Top Festivals in Toronto

Ohhh Toronto loves a festival. Summer is chockablock full of festivals celebrating food, music, drinks, art...you name it, there is probably a festival for it in and around the city. Here I've compiled my list of 5 favourite Toronto festivals and just so you know, not all of them are summertime deals.

1// Toronto Cider Festival

I'm not a beer drinker so all the craft beer fests usually aren't my scene, but put a cider on tap and I'm there! This end of summer fest has all the hallmarks of a great summer weekend at the cottage at the Toronto Waterfront on Sherbourne Common.

2// Toronto Light Fest

This winter festival arguably kicks off the year of fests by starting mid-January and running for several weeks at the Distillery District. It's an incredible installation of light based outdoor art pieces. Honestly, I really love this event. Cool public art is tops.

3// Historic Distillery District Christmas Market

I love all Christmas markets, but the ones in Europe are really where's it at. Short of a flight to Germany, the Distillery District for the month of November becomes a Christmas wonderland and the closest thing to a true and proper Christmas market on the cobbled streets of the former Victorian Distillery.

4 Taco Fest

Unlike the other fests on this list, this is the only one I have yet to repeat. June is a busy month for festivals and sometimes you just have to pick and choose how you spend your time. But I love tacos and a whole festival dedicated to them is a-okay in my books.

5 Brunch Fest

This festival also in June gives you your fill of breakfast themed foods. I recommend going to a early session to avoid lines and missing out on some favourite brunch items.

A festival is only second to a really good farmer's market, but what have I missed? Any honourable mentions that should be noted?

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Photo Essay: Quilts at the Creek

It's that time of year again, Quilts at the Creek, Black Creek Pioneer Village that is. I was able to pop in and spot some truly spectacular works of fabric art.

Here were some of my favourites

This beautiful setting is made that much more beautiful with the temporary colourful display. Check it out next year!

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Toronto Cider Fest is COMING!!!

Cider is steadily (much to my pleasure) increasing in popularity, and more importantly, availability. With cider bars popping up in the city and more options (including on tap!) at your local favourite drinking establishments over the last few years, I think it's safe to say this trend is here to stay.

Getting in on the action early, the Toronto Cider Festival is entering it's 4th year and has managed to again promise to be bigger and better than last time. Winner of the Notable Award for Best Festival of the Year 2017 and finalist for Best Public Festival at the 2018 Canadian Special Events Industry Awards, TO Cider Fest has been selling out of each of the jam-packed sessions.

This year things have expanded into 2 days of cider fun with a wild west theme. Like always, there will be over 100 ciders showcased from producers found all over Canada and around the world, food trucks, games, prizes, and live entertainment. What better way to spend a late summer evening in Toronto? Oh I know, a mechanical bull ride! Yup, this year, they'll have that too.

The Friday night session will feature line dancing and Rising Star Award finalist and Canadian country music artist Alessia Cohle and her live country band. On August 24th-25th, Sherbourne Common, right down at the Toronto waterfront, will be transformed into a western themed evening with returning favourites like the photo booth, cottage games, Flair Cider Cocktail Bartending Competition and Art Showdown with some added fun of Outfit Showdown contest and mechanical bull riding.

Each regular session admission includes 4 sample tokens and a commemorative sampling mug. If you fancy yourself more of a VIP status then the VIP Experience includes 6 additional sample tokens, access to the VIP hour and on Saturday night, food and cider pairings and bonus giveaways.
Check out Toronto Cider Festival for how to book your tickets online or find this picture (below) on my instagram for a free giveaway for a chance to win 2 tickets to this awesome event.Tickets are for the Friday session.

🚨 GIVEAWAY ALERT 🚨 The kind organizers of @tociderfest have provided me with two tickets to this year’s Toronto Cider Fest to give away to one of you beautiful and lucky individuals. Who’s in? 🙋🏻‍♀️ How to enter: 1) Follow me @edeerich on insta and like this post. 2) Follow @tociderfest on insta. 3) Tag your cider lovin’ bestie coming with you in the comments below. That’s it! 🍻 Contest closes 3 August 2018 at 11:59 am EDT Complete all 3 steps above to be entered. A winner will be selected at random and notified via DM. Tickets valid for the Friday evening session. Must be 19+ to attend the event

A post shared by Erin Out And About (@edeerich) on Jul 26, 2018 at 11:12am PDT

Disclaimer: I've written this post in exchange for tickets to the Toronto Cider Festival, but I really love this fest and really would be attending this event no matter what.

