In Photos: Nuit Blanche in Liberty Village

Just got home from Nuit Blanche... I walked 12.5km tonight! Not very happy with the TTC coverage. Anyway, for me, Liberty Village was by far the best part of the evening. The exhibits I saw there were good, and it was nice that they were located close to one another. I personally LOVED the mascots at Lamport Stadium. Definitely the highlight of my Nuit Blanche this year.

Just back from the evening in Liberty Village as well. Curating was awesome down there. So many stellar exhibits.

Can't wait to hear friends' stories and see photos of the other zones as well.

Happy NB 2008!

mascots were amazing. go dragon!!

The continued lack of proper infrastructure has pretty much guaranteed this was the last year I'd attempt to take part. Wasn't there supposed to be IMPROVED TTC service this year? I think I spent most of the night waiting for or on TTC vehicles (or resorting to walking miles upon miles when no transit was available).

How did the organizers think moving more exhibits into queen west/liberty village areas was a smart idea? The streetcar service in those areas is terrible on a NORMAL day. Did they think cutting the service in half and increasing the demand by 10 would go over well?

what was with the snowman at the Dufferin Street bridge

Holy crap people whine a lot on NB... I walked back, forth, all over last night. No need for TTC!
Next year, they should close streets like McCaul for pedestrians but other than the incredible number of drunk/puking people in the club district, I had a great time!

I would have to vote for "bike" being the optimum mode of transit during Nuit Blanche.

I also thought Liberty Village had the best art! Shipping Containers! Darts! Fire! Yoko Ono! Oil barrels! Waterfall! And Mascots!!! So great! Already looking forward to next year! :))))))))

Nuit Blance was great... and the Subway service running til 7AM was even better... it was all about riding the Horse backwards by the exhibit at OCAD.

I used my bike last year, but opted for using my feet this year. 1 million people out on one night in the core of city means inefficient transit, no matter what. Enjoy the walk! :)

The mascots were a highlight for me also - seeing them fall down, smoke cigarettes, and generally act bored was a great commentary on our rah-rah, perma-energy society.

Also, biking is the way to go. Makes downtown shrink significantly.

anyone see the people smashing stuff from the scissor lift?

i saw them drop an original Nintendo system and then go at it with sledgehammers...:s

^^^
Yes. It was my favourite. Mainly because I can relate... I like smashing stuff.

Traveling from the downtown core to Liberty Village was a bit of a logistical nightmare and a real time waster. The 509/510 streetcar service was pretty much running on their normal schedule from what I could tell. It took me over an hour roundtrip to get to the Liberty Village.

Last year's concentration on the Yorkville/UofT area is really the most ideal. It was comical to see hundreds of thousands of people filing through King's College circle this year hoping to find a repeat of the UFO spectacle, only to be greeted by an unlit empty lawn. Perhaps the organizers were playing a practical joke on all the rowdy drunk kids, or it was simply bad planning.

I was worried that Nuit Blanche would quickly become a victim of it's own success similar to the Taste of Danforth. But after this year's lack lustre performance I think the crowd will be smaller next year.

Actually it's very quick and easy to get to liberty village via subway to dufferin and then taking the bus south... I just think it was a dumbass move by the ttc to only run the subway as far as Christie after 2. How did that help anything? The queen streetcars are simply not up to the task. Anyway, I will reiterate that I think the Liberty Village curation was excellent and I think that area was an amazing backdrop for Nuit Blanche.

Man... I missed out on the Liberty Village sites, I really wanted to check out the mascots! Dammit! I stayed mainly in the core, only cuz Liberty was a little too far to travel, hell, I even missed the Distillery stuff cuzza the distance. My feets were killing me at the end of the night!

My favourite site I visited: Zombies In Condoland... although I wished they organized a mass Zombie attack on people, like in the movies, have participants gather in a large group, then walk around the site together attacking us!

the ttc was a mess, but with a little patience you got around, personally the highlight of the event was seeing maple leave gardens again....

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tomms/2915050275/

Anyone who can't hoof this event really shouldn't come.

if you've never been downtown during [insert any festival/event], TTC is always busy and your feet are always the best vehicle. Bikes really just got in the way and I saw cops ticketing a few cyclists for breaking traffic rules (although really, everybody was!)

"Holy crap people whine a lot on NB... I walked back, forth, all over last night. No need for TTC!"

"Anyone who can't hoof this event really shouldn't come."

That's easy to say when you live in the downtown core. Move out to Scarborough or Etobicoke and I doubt you'll be saying the same thing. Aside from the TTC challenges faced downtown, try getting home when the subway only goes to Broadview and Christie and the blue night buses are few and far between.

I don't know about you, but walking from Liberty Village to Scarborough isn't my idea of fun.

In all fairness, this wasn't the problem of the Nuit Blanche organizers. It can't be easy for them to convince the TTC to even stay open in the first place.

What they really need to do in the future is stop relying on the TTC to move people around. They'll never get the amount of support they need. It's nice having the different neighbourhoods involved, but as the event starts spreading out it can complicate things. Keeping the zones closer together would make walking between them more reasonable. The effort required to get between zones really isn't the issue. The issue is the time it takes to get from place to place. Spending half the night traveling between locations tends to put a damper on the mood.

Zombies in condoland that was previously mentioned was the one and only let down this year, mind you I was there eaelier, but 30 zombies walking in a circle surrounded by 300 people taking their picture was a bit of a waste of time.
Wait for the zombie walk, much better time.

I agree with Librty being an awesome stop though

We live in Liberty Village so that's where we hung out. Lots to see: http://www.purple4mee.com/2008/10/nuit-blanche.html

You missed the coconut!

And here's the "morning after": http://www.purple4mee.com/2008/10/sunday-stroll.html

Nuit Blanche was amazing! It was my first time out I will be back again next year! I walked from zone A-C, took less than an hour! The TTC service was a suprise as I had to take a bus home when we were told the subway stopped at Eglington. The bus journey was enjoyable, everyone was in great spirits, there was singing and joke telling on board the rocket.
Toronto became a community on one magical night thank you Scotia bank for supporting art and bringing it to us.

If you saw and liked SMASH Droppin Stuff, go to www.scotiabanknuitblanche.com and vote for us for the People's Choice award!