When you think of the end of summer you have to think of the CNE. That old beast that hides downtown by the lakeshore for most of the year and then comes to life as kids are ready to head back to school. Going to the CNE was always in cycles, sometimes you would go a couple times in a year, or every year and then you would have enough of the rides and crowds and give it a break for awhile.
I remember being at the EX during the last day, many years ago, and being scared of the mobs that gathered, waiting to run wild through the fair grounds, wreaking havoc and stealing prizes as they swarmed the game booths. There was a group of police officers in this huge crowd, formed in a circle with there backs together facing outwards. You could feel the crowd building in anticipation of the coming violence and you quickly decided that it was a good time to get out of the CNE. That lasted a couple of years but you don't seem to hear about it lately, thank goodness.
The jingles that they made up for marketing were sometimes especially catchy - "Like always, like never before, the EX you remember and a whole lot more" and "Let's go to the EX, oh baby, let's go to the EX" were some songs that you had stuck in your head all summer.
