Posted : June 28, 2021
Our blog is chock full of great ideas for fun things to see and do in York Durham and Headwaters. We are always adding new content and updating old posts, but sometimes you might stumble upon something from our vault. If this article has inspired you to hit the road, be sure to double-check that the featured stops in this post are still welcoming visitors.
The lockdown is over! For the first time in over a year, The Concierge Club invites you to come out to the Markham Fair Grounds for world-class live entertainment. Just in time for Canada Day, Together Apart, Summer Cirque features multi-Tony Award winning acrobatic theatre company, The 7 Fingers in A Summer Tale.
A Summer Tale takes audiences into a fantasy world where the lives of 10 magical, acrobatic characters converge at a ball celebrating the summer solstice. As they interact with one another in drama, delight, and acrobatic feats, an enchanting story unfolds. A sensation of sight and sound, A Summer Tale promises to dazzle audiences with heart-pounding cirque performances, stunning costume design, breathtaking staging and raucous musical beats.
This will be a physically distanced Cirque du Soleil-inspired show that will run from July 1st to August 1st. Show times are 6:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m., Thursdays to Sundays, and each performance is 60 minutes long. “We are super lucky that we have The 7 Fingers custom-producing a show for us,” says Monica Gomez, CEO of The Concierge Club. “They have won Tony Awards, they’ve done Olympics opening ceremonies, and they’ve performed at the Academy Awards. We feel very blessed that we were able to partner with them for this show, and we are excited for it.”
Though the province of Ontario will only be entering Stage 2 of reopening the day before the show launches, attendees can rest assured that everything about this event has been planned with safety in mind. Each party that arrives will watch the show from their own private platform for their social bubble. Monica says, “We wanted to do this in a really COVID-safe way. Obviously, safety was our top priority when we were planning this, and we thought about how we could bring people together to enjoy the show while allowing them to maintain physical distance from other people.” Each platform can accommodate up to eight guests (with a minimum requirement of four ticket purchases per platform), and tickets range in price from $65 per person to $85, depending on which section of the fairgrounds you are seated in.
Let us give you some context about just how large this event is. The Markham Fair Grounds itself sits on a 104-acre site. The show features a catwalk that is 240 feet long, and the stage is expansive, giving guests panoramic sight lines of the performance. “Really, we’ve created a 360-degree stage experience,” Monica states. “All of the viewing platforms encircle the stage and catwalk.” To complement the entertainment, the show will be set ablaze with dramatic lighting, fireworks for both the daytime and nighttime shows, and colourful smoke grenades to make the experience truly magical.
Considering the fact that planning for Together Apart, Summer Cirque hasn’t been in the works for very long (talks began in February of this year, with the planning getting underway in March), and there was a great deal of uncertainty over whether it would be able to go ahead at all with COVID restrictions, it’s amazing to see what Monica and her team were able to create in such a relatively short time. “If you think about it, for a production of this scale to be planned in that amount of time—especially because it was the unknown—was incredible. We were going into this with positive vibes and hoping that we were going to be able to be allowed to execute something like this,” Monica says. “They were interesting times, and we also had to plan for different scenarios. It’s like you’re planning for two completely different events.”
It is unfortunate that these last two years of the COVID-19 pandemic have significantly affected the entertainment, travel and hospitality industries. It has kept families and friends apart, and it has caused much uncertainty for everyone living through these times. “One of the main reasons I decided to do this event, besides bringing everyone together again and giving the people of Ontario a really great moment, is that I wanted to support the hospitality industry,” Monica says. “That entire industry has been absolutely battered during the last 15 months. I wanted to find a way to help support those people.”
This is why Monica and her team have partnered with Restaurants Canada and will be donating a portion of the proceeds to their mental health and wellness initiative. “What Restaurants Canada is doing is pretty incredible,” she says. “I’m really happy that they are on board and excited about this, even when we were talking about it back in March and it felt like such a far-fetched dream. They’re fully engaged and it’s been a really great partnership.”
In addition, to show appreciation for all of the hardworking people who have kept our province going through the pandemic, Together Apart, Summer Cirque is inviting front line workers to attend for free! If you are a front-line worker, email hello@togetherapartcirque.com with your details to take advantage of this opportunity. But don’t delay—quantities are limited.
Celebrate summer in Ontario this July. Come together with friends and family for this amazing event and prepare to be dazzled! To book your tickets, click on the link below.
Markham Fair Grounds
10801 McCowan Rd., Markham
Story by Katherine Ryalen
Check out the exclusive Together Apart, Summer Cirque Package at Toronto Marriott Markham!
