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When moose took over Toronto: Artists reflect on city art project, 25 years later – Toronto
As people around the world welcomed a new millennium, Torontonians in the year 2000 were welcoming something even bigger – a herd of hundreds of life-size moose statues.
Twenty-five years ago, Toronto launched its Moose in the City campaign, a project featuring 326 colourful moose statues decorated by artists and placed all over the city in an effort to usher in the new year with a boost for local tourism and art sectors.
The project came at no cost to the city, according to council minutes from April 2000, and the statues were sponsored by various companies. The public could stumble upon the hoofed, herbivore masterpieces at locations including the CN Tower, Pearson Airport and city hall.
Some of the artists involved say the project was emblematic of the city’s culture and shows how municipalities can step up to support the art scene — even as some of the famed sculpted creatures have disappeared in the years since.
Moose in the City was a “great collaboration with the city” for artists, said Kelly Borgers, who was commissioned to do three of the statues. There was even a launch party for the project, with music and a sculpture parade.
“All the moose were all together. We pushed them on wheels down the street like a stampede,” she recalled.
Borgers said she produced three statues: Park Moose, Driving Moose Daisy and Florence Moosingale. She’s not sure what happened to the first two – decorated with nature scenes and granny glasses, respectively – but Florence lives in the city’s midtown outside the headquarters of a home care agency.
Lee Grunberg, the president and CEO of Integracare, said Florence used to get Valentine’s Day cards addressed from another moose that’s perched on the roof of a house in nearby Mount Pleasant neighbourhood.
“The people that bought these moose, they love the camaraderie of owning these moose,” Grunberg said.
Borgers likes to drive by and see Florence once in a while, she said, and knowing her art is still out there 25 years later brings her joy.
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“She’s always dressed up in all different costumes, for Valentine’s Day, for Easter, for Christmas, for Canada Day,” Borgers said with a laugh.
“It’s awesome. I’m proud of my moose. She has a better wardrobe than I have.”
Borgers said the project was symbolic of the fun to be had in the city, and it “lightened things up.”
“I just think it had a good sense of humour, that was nice,” she said. “Nobody saw moose and frowned.”
Lindsay Davies, who is based in Aurora, Ont., said the project gave her and other artists a chance to “show their thing.”
Davies was commissioned by Belinda Stronach, daughter of billionaire businessman Frank Stronach, to paint a moose statue to look like former Toronto Maple Leafs goalie Curtis Joseph. The statue was complete with a jersey, hockey socks and a detailed goalie mask covering the moose’s snout. It was placed in front of the Hockey Hall of Fame.
“I just felt totally honoured and absolutely thrilled where it ended up downtown on Front Street,” said Davies.
Despite reports at the time of moose vandalism — including alleged antler thefts — Davies said she’d love to see the city do a similar project again, especially given the participants’ diverse art styles.
“It’s just wonderful, and it’s very inspirational,” said Davies. “I think the public in general really benefits from something like that.”
Davies said her moose was auctioned for $25,000 that went to charity shortly after the project. Though she said she doesn’t know where Curtis Joseph Moose is today, she theorizes he’s somewhere in Little Britain, Ont., after a local bakery took ownership years ago.
Toronto-based artist Teri Donovan said George Cohon, the founder of McDonald’s Canada, brought up the public art idea with then-mayor Mel Lastman, who became very interested in the project and stood behind it.
Donovan said she got involved after a friend sent her a brochure about the campaign and she ended up creating two sculptures: the Bay Street Moose and the Strawberry Moose with Whipped Cream.
“It was really an interesting thing to do. It had its challenges, of course, but in the end, it was a lot of fun,” she said.
She isn’t sure about the fate of her two moose, although she discovered through online research that the Bay Street sculpture was missing.
There were controversies surrounding the project, she recalled. The quality of some sculptures was not very good, she said, and critics complained that the statues were not actually art.
“But it wasn’t supposed to be high art, it was supposed to be a fun project for the city,” she said.
Donovan remembers her neighbours and their kids routinely checking on the progress of one of her moose creations as she painted it in her driveway.
“I live in a quiet neighbourhood in the east end of Toronto and there isn’t a lot of that kind of thing that happens here,” she said.
