By Wendy Wang and Michelle Zeng

The funny nutcracker, the giant Christmas tree and the handcrafted figures — Lowe’s Toronto Christmas  Market has it all. The event took place at the Distillery District. The historic site has been transformed into a festival of art, culture and entertainment. The Christmas Market is a street market that celebrates the wonders of Christmas. We had the pleasure of doing a phone interview with Matthew Rosenblatt. He is the Co-Owner and main organiser of the Distillery District and Market.

“The Distillery District is a historic area of Toronto, which includes the largest collection of Victorian buildings in North America. It used to be the major place to make whiskey, but now has become a line of shops and art galleries.” Rosenblatt said. 

One shop we visited was Bergo Designs. It looked like a normal store from the outside, but inside it contained some of the most bizarre yet funny items. They are not just crafts; they can be used in daily life, such as the gun-shaped lighter and the cat-shaped bowl. Among them was a nutcracker  shaped like a tall metal pole, accompanied with a metal ball with which you can smash the nut. There were many surprises at every corner of the store. One thing that stood out was the “reluctant bride” craft, which was a wedding topper of a groom dragging the bride. Taking photos in the store was prohibited because the designers were afraid their ideas would be stolen.

By: Gratiana Chen

At Solar Stage Children’s theater in Toronto, there is new and wonderful performance of the well-known classic, Sleeping Beauty.

Solar Stage has a cozy theater with kid friendly facilities. There are comfy colorful cushions for the younger ones, who get the front row seats, and chairs for the older children and adults. Everyone can enjoy a kid-friendly environment to watch the show.

Like the theater itself, the play is in a perfect style and format for kids aged 3-10. They will love and understand the magical story. It is very original.The lights are dimmed and the theater is quiet. We get swept away on a timeless tale, to a faraway land in a magical kingdom, ruled by King William and Queen Matilda. They sing a beautiful song about their sadness and sorrow of having no children. Out of nowhere comes a frog named Hazel who croaks that she can make their wish come true, but only if they promise to invite her to the child’s sixteenth birthday party. The King and Queen are overjoyed and accept the promise immediately. Soon, the royal baby, a young girl named Rose (also known as Sleeping Beauty) arrives. Time flies before they know it, Rose’s sixteenth birthday party is just around the corner. Of course, the King and Queen have forgotten all about their promse to Hazel. At the end of Rose’s party, Hazel, who turns out to be a sycophant witch, makes a surprising visit. She is so angry when she is told to leave that she puts an evil spell on Rose. Can Sleeping Beauty be saved?

The show is interactive – you can help a wizard, participate in magic tricks and have fun with Rose while working she’s working on a spinning wheel. There is a moral to the story which adds an educational side to the show. At the end of the show, there is a chance to ask questions and get a signed poster by the actors. With tuneful songs, spirited dancing and interactive fun, this show is absolutely fantastic for the entire family.

By: Wendy Wang

Music with Bite is a free concert series for kids at the Habourfront Center. Annabelle Follows Her Voice, a show within the series, is an opera musical. I was lucky enough to watch this show on Nov. 27, 2011.

As soon as I entered the theatre, I saw many young and excited children crowded near the stage. It was  certainly a popular choice. The performance featured the world’s best opera singer, Annabelle Canto, played by Christina Tannous, and her accompanist, Henry, played by Dominic Boulianne. The story begins when Annabelle is offered a chance for a world tour but with a catch. Before signing the contract, she is required to do an audition to prove she is indeed the greatest opera singer. But Annabelle misunderstands the request and believes she needs to show how quickly she can pack her suitcase, go through customs with ease and sign 50 autographs in a mere 10 minutes. She asks Henry to help her prepare for her path of fame, but he has his own agenda. 

During the show, the kids were constantly amused with opportunities to participate in the show themselves and also got to enjoy free cookies and milk. Some even tried to sing along! Suspenseful and hilarious, it was a show that would capture your heart in a blink of an eye. 

After the performance, I had a chance to talk to Christina (who played Annabelle) and learned some facts about her. She has been singing professionally for 12 years, training coast to coast to perform for schools.
This was her second show playing Annabelle, and she wishes one day to go on a world tour as a musician. She really enjoyed performing and hoped for a sequel of Annabelle’s dilemmas. I could say the same for myself and the audience, as we would definitely come back next year.

