Kim Foikis
The Fool
Joachim (Kim) Foikis was the official Town Fool of Vancouver.
On April Fool's day 1968 he received a $3,500.00 grant from the Canada Council to "to revive the ancient and time-honoured tradition" and so became Vancouver's Town Fool for one year. His aim was to “mock the four pillars of society: money, status, respectability, and conformity.”
In 1968 he visited Toronto City Hall:
He tried to get Toronto mayor William Dennison to wear the jester's hat and ended up getting kicked out. Foikis was apparently extremely skilled at his job.
The gathering out front of City Hall.
He visited again in 1969 for the Rochdale College annual Summer Festival - this is taken out front of the college:
On April 27 1969, he spent the last of his Canada Council grant on a party in Gastown for Skid Road residents.
He eventually lived in Rochdale College in 1974 and 1975.
He died in 2007 and the stories vary.
"I want to revive the fool of joy. I want all the world to be a stage - and get every other fool to laugh in the face of death."
Images courtesy of Toronto Public Library.