High Park online forum, reviews, questions and answers

The High Park forum is a place where you can post and answer questions and share your experiences, good or bad, about the time you've spent at Toronto's largest public park.

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The FAQ page has now been launched - questions that are answered on the FAQ page or elsewhere on the website will no longer be posted on this page.

I want to visit the park this weekend (may 18th/19th) - are the cherry blossoms still out?

I've read about some complaints about people who are not caring towards the cherry blossom trees. I am shocked. Thanks for posting as I was not aware of it. I visited the cherry blossoms on the 5th of May & was awestruck yet again by its beauty even though this is the 4th year I'm there. Thank goodness I've not personally witnessed such a terrible act.
Maybe some signboards should be put up to educate the public. It is saddening to know that there are still such senseless people out there...

Thanks to this site I & a few friends were able to enjoy the blossoms when they were in full bloom. We were there on the 5th of May. We even managed to have a picnic near the trees.
Timing is so important to catch this beautiful phenomenon.
It is a shame though that the city workers were not on schedule to clear the garbage. They were all overflowing. Will not give a good impression to tourists.
Anyway still very happy that I can enjoy this every year in Toronto !
Spring is not complete without the cherry blossoms & they are growing more & more beautiful each year !

The previous comment is a perfect example of what will NOT be posted on this forum anymore. It is only posted as a final example so everyone understands what I mean when I say "Please, read the FAQ page and other pages before you ask questions that are already answered."

Going forward, the forum will not be clogged up with questions from people who do zero research before they ask questions and somehow feel entitled to a detailed answer.

"Are the fall flowers removed by November 9th?" Well, you're right, there is no answer to this question on this website, so if anyone knows the answer please post it here - also please include details about just how short the grass will be cut by Nov 9th.

Good morning,

We are looking for a place to take our wedding pictures Nov 9th of this year.
I was wondering if you could tell us if your gardens are maintained at this time of year or if the fall flowers and such are removed by this time. Where would I find the cost and paperwork to be able to attend for pictures.

I just wrote an email to the parks address at the city below. Good idea, I hope others follow suit.

What I didn\'t do was post a link to this thread, maybe someone else can do that so they can see the other comments.

When does the government restock the grenider pond?and what types of fish ate there to catch?

To people who saw others deliberately damage trees, May 10, 2013 , posted by Thuy

To all the people on here who had commented/complaint about seeing others break off tree branches and shook the tree, did you guys do anything about it besides coming on here after the fact it's happened? For those who didn't do anything, why bother bringing it up HERE on the internet when you didn't do anything about it in person?

Everyone who's complaining here, please do what I did and write to the city as well: parks@toronto.ca

Reference High Park cherry blossoms in your subject line, and ask them to do something next year about people breaking branches, overflowing garbage cans, lack of washrooms, or whatever else you think needs fixed. They won't know about the issues unless we tell them!

Extremely poor planning of the city to welcome visitors to the park. The city is well aware that this is an annual event that attracts thousands of visitors, so many more portable toilets should be set up in various locations throughout the park. Really disappointing!!!

I am trying to understand the logic behind having the High Park trolley/train go through spring road, a designated off leash area? Most dogs are not fond of loud, moving vehicles such as this one, in fact, mine would bolt. It\'s already difficult to keep dogs in the designated off leash area given that it\'s not properly fenced, there are holes in the fence not repaired, latches missing/broken, etc, so I would like to know if the Park will consider rerouting the trolley to avoid scaring dogs and their owners. If you take the time to survey dog owners who use the park daily, you will discover that this is a unanimous head-scratcher. Thank you for your time and attention.

The blooms are almost gone...lots of falling petals Wednesday. So I definitely would not say that the cherry blossoms are still in "full bloom". Compared to Saturday, the trees look pretty green from afar (whereas they were unmistakably pink Saturday). Up close, they are still pretty and people got pretty excited about the shower of petals. I think they'll be gone before the weekend as rain is expected Friday. Parking is still a little difficult on weekdays (not bad but it does take some looking or walking from further spots)...definitely not as bad as the weekend. On Saturday, the parking enforcement officer was having a ball going down the street giving each car a ticket. And people are behaving better...less climbing and I didn't catch anyone walking away with branches of flowers (which is NOT cool). Also, park seems pretty clean...they cleaned up the garbage, bins are not overflowing and lots of porta-potties in addition to the flush toilets (didn't check to see how clean they were though). Good luck to whoever still plans on going!

