The Rushnyk of Unity — Rushnyk of Victory Walked in the Toronto Ukrainian Festival 2026 Parade

On Saturday, 19 September 2026, the Rushnyk of Unity — Rushnyk of Victory walked in the parade of the Toronto Ukrainian Festival 2026 in Bloor West Village. It was the cloth's second stop in North America, six days after its premiere at UAFest in Carleton Place. The carriers met at 10:00 at the Lesya Ukrainka Monument in High Park, the parade set off at 11:00, and 30 metres of the column were set aside for the cloth. From Toronto the cloth was booked for a week in Mississauga, 21–27 September.

What happened at the Toronto Ukrainian Festival parade

The Bloor West Village Toronto Ukrainian Festival ran on 18–20 September 2026, its 30th annual edition, and describes itself as North America's largest Ukrainian street festival. The Rushnyk walked in its Saturday parade. A short video of the column, filmed on 19 September, shows the column in High Park.

Sources: the festival's parade page and our Toronto event page.

What the Rushnyk of Unity — Rushnyk of Victory is

The Rushnyk of Unity — Rushnyk of Victory is a hand-embroidered cloth joined from rushnyky made by Ukrainian communities and their friends in many countries. On 24 May 2026 in Tallinn, The Book of World Records registered it as a European record: 103 rushnyky from 89 organisations, joined into a cloth 160.5 metres long (certificate No. 26-2405-002UA).

Communities along the route keep adding panels, as Glasgow did this summer. The route page lists 43 stops in 14 countries before Canada, from Ukraine across Europe to Paignton, England, in August 2026. Every figure with its source is in the Rushnyk fact pack.

Mississauga: a week with the cloth

For 21–27 September the Rushnyk was booked at the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, 3625 Cawthra Road, Mississauga. The week's programme, sent by the tour coordinator on 19 September and published on the Mississauga event page, listed the Barvinok dance school on the 21st and 22nd, a meeting of the Ukrainian Catholic Women's League of Canada on the 23rd to stitch one more rushnyk into the cloth, and St. Sophia School at the blessing of Ternopil Park on the 25th.

How to bring the Rushnyk to your community

Any parish, school, association, festival or town can invite the Rushnyk through UAFest, which agrees each North American stop with the project's coordinators in Europe. The route plan lists 22 cities in Canada, the United States and Latin America still open for a host community.

What a host provides:

• A space long enough to unroll a substantial run of the cloth: a church, hall, gym or square.
• One named contact person, reachable on the day.
• Careful handling of a hand-embroidered original, and the hand-over to the next stop.

UAFest brings the cloth with a condition note, its story in English, Ukrainian or French, your stop on the route page and a press release you can put your own name on.

Carried the cloth in Toronto?

Everyone who carried the Rushnyk in the parade can register as a cloth bearer and, once the holder confirms, receive a named certificate with a QR code that anyone can check.