International Pillow Fight Day 2011

This post is about two weeks late, but in all fairness, its been a very busy two weeks. Nonetheless, I present to you…

INTERNATIONAL PILLOW FIGHT DAY 2011!!!!!!!!!

It was a very close thing let me tell you! Earlier in the day Mom and Dad had gone out to the market, so I stayed home to hang out with Granddad. Dan joined us for a game of scrabble (I won) and after seeing the super brandy burgers my Dad started preparing when they got home, he ended up staying for dinner. Insert inner dilemma. You’re boyfriend spends the day with you and your recovering Grandfather, and stays for dinner. Time flies by and soon its 7PM. The pillow fight is at 8. Coffee is shared and Dan accepts a cup. 7:15 passes. Funny stories are being traded by Dan and my mom while my dad disappears upstairs. Around 7:35 Dan stands up and starts to move towards the front hall. I thank him for the wonderful afternoon and say goodnight. When he asks when I’m leaving for the pillow fight I reply “In about two seconds…” He laughs and goes home. The door doesn’t even shut before Dad is beside me, Camera and keys in hand. It takes me all of 30 seconds to grab my camera, a pillow and a coat and we are on the road. I ask Dad “Do you think we can make it?” “Only if the gods are smiling on us.” He says. We can take Kingston, where we will not make it for the start but still see some of the event, or we can take the DVP, which has a 90% chance of being jammed with cars and we might not make any of it. I decide to shoot for that 10% window of there being no traffic and catching the whole event.

And who would have guessed it? We breezed through the 401, and after crossing my fingers, toes and eyes, we passed through the DVP without so much as a hiccup. We pull up to dundas square and I all but tuck and roll out of the car while dad speeds off to find a parking spot. Not a minute after I arrive does the music start, a battle cry goes out and pillows start flying. I start firing my camera off at rapid speeds trying to capture everything at once. It was AMAZING! Soon Dad joins me with his camera. A woman with a European accent came up to us and asked us “What is this ritual?” which in my mind, made the night perfect. We explained and then putting my camera away and grabbing my pillow, I dove into the crowd.

You can’t imagine it. The energy is unbelievable. It was just a sea of people pressing in on all sides, pillows swinging overhead and EVERYONE was smiling. Not just a smile like when you meet someone’s eyes when you pass them on the street smile. A cheek aching, wide grin of pure joy. Everyone was laughing and yelling. Suddenly a cry of “THIS. IS. TORONTOOOOOOOOO!!!!!” is heard and three guys with their shirts missing and war paint on their faces charge through. People were wearing pajamas, and wigs and costumes. A band playing tribal drums nearby filling the whole square with music. I ended up taking more pictures but the light was fading and it was hard to capture anything with all the movement. We stayed for a while longer just watching before going off into the city to take some night shots. We wandered around until it got to cold. It was an amazing night, I had so much fun and I can’t wait for next year. Although next year I think I’ll take a few Tylenol first….