Friday, September 12, 2025

The TUNNEL by B!G ART Work outside the Eaton Centre

Trinity Square Park, located on the west side of the Toronto Eaton Centre, is home once again to a large scale work of art, in this case The TUNNEL by B!G ART Work. This piece features 4m high inverted V type structures, illuminated by LED strips on the inside of the structures, creating a path, or tunnel through the installation. The TUNNEL is on site from September 5 to October 29, 2025.

From the Eaton Centre website, "Whether literal or metaphorical, these passageways ignite the imagination and challenge us to explore what lies beyond. The TUNNEL takes this idea further, offering a one-way journey through a dynamic corridor of light, sound, and interactivity. Part immersive sculpture, part sensory instrument, The TUNNEL is more than an installation—it’s a cosmic passage through the imagination."

B!G ART makes public art specializing in interactive and immersive art works. They say, "the TUNNEL is a one-way trip to another side. A series of strange, 4m(12 feet) tall cosmic structures create a tunnel of magical light and sound, scalable from 32m(105 feet) to 50m(165 feet) with all 16 frames. “Pilots” use an interactive device to manipulate the array, creating an infinite number of patterns of light and sound guiding your path through the structures. The 3D design uses over 150 LED bars, pixel-mapped to create a vortex of light pulling you through the structures, with over 8,000 individual LEDs"
@jmhcet #art and #lightinstallation in #trinitysquarepark #Toronto, outside #cfeatoncentre ♬ original sound - This Banger

Thursday, September 11, 2025

Toronto area fall colours 2025

It's early September and the salmon have started their swim upstream and the cool nights have heralded the start of Autumn colours in Ontario. At this point there is about 0 to 10 percent leaf colour change throughout the province and it is estimated that colours will be changing early due to the warm, dry summer we just had, combined with the lowering temperatures experienced since mid-August when summer seemed to suddenly end. The photo at top shows colours from a previous fall in the GTA.

Officially summer continues until September 22, 2025 (at 2:19pm) when the fall equinox ushers in Autumn. The colours typically peak from the end of September into mid-October and you can track the southward migration of peak fall foliage on this Ontario Parks website or this ToDo Ontario Fall Colour Report website.

At this time (September 11) the GTA is starting to experience the occasional tree experiencing colour change as the rest of the overall forest average change is very low, but as we approach the end of September that will change very rapidly.

You can find some of your own locations with great views along hills, parks, near bodies of water and sometimes along winding roads. Some of the best places to see fall colours in the GTA include the following locations.

CN Tower gives a great overhead view
High Park
Scarborough Bluffs
Riverdale Park
Don Valley Trail
Rouge National Urban Park
Cheltenham Badlands
Spencer Gorge and Dundas Peak

Wednesday, September 10, 2025

Toronto Disc Golf Courses

Fun with Frisbees! It's a lot easier and cheaper to play Frisbee Golf, or Disc Golf as most courses are located in parks (so free) and no carts are required. Similar to golf, you throw the frisbee towards the metal and chain baskets, count the throws and compare against the par for the hole.

There are no drinking carts coming by and generally you don't have a caddy or reservations, but otherwise it is the same as golf!

From the city's website, "Come try your hand at disc golf! With similar rules to traditional golf, players throw a disc from a tee off area into a metal basket mounted in the ground. The object of the game is to complete each hole in the fewest number of throws. Disc golf courses are open year round."

Ann and I tried the Ashbridges Bay Park, a 9 hole/baskets, 3 par course, and yes it was delightful. This was our first time and we had the kit with three distinct frisbess each, one was a driver, one a mid-range and one a putter although we did not wield these discs with skill.


See more photos after the jump.

Tuesday, September 09, 2025

Nuit Blanche Toronto 2025 art coming October 4

Late night art installations will soon be discovered throughout Toronto during the sleepless night on Saturday, October 4, 2025. Nuit Blanche, or White Night, is an all night affair that features contemporary art, often art installations, along with visual and audio components from 7pm on Saturday till 7am on Sunday. This year's theme will be “Translate the city through art” and it will be the 19th edition of the Toronto event. I plan to be there with my lite-bike, travelling around the art sites looking for interesting art amongst the art I can't understand. That is Afaf Naseem, Signals of the City, (Nuit Blanche Toronto, 2025) photo at top.

