The circus is here (sorta)! Cirque du Soleil setting up shop on Queens Quay

(One of the sites of the Cirque event, with extra trailers and towers visible. Click here for larger image)

Oh yes, don't you know it's June, given these cooler days we've been having lately? Well, Toronto, that city of the summer, is set to transport thousands to our waterfront in a few weeks with the launch of Luminato starting this weekend.

Of course, we've written about one of the big closing events for the Luminato, the Cirque de Soleil events on the weekend of the 13th to 16th. We'll write about road closures later, but for today, you may have noticed the trucks rolling into the neighbourhood.

Below, you can see the Cirque trailer in the distance (blue with gold lettering)



And an idea of how much electricity this event will need to power it.



And one of the tower-like platforms.



That's right, the circus has arrived and they're already starting to set up at HTO Park. They've set up fences around the fire stations and as we write this Tuesday night, they've already put up five towers, all about three-storeys high. We're sure this will make what ever performances they'll be giving visible the anticipated crowds who'll converge on the western part of Queens Quay (for once) and those of us with balconey views.

Our last post cited a Globe story "departure from the tightly controlled big-top and Las Vegas spectacles it's known for - representing a throwback of sorts to the company's street-performer roots, albeit one shaped by the massive creative resources Cirque now has at its disposal."