Christina had some great advice for our future singers: “Be very patient, persistent, and work hard. Your time will come. Even if it’s hard, be the last soldier standing.”

By: Sunni Zhou and Vivian Wang

Seussical, a musical for children aged six to 12, premiered on Thu, Nov. 10, 2011, at the Young People’s Theatre in Toronto. It was a huge success.

The main characters are the Cat in the Hat, played by Damien Atkins; Horton, played by George Masswohl;
and Jojo, played by Jennifer Villaverde.

All of the actors performed beautifully in the musical. It was fun entertainment, especially with the words all rhyming. Not one mistake was seen during the show. One very funny moment is when Gertrude, a lone bird played by Jane Johonson can’t even walk because of how long her tail was! Gertrude is a quiet bird. She can’t fit in with anyone and she’s Horton’s neighbor. She has a crush on Horton and a little one feathered tail. When  Gertrude finds out how her tail can get more beautiful, she jumps for the chance. Trying to impress Horton,
Gertrude’s tail grows too big and too heavy. She has to drag it and that makes her very slow. That is why she  cannot  save Horton when the hunters trap him. She tries to fly to save him, but her tail is in the way.

The story is a mixture of all of Dr. Seuss’s stories. It is about how Horton protects the Whos and how he loses them. Horton is captured by  hunters while he has to babysit Mayzie’s egg, which distracted him from finding
the Whos. Mayzie, played by Sharron Mathews, goes on vacation. The hunters sell Horton to the circus. Mayzie sees him but makes no attempt to save him. It was Gertrude who saves him and finds the Whos. She plucks her tail to only one feather so she could fly again.

Mayzie’s egg hatches and it is an elephant with wings! Gertrude and Horton decide to raise it together as a family.

Other characters in the cast are Sour Kangaroo, played by Nichola Lawrence, three monkeys played by Desmond Osborne, David Lopez and Dale Miller and two other birds played by Natasha O’Brien and Bethany Kovarik.

“I would recommend this show, two thumbs up!” says Robert Gontier, an adult who watched the musical. He really liked it. The director of this musical, Allen Maccinis enjoyed the hard work of the performers and he was proud  that the show was a success.

Maccinis wasn’t sure if the show would be a big hit. He traveled to New York to see an earlier version of it. He decided to buy the script and changed it up a little before he allowed it to be shown in Toronto.

Maggie Primeau and Asa Pattison, both four-years-old, were  very excited to watch the musical.They had been at the Young People’s Theatre last year to watch Frog and Toad, which they enjoyed.

Food
After the musical, there were cake and snacks to eat. The cake was in a rectangular shape with a picture of the Cat in the Hat on it. The other snacks were cucumbers, sweet peppers, crakers, cheese, and carrots dipped in salad sauce, and there were also nachos dipped in fresh salsa. 
In both lobbies, the rooms were filled with people enjoying the snacks and lining up for cake that the staff provided. 
Other than the delicious snacks, there was also a juice stand. There were mango, orange andapple juice for everybody to drink.

By: Vivian Wang

The Royal Agricultural Winter Fair displayed different kinds of giant vegetables. There were squashes and cabbages. They were well organized with  a tag of what vegetables they were, their height, weight, and the places they were grown. The largest squash we saw weighs 1199.4 lb, from Picton, grown by John Vincent. 
Some fruits and vegetables had very strange shapes and others were normal -shaped. Pumpkins, squashes,  
pears, grapes, spices, and lots of other kinds of fruits and vegetables were normal-shaped, as well as wheat. Beautiful golden stalks of wheat were on display, too. It showed the hard work of farmers all over the land. The Fair had very tall plants, too. They were probably one storey and a half! 

By: Sunni Zhou

A petting zoo is a place where a lot of farm animals are together and kids can pet and feed them. You can also see how they drink water, which is different from how people drink water. Just imagine drinking from a bowl and having to stick out your tongue and lick a tiny portion every time.

The petting zoo at the Royal Agricultural Fair was so awesome from a kids’ perspective. There are goat, sheep, cows, and rabbits. Although they smell a bit, you can still have fun with them.

The administrator who was in charge of the petting zoo said that he had been there for 12 years already and 
he would love to stay there longer . He told us that kids couldn’t touch the rabbits, because for most people that are allergic to animals, the first animal they are allergic to is rabbits. I wished I could have touched the rabbits, because they looked so cute.

