A deserted Yorkville stands in sharp contrast to years past. (Submitted by Chris Berube)

Chris Berube, Citizen Contributor

When I was in high school, I was blissfully unaware of the film festival's impact on my city.

It was not until I accidentally walked through Yorkville during my first year of university that I came to realize the pandemonium that TIFF creates -- celebrities sitting in restaurant windows, autograph hounds standing around hotel entrances, and slick businesspeople talking on cellphones crowded the three blocks north of Bloor Street.

For Torontonians, Yorkville's expensive shops and luxury hotels have always been the focus of TIFF's star power, where regular people can effortlessly encounter Oscar winners and young stars on the street just by virtue of hanging around.

Walking through the still posh neighbourhood this Sunday was a completely different experience. Along Cumberland Street, the usual TIFF sight of black limousines and town cars was replaced by the finish line of a neighbourhood fun run, with participants in their workout gear sucking, on orange wedges and drinking out of water bottles.

Participants in a fun run cross the finish line in Yorkville. (Submitted by Chris Berube)

The plush shops along Bloor Street also looked empty and isolated from the rest of the block, since many are obscured right now by full-lane road and sidewalk construction, wreaking havoc on both car and pedestrian traffic, and giving the area a distinctly unglamorous feel.  

With TIFF opening its new headquarters, Bell Lightbox, about 20 blocks away at  King and John streets, it seems as though this year Yorkville has lost some of its lustre. There are no more TIFF screenings in the neighbourhood's cinema, the Cumberland, and most press conferences with stars are being scheduled closer to the festival's new home.

"I think that there are substantial growing pains going on this year," says Jessica Edwards, who runs the PR agency Film First Co., which organizes publicity for a couple of films at the festival every year. "There was construction up here last year, but everybody was up here last year anyway, and it's very much divided now."

However, things may not have changed as much as I suspected. Edwards firm is still doing much of its work around the Yorkville area this year, if just out of habit.

"Many of the screenings have moved [south], and there's a much bigger buzz down there, but the industry who come here to work, and come here to promote films and sell films, are still very much up in Yorkville," says Edwards. "The hotels at the corner of Bloor and Avenue Road are so filled with interviews and meetings, I think that it's the one thing that hasn't changed. I think everyone is taking a wait and see approach this year."

Indeed, walking through Yorkville Monday afternoon proved a sharp contrast to the deserted Sunday morning. The usual crowds were gathering outside of the Intercontinental and Hazleton Hotels, and lineups at most coffee shops and restaurants were out the door.

Crowds gather at the Intercontinental hotel for a chance celebrity sighting. (Submitted by Chris Berube)

"I went on my break yesterday, and it took me about half an hour just to wade through the people to get a coffee," says Evan Williams-Gates, an employee at the Gap store at Bloor and Bay.

He suspects that, as long as Yorkville maintains its tony reputation, people will continue to show up during the festival.

"This is an extremely affluent neighbourhood, so this is where you expect celebrities to be. And that's all most people care about, really."

Still, for Williams-Gates, it seems this year that famous people have been in shorter supply around Toronto's richest enclave.

"No, I haven't seen anybody yet. None of my friends have seen anybody this year, either."

You can follow Chris throughout #TIFF10 on Twitter at @chrisberube