Sat, Mar 28 2009 - Last minute Earth Hour downtown hike (View Original Event Details)
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Earth Hour! Toronto was one of the first cities to sign up as an official Earth Hour partner, and we decided to see for ourselves what TO looked like in the dark (if indeed it did go dark!)
Earth Hour officially runs from 8:30 - 9:30 PM.
So we met outside Union station at 8:00. A small glitch to start off the night... our meeting spot, the "clock" was no where to be found! It seems it's behind some construction walls right now. Ah well, we managed to gather the different groups into one, and set off to see what TO would really do.
Getting out a little early gave us the chance to see "before" and "after". We noticed that the CN tower was still lit up with its odd moving spotlighting. We started by heading up Bay street, and ran into a film set, with extra lighting full blast. We chatted with three of the "lawyers" who let us know that dinner break was 8:30 (still ten min away!), so they would remind the powers that be to turn out those lights!
We continued on, and arrived at the free concert at Nathan Phillips square. We went up to the balcony to take in some of it, and check out the scenes from a little higher.
I think it was Louis' suggestion to check out Dundas Square next. Great idea! That corner is usually lit up like the 4th of July (well, it's a cliche that fits). As we strolled up University, we looked back to marvel at the CN tower, now very dark (except of course for the few beacon lights needed to prevent aircraft from flying into it!)
Dundas Square...First off, just for fun, we waited until the "all way crosswalk" was on, and crossed right thru the very middle of Yonge & Dundas! Now that's what I call fun! Next, Wow, the darkest I've ever seen it. From one angle, most of the signs and billboards were black. A little later we realized that, looking at it from another angle, many ads were still lit up! ugh. Brita was giving away FREE pitchers/filters! The line was quite long, however, and we opted to pass on it.
From there we headed back south along Victoria. It was closing in on the end of Earth Hour, and we started to lose some of the group in bits and pieces. When we did manage to see the CN tower next, shortly after the 9:30 mark, it was lit up once again. (hmmmm)
We ended the evening with a stroll along the lake, and after losing just one more, finally found an open restaurant!
A great night out all in all. The weather cooperated, not a drop of rain, a little cool but we managed!
As I was going home, I heard on the radio that TO managed to drop energy rates by 15% during the hour! Just shy of DOUBLE what we did last year! :)
Thanks for joining me everyone!
Have some photos from this event that you'd like to share in our photo album? Please forward them to Erik Sonstenes at photos@torontooutdoorclub.com. Please note that we prefer to receive the photos in approximately 640x480 or 750x500 pixels - do NOT send original high-res photos. If you have a LOT of photos, please submit up to twenty of your favorites (only) for a day event, or up to forty of your favourites for a multi-day event. Thank you.