Next Week's Lineup Set For 12th Annual Scotiabank BuskerFest

The largest festival of its kind in North America, Scotiabank BuskerFest this year features more than 100 of the world's top street performers in four days of spectacle, from August 25-28 in Toronto's St. Lawrence Market Neighbourhood. There's more to the Festival than buskers; this year's event features the lavish Scotiabank BuskerBall gala, Saturday morning BuskerBrunch, a wide variety of fun activities for kids, cool contests and two special benefit shows for Epilepsy Toronto.

Some of the exciting events leading up to and slated for the Festival include:

THIRD ANNUAL SCOTIABANK BUSKERBALL!
Tuesday, August 23 - Before the Festival begins, the third annual Scotiabank BuskerBall (6pm-10pm) kicks off Scotiabank BuskerFest with an evening of glamour, giggles and gastronomic delight, along with live and silent auctions and an intimate preview of the world's most spectacular and unique performers headlining this year's festival! Honorary co-chairs are Robin Hibberd, Scotiabank Executive Vice-President, and CTV News anchor Tom Hayes, who also hosts the evening. Scotiabank BuskerFest takes places at the North St. Lawrence Market. Tickets for this fundraiser are $150 with all proceeds going to Epilepsy Toronto. Email pam@epilepsytoronto.org for tickets.

SCOTIABANK BUSKERFEST/EPILEPSY TORONTO OPEN THE TSX!
Wednesday, August 24 -Scotiabank BuskerFest and Epilepsy Toronto representatives will open The Toronto Stock Exchange market at the TMX Broadcast Centre at 9:30 am.

ESPECIALLY FOR KIDS:
August 25-28: Back by popular demand, the Scotiabank BuskerPlay has wonderful free activities for kids throughout the four days of the festival; balloon twisting, face painting, crafts and create-your-own-T-shirt workshops in the Scotiabank Tent; the 2011 LEGO Ninjago Tour and more. Family-oriented performances, including The Ben Show, Mr. Toons, Cyclops, Leapin' Louie Lichtenstein, Yoshi, and Scott Jackson will be onstage throughout the afternoon on the Epilepsy Toronto BuskerPlay Stage, located in Market Lane Park,

SCOTIABANK BUSKERFEST ACCESSIBLE TO ALL!:
At the Festival Accessibility Tent, located at the corner of Church and Front Streets, visitors with disabilities are provided with assistance. Festival accessibility volunteers wearing identifiable accessibility symbol shirts, are available to escort visitors to the stage. Daily throughout the festival there will be non-verbal performances by various buskers including Adrián Conde (at the Magic Corner), Pyromancer (evenings only), and Yoshi (daily at 4:30 p.m. at the BuskerPlay stage). On Friday, August 26 from 5:00pm - 8:00pm, the performances at Metro Stage in Berczy Park will be accompanied by an ASL interpreter. The Chairmen kick off the evening at 5:00pm, followed by Lindsay Benner at 6:00pm and The Space Cowboy at 7:00pm.

EPILEPSY TORONTO BENEFITS FROM TWO SPECIAL PERFORMANCES AT THE FEST:
The sixth annual Fire Show combines the best of all the festival's fire acts, and features Pyromancer, Fireguy, FlameOz, Pancho Libre and Leapin' Louie Lichtenstein, as well as a possible sighting of the XL-INSECTS who are attracted to the bright light! The Fire Show takes place Friday, August 26 at 9:30pm (rain date: Saturday, August 27) at the Scotiabank Stage (Front and Church St).

Scotiabank BuskerFest ends with the Grande Finale on Sunday, August 28 at 6:30pm at the Metro Stage in Berczy Park, featuring performances by some of the festival's top international performers, as well as the announcement of this year's Metro People's Choice Award winner.

Normally buskers keep the proceeds that they gather after a performance but, for these two special performances, all proceeds go to Epilepsy Toronto, and Scotiabank has generously offered to match each dollar donated up to $15,000.

SECOND ANNUAL SCOTIABANK BUSKERBRUNCH:
Saturday, August 27 - Join the buskers at the BuskerBrunch, 10:30am-12pm. This buffet brunch features special entertainment provided by some of the festival's top out-of-town buskers, including Bendy Em, Leapin' Louie Lichtenstein, Yoshi, Gazzo, Billy Kidd, Cobario and The Space Cowboy, as well as a silent auction with proceeds going to Epilepsy Toronto. The cost is $26 for adults and $12 for children 12 and under. BuskerBrunch takes place at the Novotel Toronto Centre (45 The Esplanade) in the Champagne Ballroom on the second floor (elevator access available). To reserve a spot, contact Julie Pilkington, 416-860-5184, julie.pilkington@accor.com.

CONTESTS:
Audience members can enter their best 2011 Scotiabank BuskerFest photos to this year's Photo Contest to win a Black's prize pack - including a Nikon D5100 DSLR camera with 18-55mm lens, Panasonic 8GB SD HC media card and ExpertSelects DSLR slingpack - valued over $1,000. Submit entries to contest@torontobuskerfest.com. Top submissions will be displayed on the festival's facebook page. Visit http://www.torontobuskerfest.com/#contests for more information.

Audiences can also vote for their favourite busker to win the Metro People's Choice Award, which gives the winning busker an automatic invite back to next year's festival. As well, each ballot filled out by an audience member will be entered into a raffle to win a Nintendo Wii or a 2012 Scotiabank BuskerFest VIP pack. Drop by the Metro booth in Berczy Park to enter your ballot and Hula hoop your way to tons of fun prizes throughout the festival. Votes can also be cast at the Scotiabank BuskerFest info tent (Front Street, just east of Church Street).

Scotiabank BuskerFest attendees also have the chance to win one of two iPads courtesy of Pulse The World, a "Wikipedia for the real world" that allows users to tag spontaneous, local and timely information by downloading the "Pulse The World" iPhone app and "pulsing" what they see at the festival. Contest rules and further information are available at http://www.pulsetheworld.com/buskerfest.

GENERAL INFO:
Since its inception, Scotiabank BuskerFest has featured hundreds of the best street performers from around the world, hosted millions of amazed spectators and helped raise approximately $1 million dollars for Epilepsy Toronto. Not only is Scotiabank BuskerFest now the largest street performers' festival in North America, it is also the largest Epilepsy awareness-raising event in the world. More than one million spectators are estimated to attend Scotiabank BuskerFest this year. Volunteers will be standing by entrances, accepting donations on behalf of Epilepsy Toronto. Buskers retain proceeds from "the hat" which they collect from audience members after their performances.
12th Annual Scotiabank BuskerFest
Toronto International Street Performers Festival
Thursday August 25 - Sunday August 28, 2011
throughout the St. Lawrence Market Neighbourhood,
Front Street all the way from Jarvis to Yonge and adjacent side streets
Thursday, noon-10pm, Friday, noon-11pm, Saturday, 11am-11pm. Sunday, 11am-8pm
Admission is by voluntary donation to Epilepsy Toronto
For information, visit www.torontobuskerfest.com http://www.facebook.com/BuskerFestToronto

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