I used to spend a lot of time in Hamilton in the early 2000’s (there was a boy). Since then, I’ve only visited the city very sporadically, usually for concerts at Copps Coliseum, (which has since been renamed and is now First Ontario Centre), and The Casbah, or for art events at places like The Cotton Factory. It seems to have become an up and coming city since then; a destination city even. I have seen the fancy Hamilton Tourism video shared many times in my social media feeds. From listening to a musical performance (I didn’t catch their name) and overhearing some of the audience members making comments in agreement, I gathered that not everyone is excited about Hamilton’s up and coming status. I understand that there’s an LRT project planned and as someone who lives in Kitchener, where we are right in the thick of LRT construction, I feel their pain regarding that.
Supercrawl has been around since 2009 and like most successful undertakings, it has grown each year. It used to be one block, one-day. Now it is a three-day event spanning more than a dozen blocks.
It’s one of those events that I’ve always wanted to check out but always seemed to miss it for whatever reason. I finally made it out this year to day 1 on Friday, September 9. I went with my friend Danielle. She used to work in Hamilton and has been to Supercrawl before. She attested to the growth from previous years.
We got there early evening, around 6:00 and there was already a sizeable crowd. By the time we left after 10:00, the streets were swarming with people. The event was a mix of everything: art, food, music (from well-known bands on the main stages to people playing tunes on their porches) fashion, family friendly activities. We had a fun evening and we got to meet some cool people. I imagine that Supercrawl 2017 will only be bigger and better.
Did you attend Supercrawl 2016? What were your favourites?
Photos and story by Glodeane Brown