The animals all seemed pretty selfish. Every time we fed one animal the others started to push away his or her 
own type. If they can, they will swallow all the food in your hand. I guess that’s the nature of all animals?

If you are wondering if there are any good shows at the Royal Agriculture Winter Fair, you do not want to
miss the Super Dog Show (sponsored by Presidents Choice). In the dog show, we saw a few competitions where one side of the audience competed against the other side. There were dogs coming out at the first period. Then they started the competition. The dogs raced against each other. The fastest got a point for their
team. Roughly there were 7 rounds of competitions at the show. They also educated us on how to keep dogs healthy and to prevent them from being injured. They told us the right food to buy, to do an annual check with a veterinarian and to get vaccine shots as required. 


Outside of the show, vendors sold various good, including frisbees, stuffed dogs, dog related games, and more!

By: Kieley McQuaker

While I was at the Royal Horse Show I interviewed Paige Mawson, she was competing in the Children’s Hunter Division. Paige rides and trains with Gryphon Farms and her horse’s name is Westmalle. In the barn his nickname is Coach. He is 7 years old and stands 15.3 hands high.

At the Royal, Paige and Coach were competing in a 3’ hunter division called the Children’s Hunters. This class
is for people under 18 years old. I asked Paige what was special about showing at the Royal. Her response was, “The Royal represents how hard you have worked over the entire year of competitions. You have to qualify to compete at the Royal and they only take the top 12 riders in Ontario!”

Paige’s favourite part of the Royal was seeing her name on the big screen in the middle of the ring. This was
Paige’s first time competing at the Royal. She placed 2nd in the under saddle and had 4th, 6th and 10th place finishes over fences – a very successful performance! In an under saddle class a horse is judged on their way walk, trot and canter, going both directions of the ring. In an over fences class, horses are judged on their
form and style while jumping a course of 8 to 10 obstacles.

I asked her if it was hard to qualify for the Royal. She said “It was very hard because you have to be very  consistent over the whole show season. It took me 2 years to finally qualify!” 

Showing at the Royal Horse Show was a dream come true for Paige. Next year she is hoping to qualify in the
Junior Hunter Division! 

By Michelle Zeng

The Royal Agricultural Winter Fair was a great place to be, no doubt about that. The Fair had lots of great things: a petting zoo, animal shows and of course, the amazing shops.

When we got to the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair, we were amazed to see what was there. Everybody at
the Fair seemed pleased. While some people greeted each other, others were running around shopping. Of course, the first thing we saw were the shops. They seemed to sell practically everything – food, hats, scarves, souvenirs, toys, and even riding gear!

While browsing the stores, we had time to interview the vendors and the shoppers at the Fair.

We caught up with two shoppers outside a booth selling tack. We asked Megan and Debra Brownrig what they had bought so far.

“We bought saddle pads, a hoof pick, brushes, and stirrups,” said Debra.

It sounded like a lot of riding gear. When asked what all the gear was for, Debra told us they had bought it for Megan’s first riding lesson, which would be on her seventh birthday. We were curious as to why a six year old girl would want to ride horses.

“Riding horses is fun! My sister rides horses,” Megan said. Megan also told us she had a pony named Otise.

After thanking Debra and Megan for their time, we went to another store that sold knitted colourful purses,
clothing such as vests and hats, and finger puppets featuring animals and characters from famous stories. We helped ourselves to what we wanted first, and then took the chance to interview the vendor of the store, Silvia.  She told us she has been in Canada for 30 years and had been coming to the fair for 15 years. Can you believe  that? 15 years, which was half the time she lived in Canada. Silvia really liked the fair.

Next we visited a cheese stand. The vender, Grace Vanoudenaren, was very busy. There were many customers sampling and buying cheese. We could taste why she was so busy. The cheese was just  delicious. There seemed to be more than a million flavours. I wish I could go back and eat some more!

By: Wendy Wang

The Royal Agricultural Winter Fair is a unique gathering of breeders, farmers, competitors and exhibitors. It is a very popular event that takes place every November at the Exhibition Place in Toronto. All the traditional  favourites were there this year, such as the art of butter sculpting and, the crowd favourite, the giant vegetable contest. The petting zoo is a perfect place for families, and the fair also includes the largest indoor horse show in North America.