I visited this afternoon and there was quite a breeze picking up. Most of the blooms are now petals on the ground, but there was enough left on the tress to get a few photos. I'm so happy I went on a weekday afternoon. Was able to get a parking spot within a few minutes, and the trees were beautiful, even with only 1/4 the blooms left. I found people to be polite & helpful, but it was definitely busy around 4 pm today, so I can only imagine what a weekend would be like. Thank you to everyone on the forum & the people who run this site for making my first trip to High Park ever a great one!

I went to the park to see the cherry blossom trees, for the first time ever, with my partner and we were impressed by the kindness of strangers when we asked them to take our picture. I am a bit disappointed to see the lack of reverence for nature with people picking off blossoms and branches and the amount of garbage overflowing from the cans. I guess High Park is just a microcosm of how Mother Earth is treated in general by all humans regardless of race. The City of Toronto was obviously unprepared for the crowds that visited last weekend. Perhaps they should review parking, washroom and garbage accommodations for next spring. Would I visit next year? Definitely NOT on a weekend.

Dear High Park Administration,
It is totally unacceptable that tampering with the cherry trees (by breaking off branches, shaking the branches to create a shower of flowers or climbing) is on the increase in your park. As someone who spends weeks pruning and shaping trees as a hobby, i am absolutely sickened that years of growth are being destroyed in one hedonistic week. Certainly a call out for volunteers to help maintain the peace is possible. I would certainly suggest some kind of police presence; even a few officers to be on hand, as well as signs in several key languages. Take the situation seriously before some of the more passionate gardeners create a terrible scene. \"Fist-fight under Toronto high park cherry trees\" looks bad in the press.

Hello, my name is Tomek Szott, i\'m an artist / photographer / movie producer. I have recently created a virtual tour of High Park and wanted to share it with you as my gift to the community of High Park.

http://tomekszott.com/toronto-high-park-virtual-tour/

Regards,

Tomek Szott

www.tomekszott.com

Garbage everywhere and lack of washrooms plus cars everywhere is a huge concern.

Why not organize shuttles from off-site lots, maybe charge a nominal fee. People are coming in from out of town to see these, not practical to take the "subway" all of the time. Some older people can't walk from the subway down. Restrict parking on site by charging a "event fee" of $10 per car and use those funds to support the costs of garbage cleanup. Have other vendors available (lines at the cafe were huge, I like the idea of food trucks).

I have been for a number of years, I was also disgusted to see the amount of abuse to the trees this year (pulling down branches/etc) but I admit that I did climb up on a part of a solid tree that was out of the main area. I would never do this on a weak branch or climb out onto any branches.

It really just seems like "everyone for themselves" at this event. I didn't notice any staff at all when I went working the park area. Would be nice if they dumbed out the garbage a few times during the day so help people keep things clean

Two paintings I painted of the Sakura tress in full bloom this week : http://paulsaindon.com/blog

carvings, May 8, 2013 , posted by Marianne Khurana , marianne.khurana@gmail.com

Over the years I have been admiring the carved tree stumps in High Park and now I have a tree stump in my front yard and would like to find out who the person is who did the carvings in High Park.

For the people who are complaining, stop whining and do something about it!!
Make a partition, call in, do whatever it takes.
It makes no difference if you’re just here complaining about it, if you put the effort in complaining here, then why not go all the way? Shame this shame that pfffttttttt....Shame yourself for just whining.

A family cut out branches from Sakura trees, took photos and show off on Facebook. It should have policeman during this event and issue penalty tickets. Once couple people get the fine, they will spread out news and stop doing it.
It\'s shame of people who damage the park.

We walked and took our two young boys to see the Cherry Blossoms a High Park, during the week as recommended. This not a compliant as your website http://www.highparktoronto.com absurdly suggested people should not complain regarding parking violations at High Park. But as member of the Bloor West community I am truly disappointed that the city targets its citizens and tourists who travel to see this wondrous site. I spoke with 5 separate tourists who received tickets….there were hundreds of cars. It was really shameful, not world class it was a police state slap in the face for tourists. As you probably know there are 218,000+ photographs on Instagram with the hashtag #cherryblossom...imagine the number if the city was more welcoming and accommodating to people. I am embarrassed as a member of the community that people are paying $30 fines for \\\"parking on a roadway\\\" when firstly it leaves people with a horrible departure after seeing such beauty. Secondly the signs are not clear at all. Traffic was still moving, cars were not obstructing walkways, fire hydrants or driveways, or access to the park. There was absolutely no parking available. Do you really want to turn away people who are coming to enjoy the park and support local business?

