on the mainland, the attendees boarded the ferry and we were off. It was really amusing so see the cosplayers intermingled with the "normals" (mostly families) present on the ferry.

Tragically, Cloud Strife couldn't bring his giant sword downtown Toronto and onto the ferry.

Upon arrival at the island, we walked around for a bit, stopping every so often for photos. After stopping by the water fountain for a group photo, we headed towards the gardens. We took a variety of cosplay photos and played tennis with a beach ball before stopping near the hedge maze for lunch.

Once lunch was complete, we terrorized the hedge maze and then headed towards Centreville. Centreville is an amusement park for young children and many of the rides are meant for kids until four feet tall. It also happens to be the main attraction of Centre Island. Many cosplayers ventured into the family-filled amusement park and attempted to mingle with the normals.

The rest of the colorful lot stayed under some tree in parkland close to the entrance of Centreville. We were asked numerous times if we were performers and if we were crazy. The little kids from camps visiting the island found us amusing, and we found out that waving at people who stared at us made them stop.

Sometimes blending in can be hard. When buying tickets to go on one of the rides, one of the Naruto cosplayers was stopped by the person minding the ticket booth and told, "Nice Naruto costume!"

The highlight of the afternoon occurred when a splash could be heard across the way, and the picnic turned its attention to the swan ride. It seemed that one of the swans had capsized. Upon closer inspection, it wasn't normals, but Prince of Tennis cosplayers in the water, struggling to return to shore.

The rest of the afternoon was spent sitting around, talking, wandering, causing chaos, and well... it was complete random-ness.

Cosplayers and non-cosplayers alike sat and chatted about a variety of subjects, including Anime North, the wonder that is Prince of Tennis, and a debate involving ninjas and a pink umbrella.

Some cosplayers did the timewarp, while others played red rover. A Kakashi (Naruto) cosplayer who came late due to a math exam made the mistake of falling asleep and awoke many times to find himself "decorated". Other acts of randomness included writing on the face of "Momo" who refused to cosplay, poisoning plants with Inui juice, stealing brains, scaring ducks, and drawing on Rock Lee's (also from Naruto) eyebrows with a sharpie.

By the end of the afternoon, the cosplay crowd began to dwindle. After saying hello to a nice couple getting married, the last of us returned to the mainland, but not before scaring more normals and imitating a scene from Titanic on the ferry.

All in all, a great time was had by all those that attended. We will definitely hold this event again next year. A big thank you to all those attended.