KIDS HAVING FUN at New Toronto’s Grill Cheese Challenge which returns on June 11 after two years. Courtesy photos.
Feels like a summer of fun in the sun!
All of Toronto’s many popular street parties and large outdoor events are returning this summer after a two-year hiatus due to COVID-19.
Here at home, organizers are planning the Fifth Annual Grill Cheese Challenge for June 11, which will include two stages and featuring live bands.
GETTIN’ DOWN at The Caribbean Carnival which returns this July-August.
Chris Korwin Kuczynski, of the Lake Shore Village Business Improvement Association (BIA), said there will be many booths set up from Second Street to Islington Avenue, which will be packed with delicious food. There will also be a beer tent.
He said organizers will take their anti COVID-19 guidance from public health officials.
“The event has been on hiatus for two years due to COVID-19,” Korwin-Kuczynski said. “It will be a great event as always and it will be a lot of fun for the family.”
The Challenge attracted as many as 30,000 area residents before it was cancelled by the pandemic two years ago.
ST. PATRICK’s Day parade in Toronto before the pandemic. Courtesy photo.
Organizers of the Toronto St. Patrick Day Parade is also going full steam ahead for their annual downtown parade that will take place on March 20.
PM TRUDEAU waving a flag at a pre-pandemic Pride Toronto parade. Courtesy photo.
The organizers said many people have been vaccinated and most events have been given the green light by the Ontario government and City of Toronto.
This year, the parade will begin at Bloor Street West and St. George Street, heading east to Yonge Street, south to the Queen Street and then past a review stand at Nathan Phillips Square.
Also returning is The Toronto Caribbean Carnival, also formerly known as Caribana, which will celebrate its 55th anniversary with a series of events leading up to the final weekend of July 28 to August 1 and the annual Grand Parade.
This year marks the festival’s Emerald Anniversary and revellers are celebrating freedom, diversity and inclusion that makes up the carnival arts, according to organizers.
MOTOR LOVERS can now return to the annual Honda Indy.
Pride Toronto is planning a month-long series of events for June, with the highlight being Pride Weekend from June 24 to 26, which will include the Trans March, the Dyke March and the Pride parade.
The TD Toronto Jazz Festival will celebrate its 35th anniversary from June 24 to July 3 with new stages at the Victoria College Quad at the University of Toronto and an installation at Yorkville’s Cumberland Park.
Luminato, the arts festival featuring local and international talent, is expected to announce its events anywhere from June 9 to 19.
Doors Open Toronto, which offers walking tours of more than 150 properties of architectural, historic and cultural significance, will run the weekend of May 28 and 29.
THE GREAT Oscar Peterson signifies the return of Jazz in Toronto.
Car buffs can head to the roaring Honda Indy at Exhibition Place on the weekend of July 15 to 17.
The Beaches International Jazz Festival, which held its first event in 1989, will offer performances from July 2 to 24.
Krino’s Taste of Danforth, which is always packed and popular, expects to return for the weekend of August 6 and 7.
The Canadian National Exhibition (CNE), one of Toronto’s oldest and most celebrated summer events, will run from August 19 to September 5.