I lost my camera yesterday just by the cherry blossoms and I am very devastated as I am a visitor to Canada and I have ALL my pictures taken over the last two weeks of my visit on my camera. I would very much appreciate hearing from you if it was found or returned to a lost and found dept at the park. It is a Canon S95 with pictures of my grandson (a Chinese boy of 4 years old with black hair and bright eyes) and of us on Bloor St. in the vicinity of the University of Toronto where there are other cherry blossom trees.
PLEASE let me hear from you.
Thanks a million.
June Wong

we just went there today to see the beautiful sakura trees... they are still in bloom but some has started to fall.. i dunno if naturally or deliberately.
we saw a lot of people actually shaking a branch to make the blooms fall to the ground (aren't some people just plain idiots?) just sad...
so for those who still want to catch up... go in a day or two or you wont be able to see much full blooming trees

Went to the park last weekend, both days actually. By the time it got to the end of sunday, it got really hilarious. The park basically got raped from all angles. Branches ripped apart and taken home. People were holding them like trophies. Leaves are shaken for photos until none is left. Half of the place smelled like garbage, mixed with weed. The other half is the smell from the oozing feces in the public washrooms. One tree even broke from all the climbing and there were yellow tape around it.

It was a really eye opening experience how much raping can be done in 48 hours (I was there Sat morning and then went back Sun evening). Guess this is how Toronto rolls!

Too many inconsiderate immigrants when I went. No courtesy for actual Canadians.

Just to update people about the blooming: the flower won't last much longer. I'm no expert so I can't give exact days but I don't think there will be anything left of the blossoms by the end of the weekend.

There are a ton of flowers on the ground already despite the beautiful weather. Hurry while you can!

hi there - this past Sunday (March 5th), I lost my brown Canon digital camera at High Park - if found please leave a message on this wall! thanks, much appreciated!

To the person who said I didn't know the language I heard all around me was Chinese I'm pretty sure I know what it sounds like being Chinese and having visited China many times. My point was that signs should be in different languages since a majority of visitors don't have English as a mother tongue and likely won't understand English signs. We all want the trees to be protected and preserved that is the main point.

Rose: Thanks for your idea. Making email and name mandatory for comments would result in less posts as people nowadays are increasingly concerned about their online privacy, so I'll continue to allow anonymus posts. I understand where you're coming from but this is a decision I've made a while ago after a disastrous test period when email was mandatory.

All posts are reviewed before they go live - there are a number of comments that don't make it past the review stage due to their overly aggressive, ignorant, redundant or commercial nature.

People who give their names and email stand behind their comments and people who make cowardly remarks without a name - well, just don't take them too seriously.

I was there yesterday and was appalled by people's behavior. People shaking the branches so that it would rain petals for their photo shoot. People climbing trees and breaking branches for souvenirs. When I go hiking in a provincial park, my only memories are what is my head and photographs. Even if a rock has fallen to the ground, I do not remove the rock from the park.

It was so crowded there that it made most types of photography impossible. I saw someone trying to play Director of Photograhy and ordered their assistants to move reflector discs. The only way to do photography there would be to go around sunrise.

Went there yesterday to enjoy the picture perfect scenery...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=JM7JYPhejzo

I don't think anyone labelled anyone a racist, in my response, I intended to only ask Kimberly to consider her thoughts from a different perspective. The "untouchable wall of ethnic identity" shouldn't apply to habits that destroy public property or trees that are meant for everybody, I think that is a given. On the other hand, tolerance for people different from you, whether it be language or customs has helped make Toronto a great city in my opinion.

Do you find it ironic that we go to admire trees given by the Japanese government after Japanese-Canadians were interned in WWII? I certainly do.

BTW, how about a new rule you have to post your email address if you'd like to make a public comment?

I read a couple of comments about the crowd this year at the Park and the diverse ethnicity of people at the Park.

Different people have different habits and some people feel odd, even awkward to be part of a large crowd with mixed habits. People's comfortable personal space differs greatly around the world, people's idea of where and how long to have a picnic varies greatly, what is an acceptable volume to speak, etc.

