Weeks before event organizers block off Church Street for this year's Pride Festival, an esoteric celebration of queerness has already begun at the opposite end of Toronto's downtown.

Beginning June 13 and running until this Saturday, the fourth annual Queer West Arts Festival celebrates something many in the neighbourhood have believed for years -- the west end is where the action is for a large segment of the city's gay community.

This year's event includes concerts, public art events, a film festival and a group bicycle ride.

Queer West Community Network founder Michael F. Par�, 58, says the west-end crowd is one that doesn't see the need to congregate in the section of Church Street long held to be the city's Gay Village.

"For the most part, it's a younger generation," says Par�, speaking to CP24.com from his post at the organization's office. "They don't have that sort of ghetto mentality."

The neighbourhood at the centre of Queer West Fest includes Parkdale, Dundas Street West and portions of Little Portugal, and is teeming with queer-run or queer-friendly bars, restaurants and galleries.

"The owner of a cake store on Dundas was joking that it's the lesbian capital of Canada," says Par�, who went on to list about a dozen other queer-positive establishments in the area including West Side Video, Naco Gallery and Caf�, Mitzi's Sister and Baby Huey's.

"And it's a mixed crowd. The younger generation doesn't seem to have qualms about mixing with straight people."

The area's relaxed attitude of acceptance is exactly what appeals to 30-year-old Monica Mitchell. She lives and goes out in the area, and says she's never been partial to the scene Church Street has to offer.

"It seems like it's more of a boy's town vibe and I don't fit in," says Mitchell, who prefers Disgraceland and Hurricanes on Bloor Street West as well as Henhouse, a Dundas Street bar popular with queer women.

"I don't feel compelled to identify myself by who I choose to sleep with. That is a subset of my personality, but not the identifier of my personality," says Mitchell.

The desire for queer spaces that ditch obvious definitions is something that interests Brock University researcher Catherine Nash.

An associate professor in the school's geography department, Nash wrote her PhD thesis on the emergence of Toronto's Gay Village, and is now turning her eye toward the scene developing west of Ossington Avenue.

Her team has begun a series of interviews with business owners, their patrons and area residents in an effort to examine the difference between queer spaces and those designated as gay or lesbian spaces, particularly regarding the possible emergence of a new queer district.

"The basic set of responses we're getting (suggest the west end has) a vibe that is distinctive," says Nash, noting her team is still in the very early phases of the study, which is funded by a three-year grant.

"It generally tends to be described as a place with greater flexibility and a greater need not to identify. Your gender and sense of self can be fluid."

Mitchell agrees with Nash's suspicions, reiterating her belief that there are several aspects of her personality that are just as important as her sexual orientation.

"For me, there's less of that pull to tell people 'I'm here and I'm queer.' It's more like 'I'm here and I'm having a beer.'"

The Queer West Arts Festival runs from June 13 to June 20 at venues throughout west end Toronto. If you are interested in participating in the Queer West research study, please contact Prof. Nash at brockresearch@gmail.com.