weekend events toronto

Weekend events in Toronto June 10-12 2016

Weekend events in Toronto are all very exciting, but let's be honest, it's hard to top Bestival. Taking place at its new home in Woodbine Park, this year's festival features a stellar lineup, wild art installations, and costumes galore. For the more brooding music fan, Unsound takes over the Hearn on Friday and Saturday for Luminato.

Here are my top picks for what to get up to this weekend in Toronto.

FESTIVALS AND OUTDOORS

Luminato (June 9 - 26)
The mega-arts fest happening (mostly) inside an abandoned power station launches this weekend and runs until the end of June with non-stop programming. Check out my picks for the top events and be sure to remember that there's losts of free stuff to do as well.

Kingston Pop Up Weekend (June 10)
A pop-up weekend courtesy of another city. Isn't that nice of them? The City of Kingston takes over an alley off of Ossington to show off their finest. There will be beer.

Liberty Village art crawl (June 11)
65 artists and designers lay it all out for you alongside food trucks and DJs. It's free admission, and if you get there at 11 a.m. when if opens, you'll get a Circue Du Soleil grab bag. I bet there's a tiny little aerialist folded up in each one.

Dundas West Fest (June 11)
Dundas West Fest is my fave of all street fests in the city. It's calm, the food is good, the vendors are unque and the people are great to look at. Now there's also a music stage at the Lakeview Dinner.

Bloordale Laneway Crawl (June 11)
Take a walk through the laneways of Bloordale and help transform them into positive, colourful places with pop up mural events, live music, activities and yard sales.

Toronto Flower Market (June 11)
Grab you local and seasonally in bloom bunches of flowers at the CAMH Park at Queen and Shaw streets, from 10 a.m. - 3 p.m.

Roncy Rocks (June 11)
The annual arts and music festival along Roncesvalles returns with multiple stages and types of music. Traditional Polish songs can be heard a block over from an atl-country duo. The Grapes Of Wrath, NQ Arbuckle are a couple the star groups performing.

ART

Womxn (June 10)
This is a magazine launch for the new Conscious Mind Camp magazine with contributions from dozens of artists. The launch will feature performances and temporary tattoos!

The Civilian Show (June 11)
According the event description, "Civilian will be a one-night performance/installation show that is a celebration of the mundane and the passive onlookers of society." It features the work of four local artists in the cool White House art space.

Hello Happy Market (June 12)
A carefully curated market of bright, modern Canadian designer stuff. This is a market originally from Vancouver and it's making it's Toronto debut today at the Richmond Gallery. $2 gets you in the door.

MUSIC

Florence and the Machine's
This is Toronto's stop on the How Beautiful Tour with openers Of Monsters and Men. There are a few cool music things happening this weekend, but Florence and Bestival are my events.

FILM

Breakthroughs Film Festival (June 10 - 11)
Breakthroughs is the only festival in Canada devoted exclusively to short films by New Generation (18-30 year old) female directors. This year features 17 films from nine different countries, five of which are from Toronto. So cool.

Wild Things movie drinking game (June 10)
Get to this with a group of four people or more to truly enjoy the drinking game experience with this classic femme flick. It includes raffle prizes, gourmet popcorn, retro horror trailers and a themed cocktail.

Bollywood Classics: Pakeezah (June 11)
This classic will be screened under the stars in the courtyard of the Aga Khan! This film took 14 years to complete and is the final performance from the legendary Meena Kumari.

FOOD & DRINK

Session Craft Beer Festival Kickoff (June 11)
Beer lovers gather at Yonge-Dundas Square for Ontario Craft Beer Week to try new beers created in partnership with Canadian celebrities. Winners will be listed ta the LCBO. Past famous folk include Tom Green, Sam Roberts Band and K-OS.

Toronto Taste (June 12)
Head down to the Corus Quay and eat and drink for a very good cause. This foodie wonderland raises money for Second Harvest. This is a ticketed event that starts at 6 p.m. and features over 90 food and drink vendors from some of the city's most exciting chefs. There's also a high stakes Chef challenge competition between three master cooks.

DANCING

Look at this dance party list! Sumer dance fever is happening, and it's only early June! Get a cold cloth! Or don't... either way, try out the Renaissance: all '90s (June 11)">Blnd Tiger '90s dance party on June 11 with Mista Jiggz. It's the hottest on College Street right now.

Photo at the 2015 Bestival by Alejandro Santiago.


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