Donovan said Moose in the City was a draw for tourists and it also helped raise money for charities as some of the moose were auctioned off.
Laurel Brooks still has the moose her family purchased at auction and moved to their Muskoka cottage, where it stayed until 2012.
She said her daughter and ex-husband initially wanted to get Tourist Moose, with a hat and a camera around her neck, but the bidding for that one was “pretty competitive.”
They ended up getting a moose built by Toronto District School Board students, she said.
After separating from her ex-husband, Brooks brought the moose back to Toronto where it now sits on an elevated platform in her backyard. The sculpture, too big to fit through the garage or the side of the house, had to be hoisted and moved with ropes, she said.
It’s made of paper-mache, with layers coming off over the years, and has been repainted with red flowers that look like poppies.
“I just really liked it,” Brooks said with a laugh when asked if the hustle of moving the moose back and forth was worth it.
“It’s just a cool thing to have.”
— With files from Fatima Raza.
TORONTO – Heather Gardiner couldn’t give her seats away.
The Blue Jays owned a record under .500 back in the spring, and looked poised for another middling campaign with little playoff hope.
Things then drastically turned around on the field. Toronto now sits first in the American League East.
And tickets are a hot commodity — often at a hefty price.
Getting into Rogers Centre to see Canada’s only Major League Baseball team has quickly morphed into a costly endeavour this summer that has surprised some fans.
A recent sold-out series against the New York Yankees saw the cheapest seats on resale sites going for more than $200 apiece, while a ticket in the 500 level for Friday’s series-opener with the Kansas City Royals was in the neighbourhood of $80 as of Wednesday afternoon — more than double face value.
Gardiner and her family have two season tickets near the visitors dugout. The tech consultant, who’s had seats since Toronto’s 2015 playoff run, sold most of her extras at cost to friends last season.
After the Jays’ underwhelming start to 2025, interest dropped to near zero.
“We were posting on social media three days before a game saying, ‘We can’t make it and if you want the tickets let me know and they’re yours,’” Gardiner said. “They were free and people weren’t taking them.”
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Toronto’s surge up the standings signalled a drastic shift across the ticket market.
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Fans can make purchases directly from the team through Ticketmaster, while the website also has verified resale options — usually at an inflated price — similar to other big-hitters like SeatGeek and StubHub when supply is scarce.
Jagger Long, who runs Toronto-based resale website Karma Tickets, said a number of factors, including summer holidays, tourism and a winning team are contributing to the spikes.
“We’re riding the hype of the Jays,” he said. “People are spending the money. If they weren’t, the prices would come down.”
A multi-million dollar renovation of Rogers Centre that improved sightlines, added more bars, communal areas and other amenities has also raised the stakes, Long said.
“They’ve done a great job of turning it into more of a social event,” he said.
That mainly happens in the common areas where general admission tickets — standing room, without a seat — can be purchased for a face value of roughly $20.
But those tickets — along with blocks of seats in the 500s — are often snapped up by scalpers or fellow fans looking to make a quick buck, Long said. General admission seats for Toronto’s opener against Kansas City were priced around $50 and up for resale Wednesday.
“People are watching the market,” said Long, who added website algorithms can boost prices automatically when tickets are at a premium. “Even average fans, professional ticket sellers, part-time ticket sellers, they watch. They treat it like a part-time job or a full-time job.”
The Jays said in a statement the club encourages fans to plan ahead and purchase tickets well in advance of games. The team noted there are plenty of seats available for series later in August and September.
Long agreed getting tickets early is the best practice, but added scanning resale options for popular games can still garner good results.
“Jot down the price and then go back in a few days,” he said. “If the prices haven’t really moved, that’s an indicator … you eventually might find a hidden gem.”
The face value of Gardiner’s tickets sit at just over $100 each per game. She hasn’t looked to make a profit in the past, but sold for as much as $350 apiece for the Yankees series, and got $450 this weekend.
Prices for season-ticket holders jumped significantly following the Rogers Centre renovations. Gardiner said she knows a number of fellow fans — including some with tickets since Day 1 back in 1977 at Exhibition Stadium — who have gone that route to maintain their small pieces of baseball real estate.
The financial calculus of attending Jays games aside, Gardiner said the energy at the ballpark is comparable to when she first bought in a decade ago.
