Woodstonians Share Their Parade Experiences

Tuesday, 18 June 2019 12:58

Liz Wismer-Van Meer was just metres away from the shooting yesterday while Ed Hawkeswood shares his experience on the parade route.

WOODSTOCK - It was a sea of people in Toronto yesterday for the Toronto Raptors Championship Parade.

What should have been a historic moment for the City of Toronto and the entire Country has a dark cloud hanging over it as a shooting happened during the speeches. Toronto police say four people were shot and wounded yesterday during the Toronto Raptors victory parade. Police Chief Mark Saunders says none of the injuries were life-threatening.

Woodstonian Liz Wismer-Van Meer was at Nathan Philips Square for the celebration and was only 10 metres away from the shooting. She says it is going to take some time for her to be comfortable in a crowd again.

"It was just way to close for comfort, my son said afterwards, I don't know if I want to go back to Toronto mom. I told him that was a unique situation bud, we typically wouldn't be in Toronto in a crowd like that and let's not let that ruin what was supposed to be a great day for us because we were really excited to spend that day with our kids. We are huge Raptors fans, and unfortunately that overshadowed a big part of it. We are going to try to remember the good times and what we did, it may be awhile though before I can be comfortable in a big crowd again."

Another Woodstonian Ed Hawkeswood took in the parade near the Rogers Centre. He was already in Toronto as he was working as a Stage Manager for the Toronto Blue Jays broadcast last night. Hawkeswood missed the shootings and says the atmosphere on the parade route was phenomenal.

"The atmosphere on the parade route is one I'm going to try to focus on. The atmosphere on the parade route was perfect, there was a blend of people from all walks of life, kids out of school, corporate people, fans, bumped into one guy from Kentucky, old, young, the sky was blue, it was cool to see helicopters overhead, it was bright and sunny but not too hot. I don't know if they could of asked for a better atmosphere weather wise and personnel wise along the parade route."

Hawkeswood says the City can certainly learn some lessons from this parade.

"I hope for future Toronto celebrations, they are a bit more organized and definitely much safer. Toronto will learn from this but the fans should certainly enjoy their Championship and look forward to a wonderful celebration this summer."