A short week deserves a long weekend.
And while we couldn’t convince the higher-ups to make next Monday a holiday too, we have managed to put together a four-day stretch that’s going to make you feel like you need another day off. From concerts and festivals to parties and pop-ups, this is what you do when the weekend shows up early.
Thursday
The Inside Out Film Festival is the largest event of its kind in Canada and one of the top five LGBT film festivals in the world. The next 11 days are about challenging attitudes and changing lives.
The Theatre Centre on Queen W. will have food trucks parked outside all weekend long. And a playing with your food joke has suddenly never worked better.
The Toronto Smartphone Film Festival is taking place at ScotiaBank Theatre. But it has to be more than just one giant advertisement for iPhones, right?
Go get your flamenco on at Supermarket. And by ‘get it on’ we mean watch some experts do it. Leave your castanets at home please.
The third annual I Run For Life: The Pink Soiree will have a silent auction and live band to help raise money for breast cancer research at The Princess Margaret Cancer Centre.
Friday
The largest consumer show in Canada, the Exposure Photo & Video Imaging Show, is exactly where you want to be if you’re into buying cameras that don’t come attached to cell phones.
An anime convention run by fans is taking place all weekend long. And no matter how many times we read it, we can’t believe that’s a real sentence.
No.9: Contemporary Art & The Environment’s exhibition launch showcasing a sustainable city as seen through the eyes of its engaged and empowered youth is taking place at Evergreen Brick Works. Go see what the future looks like.
C’est What is hosting the Spring Festival of Craft Breweries. Admission’s free and samples are only $1 each. Pace yourself.
Party in an art gallery at the ROM’s latest Friday Night Live event, Museum Confidential. We can’t tell you anything more than that.
Trip-hop vets Morcheeba will be at The Danforth Music Hall. Enjoy the ride.
With a lineup that includes Simple Plan, Kardinal Offishall, and Alyssa Reid, ONEXONE Million Meals Movement takes over the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts in an effort to raise money and awareness for its goal of packing one million meals for children in need across North America.
Canadian folk darlings Timbre Timbre will be taking over Massey Hall and tickets are only $18.94 (a reference to the year the venue was built). If you go, just don’t ask them how to say their name – they hate that.
Saturday
There will be several Yard Sale for the Cure events happening throughout the city today, but 1-800-GOT-JUNK’s Trinity Bellwoods blowout looks like the best place to take your bargaining.
Love dogs? How about 150,000 of them. Woofstock is the largest dog festival in North America and has everything dog-related you could ever dream of (or probably find on the internet).
A motionball event, Marathon of Sport sees teams compete in a full day of competition alongside Special Olympics athletes in events that include basketball, bench ball, and ultimate Frisbee. Our team is still trying to figure out what bench ball is.
The 15th annual Doors Open Toronto is the best way to get to know the city in a way that you’re, quite literally, not allowed to any other time of the year.
A co-ed volleyball tournament with its own after party sounds like a pretty nice little Saturday to us. Not sure about the skins vs. shirts though…
A nightclub that’s actually a boat cruise. Who can tell the difference when there’s a 10,000-watt sound and laser lighting system involved?
Sunday
$3 Caesars and mimosas. Oh, and $1 from every eggs Benny order will be donated to the Fife House. Well done, O&B. Well done.
Not to be outdone, Duke’s Refresher Bar is hosting Bootleggers Brunch, a beer (and bacon) lover’s paradise. Six local contract brewers will serve up their signature hops to go along with your meal.
Kensington Market Art Fair has teamed up with Pedestrian Sundays to give Toronto a curated outdoor art fair in one of its most unique neighbourhoods. This is the first of six to be held throughout the summer, but everyone knows the masterpieces are always at the first one.
Mauritian Street Food Pop Ups offers “a flavourful fusion of East Indian, African and Chinese influences with distinctive French and English twists.” We want to know what that tastes like.
Le Dolce is celebrating its 3rd anniversary with a birthday pop-up that is definitely going to have better treats than any party your mom ever organized.
Comedian Seán Cullen will host People for Education’s annual gala benefit, Telling Tales Out of School, at CBC’s Glenn Gould Studio. Other notable guests will include comedian Caroline Rhea, former Barenaked Ladies frontman Steven Page, and Governor General’s Award winner Miriam Toews. More importantly, you could win some pretty amazing prizes if you take the auction seriously (if you don’t own a paddle, you’re not taking it seriously).
Four days of work deserve four days of fun. And if a few of them cross over, all the better. We love a challenge.
Stay Notable,
The Weekender
#LYNL | (Live Your Notable Life)
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Top photo courtesy Doors Open Toronto