As soon as I entered the building, I felt a cheerful vibe in the air, and it was like I instantly became part of the farming community. At the petting zoo, kids laughed and amused themselves, and I found myself surrounded by adorable animals. At the horse show, cheers of the audience broke the tension as riders showed off their skills. I noticed myself cheering too. The diverse variety of vendors was mesmerizing. What really rendered
me speechless were the giant vegetables. Have you ever seen a pumpkin the size of a table and the weight of 51.6 pounds? You can at The Royal. Young volunteers, such as 14 year old Julie French, were also having a great time. “I love volunteering at the fair, especially since I got to work with the animals. And there’s no
trouble at all!” She exclaimed enthusiastically. For me, the energy of the crowd was so comforting, I couldn’t help but feel at ease.

Not only did I have fun, I also learned many important facts. For example, where does our food come from? At
The Royal, I learned the process our local farmers go through to supply us with the food we eat. For instance, there is a complicated procedure behind a single glass of milk-like how it was filtered and transported. It was very interesting to see how farmers classified and checked our eggs; from the chicken all the way to the box to be shipped to the store. I thought it was very cool how this event connected the city and the farm. The fair
also sends an important message that we should remember: remember, cities are fed by farms.

Amidst the agricultural experience, I stopped by the media room and discovered the “behind the scenes” of 
the fair. Media staff were working hard to keep people updated and informed of what was going on at the fair as the day went on. This included updating posts on Facebook and Twitter, and texting responses to inquires.

The Royal Agricultural Winter Fair was such a great success. It is certainly the best way to unite farms and cities, and is an amazing combination of fun and education. I’m sure everyone will be coming back again next year, like sixteen year old Danielle Root, who expressed her enjoyment. “The fair is so well organized, and I had so much fun. I loved the horse show, the dog show, everything, and I will definitely come back next year.  The Royal Agricultural Winter Fair truly made my experience royal.”

By: Michelle Zeng and Sunni Zhou

The National Film Board of Canada (NFB) presents “Get Animated” to give kids the chance to learn how to animate. “Get Animated” was really popular. Over 30 kids attended the programon October 30, 2011.

The program invited guest speaker, Co Hoedeman, known for his Oscar award winning film the “Sandcastle”. He was there to demonstrate his animation techniques and also to teach kids how to animate.

The kids made their own animated videos. Hoedeman divided 30 kids into groups. Each group made one animated video and the characters to go along with it. The characters for the videos had to be made in a special way in order for the video to be more interesting. For example, to make a person, the artist would have
to draw a head, cut it out, draw the face, cut it out, and then do the same for the rest of the body. The animated characters were made like this so each body part can move and make facial expressions.

One second in an animated film will need 24 pictures. Since there was only an hour for the kids to create the characters and the videos, all the videos were fairly short.

Despite all the work involving creating animations, Hoedeman said, “Creating animations is simple.”

Perhaps that’s why so many people attended “Get Animated.”

Voice K had a chance to sit down with Hoedeman:

Voice K: Is it hard to make animated videos?
Hoedeman: No, actually it is very simple.
Voice K: Roughly how many videos have you made so far?
Hoedeman: So far, I have made 23 films. They are all animated films. All of my videos are for children.
Voice K: How do you get ideas for your videos?
Hoedeman: All the videos I have made are based on what I have seen and experienced.
Voice K: Which video of yours got an award?
Hoedeman: Many of the videos I made have gotten an award. One of my videos, “The Sandcastle,” received an Oscar Award in 1978, which was a long time ago.
Voice K:  What materials did you use to make your videos?
Hoedeman: I didn’t always use paper. For “The Sandcastle”, I used puppets made of sand.
Voice K: What was your favourite part of today?
Hoedeman: My favourite part of today was helping the children to get ideas. I really like how the children made the artwork.

Hoedeman was not the only person who was enthusiastic about “Get Animated!” Many other people gave “Get Animated” a thumb up. One participant, Kyle said, “It was very good.” Others agreed, including Glenda and her daughter, who said that “‘Get Animated’ was great! In fact, we had been to NFB art programs over 10 times,
we would love to come again.”
Later, Voice K had a chance to interview Jessie Curell, who works for NFB to organize
the program. “I was inspired by Mr. Hoedeman because it’s a rare opportunity
to work with him and learn from him,” said Jessie when asked what inspired him to
organize the event.
We really enjoyed the program, so why don’t you “Get Animated”?For more information about this program, visit www.nfb.ca/getanimated.