“It’s like being there in 2015,” she said. “There was something different, and that’s what it’s feeling like in that building.
“Everyone keeps saying it’s like a playoff game. It is electric.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 30, 2025.
© 2025 The Canadian Press
The Niagara SPCA and Humane Society says over the span of four days, it has received 76 cats that were either surrendered or found abandoned.
Amelia Canto, CEO of the Niagara SPCA and Humane Society, told Global News on Wednesday they are continuing to have even more cats come in.
“This is usually a busy time with the season,” Canto said.
“It’s basically kitten season right now, so the fact that 76 arrived at one time was very overwhelming for us. They are fortunately in good health.”
Kitten cared for by the Niagara SPCA and Humane Society.
Supplied by the Niagara SPCA and Humane Society
It all started when 10 kittens were found huddled inside a box and left in a public park, the SPCA said on its website, while nine more cats arrived after a person was evicted and their cats were left with nowhere to go.
Over those four days, other cats — some of them pregnant — came in, while others came in still nursing their litter of kittens.
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But the society says the final blow was 14 female cats found inside a wire dog crate, abandoned in another park with nothing but a handwritten note saying: “Please find these cats a home. I am unable to care for them! I’m sorry.”
Cats abandoned in a park, now in the care of the Niagara SPCA and Humane Society.
Supplied by the Niagara SPCA and Humane Society
The massive increase in felines now brings the total number of cats and kittens being cared for by the Niagara SPCA to 221.
“All the precious lives are now safe in our care, but we’re stretched to the limit,” said Tammy Gaboury, animal care manager, on the SPCA’s website.
“We’ve planned for busy seasons. We couldn’t have planned for this.”
To cope with massive increase of cats under their care, the society is asking people to donate to help with care costs.
Canto says several pet stores have taken some of the cats to feature them as available in the store, as well as donated items for pets in need. Several vets are also stepping up to help cover some surgery and care costs, Canto added.
While under the SPCA’s care, each cat is given flea and parasite control, vaccinated, and received a full physical exam.
Gaboury said on the SPCA’s website they also spay or neuter all cats to help avoid overpopulation, and make it easier for them to find a new home.
“No cat should be left in a park, in a box, or behind a locked door. Please consider giving now to be part of their rescue story,” Gaboury says.
© 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
After nearly two weeks, police in Niagara Falls, Ont., say they have finally caught up with a man who is accused of fatally running over an 82-year-old man with his own car.
The ordeal began on July 17, when officers were dispatched to Charles Daley Park in Lincoln at around 9:45 a.m. after a report that a vehicle had hit a pedestrian and fled the scene.
Two days later, police revealed that 82-year-old Larry Pearce of St. Catharines had succumbed to his injuries suffered in the collision while in hospital.
Police said Pearce had been at the park for about 40 minutes before he began to drive off. As he was leaving the parking lot, “he stopped and engaged in an interaction with unknown suspect(s).”
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Pearce then got out of the vehicle to talk with them and that was when a suspect hopped in and took control of the wheel, according to police. They say Pearce then jumped in front of the vehicle in an attempt to stop the thief from making off with his Honda CR-V but he fell to the ground and the SUV drove off.
Three days after the incident, police announced they were looking to speak with Davy Rocchetti in connection with the incident. They did not say whether the man was a suspect but did say he was wanted on charges unrelated to the hit and run, including mischief under $5,000, theft under $5,000 and operation while prohibited.
Then, on July 23, police announced that Rocchetti was facing a second-degree murder charge in connection with Pearce’s death and that officers were seeking a Canada-wide warrant in their search for the man.
Police said Rocchetti had been spotted in the 2012 grey Honda CR-V in Mississauga along with his pitbull-style dog.
Then last Thursday, police from Peel Region were dispatched to North Sheridan Way in Mississauga for a vehicle fire.
It was later confirmed to be the missing CR-V, according to police, who said a man was seen walking away from the SUV after it had been set ablaze.
Police say they finally caught up with Pearce on Tuesday night, arresting him for second-degree murder and taking him back to Niagara Region.
Police did not say where the arrest was made but noted that officers from Niagara, Peel and Toronto were involved.
© 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
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