Reaction roundup: city hall reporters journeyed to Etobicoke to take in Ford Fest—then, they tweeted about it
Last Friday, Jonathan Goldsbie tweeted, “When we reach the ‘1500 Royal York’ bus stop, the bus driver announces ‘Stop for Rob Ford.’ Half the passengers on the crowded bus disembark.” And so began an evening of dispatches from Ford Fest, a late summer gathering in the backyard of Doug and Rob Ford’s mother. The event attracted the mayor’s supporters, critics and people who were just there for the beer and food. Undeterred—or perhaps fuelled—by the hamburgers, Toronto’s city hall observers expressed their amazement with the Fords’ vast backyard and the treasures within. We’ve rounded up some of our favourite tweets and broken them down into categories—because here’s another case where the reporting on Twitter outdid the old-timey fare (except for maybe this piece)—after the jump.
1. Backyard tweets
• @marcusbgee: “It’s kind of an Asianish theme in the vast Ford back yard, which is around the same size as Idaho.”
• @robsalerno: “Just found this statue of a money with huge balls at #fordfest.”
2. Evening plans tweets
• @cityslikr: “Confession. Just trying to drink enough in order to have to use the port-a-loos so I can say I peed in the mayor’s backyard. #FordFest”
3. City hall blame game tweets
• @misterdevans: “You do realize this whole #Fordfest Fiasco is David Miller’s fault. Lazy bastard.”
4. ‘Ford lives in a porcelain museum’ tweets
• @PokerToronto: “Who handles @TOMayorFord on facebook? You made a GREAT choice leading off #FordFest album with this pic: http://yfrog.com/nv4me4j #topoli”
5. Gently Bent (a band featuring Councillor Gary Crawford on the drums) tweets
• @cityslikr “Gently Bent sings We’re On A Highway To Hell. This one kind of writes itself. #FordFest”
• @cityslikr “As Gently Bent plays Cinnamon Girl in bg, Cllr Ford poses for pics and his daughter [sic] do cheerleader moves in the spotlight. #FordFest”
• @JoshMatlow: “Wrote songs, accompanied by guitar, about the Fords, city hall, to tunes of 70s/80s TV theme songs. Hoping to perform @ next year’s FordFest.”
6. Real news tweets
• @ddale8: “Actual news: Ford guarantees any tax increase won’t be higher than 2.5 per cent.”
7. Falling in the pool tweets
• @ddale8: “My biggest life nightmare is being the Star reporter who falls into the Ford pool, which is a thing I’d do. Walking very carefully.”
8. Jonathan Goldsbie–related tweets
• @goldsbie: “They’re out of hot banana peppers, yet still have a cauldron of relish. The situation is repeated at the adjacent table. twitpic.com/6f3h1e”
• @cllrainslie: “@goldsbie + me enjoying the good times in FordFest 2011 Beer + burgers help cross political divides twitpic.com/6ffcqo”
Same time next year, everyone?
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Last Friday, Jonathan Goldsbie tweeted, “When we reach the ‘1500 Royal York’ bus stop, the bus driver announces ‘Stop for Rob Ford.’ Half the passengers on the crowded bus disembark.” And so began an evening of dispatches from Ford Fest, a late summer gathering in the backyard of Doug and Rob Ford’s mother. The event attracted the mayor’s supporters, critics and people who were just there for the beer and food. Undeterred—or perhaps fuelled—by the hamburgers, Toronto’s city hall observers expressed their amazement with the Fords’ vast backyard and the treasures within. We’ve rounded up some of our favourite tweets and broken them down into categories—because here’s another case where the reporting on Twitter outdid the old-timey fare (except for maybe this piece)—after the jump.
1. Backyard tweets
• @marcusbgee: “It’s kind of an Asianish theme in the vast Ford back yard, which is around the same size as Idaho.”
• @robsalerno: “Just found this statue of a money with huge balls at #fordfest.”
2. Evening plans tweets
• @cityslikr: “Confession. Just trying to drink enough in order to have to use the port-a-loos so I can say I peed in the mayor’s backyard. #FordFest”
3. City hall blame game tweets
• @misterdevans: “You do realize this whole #Fordfest Fiasco is David Miller’s fault. Lazy bastard.”
4. ‘Ford lives in a porcelain museum’ tweets
• @PokerToronto: “Who handles @TOMayorFord on facebook? You made a GREAT choice leading off #FordFest album with this pic: http://yfrog.com/nv4me4j #topoli”
5. Gently Bent (a band featuring Councillor Gary Crawford on the drums) tweets
• @cityslikr “Gently Bent sings We’re On A Highway To Hell. This one kind of writes itself. #FordFest”
• @cityslikr “As Gently Bent plays Cinnamon Girl in bg, Cllr Ford poses for pics and his daughter [sic] do cheerleader moves in the spotlight. #FordFest”
• @JoshMatlow: “Wrote songs, accompanied by guitar, about the Fords, city hall, to tunes of 70s/80s TV theme songs. Hoping to perform @ next year’s FordFest.”
6. Real news tweets
• @ddale8: “Actual news: Ford guarantees any tax increase won’t be higher than 2.5 per cent.”
7. Falling in the pool tweets
• @ddale8: “My biggest life nightmare is being the Star reporter who falls into the Ford pool, which is a thing I’d do. Walking very carefully.”
8. Jonathan Goldsbie–related tweets
• @goldsbie: “They're out of hot banana peppers, yet still have a cauldron of relish. The situation is repeated at the adjacent table. twitpic.com/6f3h1e”
• @cllrainslie: “@goldsbie + me enjoying the good times in FordFest 2011 Beer + burgers help cross political divides twitpic.com/6ffcqo”
Same time next year, everyone?){kind=link}