In Canada it is considered offensive to comment on or complain about other people's habits even if those habits are in sharp contrast to Canadian standards. People are expected to quietly tolerate and accept strange and at times inconsiderate behaviour - behaviour that often hides behind the untouchable wall of ethnic equality. If you speak up you are labelled a racist immediately.

I'm all for freedom of speech/religion/media/etc. as long as those freedoms don't subject me to tolerate people spitting on sidewalks while practically shouting at each other and elbowing me and my family as they walk past us without saying sorry and getting upset if confronted.

The idiom "When in Rome do as the Romans do" seem to have changed to "When in Canada we shut up and bend over backwards so anyone can do anything they please". There is a middle ground somewhere in between where everyone gets along just fine. Being considerate at public places is what we all need to consider, whether it's High Park, the mall or the waiting room at the doctor's office.

Sorry to hear you got a ticket. When I said "Parking is available alongside the roads" I meant 'at designated spots'. There are parking lots with rows and rows of parking and there are parking spots along the road. You can't park on the side of the road, unless it's marked up as a parking spot. Sorry for the misunderstanding

I think you meant to write, \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"hardly anyone SPOKE English\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\". Yes, when I went there last year, there were a lot of Asian families there. If someone speaks another language to someone in public, it doesn\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'t mean they don\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'t speak English or that they can\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'t read English. Would you have written \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"I felt like I was in Scotland\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" if everyone had a Scottish accent?

Hi,
Befor I went to the park today, I checked your official website for the parking, and this is what you indicated there: \"The two main parking lots are by the restaurant atop Hillside Gardens and by the zoo but parking spaces are available alongside the roads as well. No parking between 1am and 6am any day.\" So it meant that\" except 1am to 6am, parking is available alongside the roads\"! I parked my car alongside the road at 3:30pm, and then I got a ticket on 3:53pm. I really feel so gloomy

My husband and I went to High Park this evening at around 7pm and he lost his Metro Pass on the hill near the water front dock :'( ... we went back and tried to find it but it was already gone... hoping the person who picked it would kindly return it to us :( You'll for sure be rewarded!!!

To anyone who is concerned about the buses not running on Sundays, well, the subway stops just north of High Park (aptly named stop "High Park" on the Bloor/Danforth line. It's literally a 3 minute walk south and you're in the park.

Cherry Blossoms and Washrooms, May 6, 2013 , posted by Irene Alatzakis , irene.a.kis@gmail.com

High Park needs to respect the visitors to the park who come from considerable distances to view the beauty of the cherry blossoms and to celebrate spring by opening adequate washroom facilities. There were 120 women waiting in line at Grenadier Cafe on Sunday around 1 pm. This is not acceptable. All washrooms should be opened and additional portable washrooms should be brought in as well. The blossoms are a tourist magnet and a small festival should be organized to generate revenue for the park with the addition of some gourmet food trucks/caterers-bbqs in view of fundraising for High Park. I realize that the blossoms date can only be estimated and the bloom date varies yearly but I think something can still be organized with this in mind.

Here is a link to Cherry Blossoms in York University. I also heard UofT area that has Cherry Blossoms are at Robarts Library.

http://yfile.news.yorku.ca/2013/05/03/york-in-bloom/

I would like to add my thoughts to the suggestion that there should be a fine for vandalism of the trees. I went to visit high park this weekend to see the cherry blossoms and I was shocked and dismayed at the sheer quantity of people ripping branches from the blossoms and acting otherwise destructive. I witnessed a mother who had brought several tennis rackets and was giving them to her kids and lifting them up to brutally beat the trees. Several times her children were lifted up to break of branches (even very large ones). While I was watching this another woman walking asked them to be more respectful but they proceed to continue to destroy the trees and they actually mocked the woman who had mentioned they should be more respectful. I have never been so sickened by anything I've seen in public park. The absolute disrespect is amazing. There NEEDS to be a fine for this kind of willful vandalism and destruction.

Re: Signs and washrooms, May 6, 2013 , posted by Kimberly , May 6, 2013 , posted by Andy

First of all, great scenary. However, I think people need to realize every ethnicity group needs to respect the trees. So either write a posting that doesn't point finger at certain group of people or don't write it at all. While I completely agree, as much as we need to respect the trees, we need to respect others. And I certianly doubt you know they were speaking Chinese.

"I definitely agree that signs need to be put up for people to respect the trees. The signs may have to be in other languages too because I felt like I stepped in to China hardly hearing anyone speak English. The washrooms need to be opened up too. Huge line ups and people cutting the line."

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