The Roncesvalles Polish Festival is one of Toronto's last summer street festivals and it's usually held in September each year and has been running for thirteen years. It runs on Roncesvalles Ave from essentially Queen St W to Dundas St W. The festival is a celebration of Polish culture and the Roncesvalle area is the perfect location since that area is considered the centre of the Polish community in Toronto.
It was my first your attending this festival and it was a lot better than I thought it would be and a lot busier. Not as busy as Taste of the Danforth but definitely very busy but still some room to walk around.
There were quite a few vendors and shops selling traditional Polish fare like cabbage rolls, pierogies, kielbasas and many other food items and they were reasonably priced fro a street festival. We tried some kielbasa, cheddar pierogies and cabbage rolls from Benna's Bakery & deli which came out to $4 (tax included) for each item and it was pretty good.
One thing they had that not many other street festivals had was beer tents, they had two beer tents which was set up by the organizers ($8 beers) and one beer tent from Steamwhistle ($5 beers) which really livened up the atmosphere and most adults enjoy an alcoholic beverage with their meal.
The main stage and some other stages had Polish music performances, there were also carnival games, midway rides and street buskers which were a big hit especially for the children in attendance.
Overall, it's a really cool festival that has something for everyone and they did a really good job showcasing Polish culture even with the Roncesvalle area slowing gentrifying. It's a great event for people of all ages: teenagers, couples, seniors, friends looking for something to do and families. It's busy but not overwhelming.