Toronto's Distillery Winter Village warns of scam as Christmas market opens

Toronto's world-famous Distillery District Winter Village officially kicked off its Christmas countdown on Thursday, bringing lots of festive lights, local food vendors, and the highly anticipated lighting ceremony for its massive Christmas tree to the cobblestone streets of the former Gooderham & Worts distillery.

While you may be eager to secure your tickets to the festive end-of-year tradition, there's an online scam that Christmas marketgoers need to be aware of this year.

Social media users have flagged a website, "tochristmasmarket.com," which appears to be selling fake tickets to the Winter Village.

A Reddit post highlighting the website received more than 305 upvotes and 50 comments before being deleted, with many users urging others to report the site as a phishing attempt to Google.

Many flagged that tickets for the Distillery Winter Village are only sold through the official website, with general admission tickets running for $18.65 and express gate entry tickets totalling $37.29. Admission is only required during peak times, including the opening night, Fridays through Sundays after 4 p.m., Thursdays in December after 4 p.m., and daily from Dec. 15 to Dec. 31.

The Distillery Historic District Management confirmed to blogTO that they are aware of the fraudulent website, which has been utilizing official imagery and event information without authorization.

"We have reported the website to its domain registrar for misrepresentation of The Distillery Winter Village, have filed an email complaint with the Toronto Police Service, and have issued a formal Cease and Desist letter to the website host," management said.

"Unfortunately, we are unable to acquire the domain name at this time, as it is registered to an independent third party [outside of Canada]."

Officials are urging visitors to rely on the only official website for ticket sales (www.thedistillerywintervillage.com), for authentic purchases, and event information.

The Distillery Winter Village is on now until Jan. 4, 2026.