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5 Things You Don't Want to Miss Out on This Summer in Toronto

Canada, I know it's hard to remember what life was like without snow and cold and general winter grayness, but trust. Summer is coming. And maybe even sooner than we can imagine with an ice storm hammering the city this past weekend and 12 degrees Celsius called for this weekend. Not to get too ahead of myself, but I'm already preparing my annual warmer months 'To Do' list of all the things I want to make sure I do while I can. Although I have an extensive list of things, I've whittled it down to 5 items that I think you should join me in doing. Some are Toronto specific, but many are general ways in which one can soak in the summer sun and take a moment to appreciate the warmth while we still can. 

1 Festivals

The summer calendar in Toronto is chockablock of festivals. Art festivals, various food festivals, fairs, and markets. I adore them all! Of particular note (and one of my favourites!) is the Toronto Cider Fest, started 4 years, this festival has grown each year, both in size and popularity. This year's festivities will take place the last weekend in August (Friday 24-Saturday 25) and have a Wild West theme. As per usual there will be live music, contests, lawn games, flair cider cocktail bar tending competition, and over 100 ciders from the best apple growing regions of Canada and internationally. New this year is a Friday night session which is to include a country night with a country music band, line dancing, and mechanical bull riding. You do not want to miss out on the Toronto Cider Fest and right now until May 1st at midnight, there are early bird tickets on sale $30-$60 and I'll see you there!

2 Farmers markets

All over Toronto there are farmers markets. Small ones run by community groups and larger ones aiming to pull in more than just the surrounding neighbours. The fresh produce and locally crafted artisan foods are a marker of warm summer days. Sure you could go to the grocery store and fondle the peaches, but it's just not the same if while fondling your fruit you have a chat with the farmer who grew and picked them. 

3 Outdoor movies

I don't know why, but one of my most favourite things to do in the summer is to watch movies outdoors. Maybe it's because winter is just so darn long that when I have the ability to be outside with fresh air, I want to spend as much time as possible out there enjoying it to the fullest. And outdoor movies seems to be a thing that's catching on, with offerings all over the city; east end, waterfront, west end. I'm sure there's one in the north end too but nobody ever goes up there! (I kid! I kid!)

4 Lakefront and Beaches

I mean, when is it better to plant your butt down in sandy shores than in the summer time? Even with no events or special activities Toronto beaches are the shizzel. Cherry Beach, Woodbine Beach, Hanlan's Point, Ward's Island Beach, Bluffer's Park, Sunnyside, Sugar Beach to name just a few found along Lake Ontario's shoreline. Not such a fan of sand? Just head to any of the lakefront boardwalks. Specifically, I suggest the Martin Goodman Trail that starts in Mimico (west Toronto) and follows the waterfront, with little interruption, all the way to The Beaches (east Toronto). 

5 Patios

Summer in the city means patio living. Sidewalks fill up with chairs and tables, rooftops get the same treatment. Everyone and their dog can be found sunning their faces and downing cold beverages. We love patio life so much in Toronto that it becomes a little challenging at times to find empty seats. If you are able to snag a table at your local patio bar, stake a claim and move for no one! It's almost as coveted as reasonably priced Toronto real estate. 

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Light Fest TO

Did you get to it this year? The Toronto Light Fest has come and gone and it was just as glittery and brilliant this year as it was last.

The Toronto Light Festival is the invention and creation of the same group that organize the annual Distillery District Christmas Market. And although this is only the second year for this festival, it is already one of my favourites which I was really looking forward to.

It ran from January 19 - March 4 2018 starting at sundown. This year my friend and I attended midweek and missed out on a couple of the more interactive installations, but there was still plenty to see. 

Although the Toronto Light Festival is done and dusted, I still wanted to share with you some of the incredible and dazzling installations of 2018. Even the Historic Distillery District itself got in on the action with lighting up some of the fixed installations pieces on the grounds.

I think why I love this festival so much is because with something so simple (a little bit of light), the old Victorian complex is changed into an outdoor art gallery. Filling the alleys with wandering spectators and delighting them with whimsical, interesting, sometimes creepy works of art.

Symbolic Peace, Studio Rosenblatt

Entwined, Charles Gadeken

Pulse Portal, David McCarty

The Bohemian Arch, Davis McCarty

Detail of HYBYCOZO, Serge Beaulieu & Yelena Filipchuk

Gummy Bear Pyramid, Dicapria

detail of the Gummy Bear Pyramid

Not Not Art, Studio Rosenblatt

Perspective, Studio Rosenblatt 

Solar Sail, Davis McCarty

Talking Heads, Viktor Vicsek

The ZOA, Martin Taylor

Guardians of Time, Manfred Kielnhofer

HYBYCOZO, Serge Beaulieu & Yelena Filipchuk

LightPiano 2.0, Kleurbleur

The Electric Dandelions, Abram Santa Cruz

Birds Fly Around With You, Masamichi Shimada

Reaching Through, Jessica Levine

Heavy Meta, The Heavy Meta Collective

Nest, Vikas Patil & Santosh Gujar

What festivals do you most look forward to attending each year?

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