Show won't go on for buskers at Harbourfront this summer

Performers sidelined for fifth straight year at waterfront venue

- EMILY FAGAN

Kyle Sipkens has petitioned to bring back busking to Harbourfront Centre.

Kyle Sipkens once stood on a bed of nails, looking out on Lake Ontario as he juggled razor-sharp knives, entertaining locals and tourists alike who flock to the Harbourfront Centre each summer.

“It’s more scenic than any theatre could ever be,” he said. “There’s nothing like it, because instead of having a captive audience in a dark room … you have to be more interesting than everything else that’s happening.”

Now, in the square where he once busked, caution tape ropes off a broken metal sculpture, which hangs limp awaiting a screw to repair it.

Since 2020, due first to the pandemic and later construction, the Harbourfront Centre has prevented buskers from performing in the space in front of the building — a decision they’ve extended this summer, announcing the program is “strategically paused” while they grapple with limited resources and study how people interact with the centre’s newly constructed public square, formerly a beloved ice rink.

An online petition, launched by Sipkens, is challenging this decision, which he says means not only the loss of a fifth season of income and exposure for buskers, but also denies access to low-barrier entertainment for thousands who visit each summer.