Free cotton candy, balloons, bubbles and games abound behind the Wellesley Community Centre today as St. James Town celebrates its fifth annual community festival.

The festival includes a lineup of singers, dancers and other performers connected to the community.

“We make a real effort to involve everyone,” said festival committee member Pamela Taylor. “There’s representatives from every community group… They come from every part of the earth.”

St. James Town is the most densely populated community in Canada, with approximately 17,000 people living in the neighbourhood’s 19 apartment buildings. With 73% of the community being non-white, it is also one of the most ethnically diverse.

“This is the only time we can be together,” said Gene Lara, one of the event’s main organizers. “It’s a very modest way of bringing together the community, and of simply being happy.”