Nuit Blanche's Artistic Director Laura Nanni "invites audiences to explore the ways art interprets and transforms urban life, bridging language, culture, identity and place." There will be three main areas of art; North York, Etobicoke focused on the Humber Polytechnic campus and also the downtown core of the city. There will be city sponsored exhibitions along with independent projects as well as Nuit Talks, tours and workshops.

There are three city sponsored exhibitions plus over 85 other works and the odds are you won't see them all. The beginning of the night of art is a super busy time, hard even to get close to some installations due to crowds. It starts to get quieter as the night turns into early morning, so plan accordingly.

Saturday, September 06, 2025

Smoke-A-Palooza Toronto

Sankofa Square is hosting Smoke-A-Palooza 2025 on Saturday, September 6 from 11am to 11pm. Surprisingly this is not a weed themed event, no it is a french fry type of event, if the fries were coated in gravy and cheese curds. 



From the Square's website "Smoke-A-Palooza is back! Join Smoke’s Poutinerie for 12 hours of non-stop entertainment, featuring FREE fries, curds & gravy, daredevil stunts, activations, prizes, and the legendary World Poutine Eating Championship (WPEC)."
@jmhcet #stiltperformer at #Toronto #smokeapalooza 2025 in #sankofasquare ♬ suara asli - SONG OF THE DAY

Trinbago Toronto Festival 2025

The Caribbean is in Toronto, temporarily, in Mathan Phillips Square during the Trinbago Toronto Festival from September 5-7, 2025.

Cultural music, food and entertainment are to be appreciated as the square at Toronto City Hall  is full of vendors amd their stage is ready to present music, dance and the dress of the islands nation. It's a mini carnival!



Presentations and performances by the National Carnival Commission, Pan Trinbago, the Trinbago Unified Calypsonians Organization, Tobago Beyond and Visit Trinidad will thrill the crowds over the weekend.

Festival dates and times:

Friday, September 5 – 5:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m.
Saturday, September 6 – 1:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.
Sunday, September 7 – 1:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

#tiff50 2025 back on King St


Fifty years of bringing stars amd their movies to Hollywood North at the Toronto Film Festival. You can catch the festival from September 4 to 14, 2025 with a focus on the King Street entertainment district.


From tiff, "Free movies, activities, and more
Join us on King Street from Peter Street to University Avenue for FREE activities and screenings! While Festival Street activations only last from September 4 to 7, everything else at David Pecaut Square runs through the rest of the Festival."




Friday, September 05, 2025

Ontario Honda Dealers Indy race moves out of Toronto

Wow, that's big news for the Canadian racing scene as the former IndyCar Toronto race in Exhibition Place will be moved to the City of Markham, beginning in 2026 for a period of 5 years. Moving made sense with the planned construction taking place in and around Exhibition Place along with the impact from the 2026 FIFA soccer games that will be held in Toronto and the lack of multi-year contracts with the City of Toronto. If they cancelled one year in Toronto, the event may not recover sponsors, attendance or fan interest, so keep it going somewhere close. So now it is known as the Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Markham.
Rumours of moving to Downsview airport were going around along with the problems of moving to Canadian Tire Motorsports Park in Bowmanville. But going around the streets of Markam Centre in the city's downtown core near Kennedy and Highway 401 (northeast of Toronto, see draft track at top) was kind of a surprise but at least it is in the GTA. And instead of the usual July race, the 2026 version will be held August 14-16.

"We are excited to welcome the exhilarating experience of INDYCAR SERIES racing hitting our streets in 2026," said Markham Mayor Frank Scarpitti. “We are proud to welcome this world-class event to our community. I want to thank Green Savoree Toronto, Penske Entertainment Corp., NTT INDYCAR SERIES, the Ontario Honda Dealers Association and the Province of Ontario for their trust in our city. Markham is ready to build on its strong sports legacy and offer a new home where this celebrated summer tradition can thrive. I am extremely proud of our team at the City of Markham for bringing this initiative across the finish line in just a matter of months."

From the race organizer's, "The temporary track will be built in the eastern precinct of Markham’s downtown, between Kennedy Road, Enterprise Boulevard, Unionville GO tracks and Highway 407. Renowned track designer Tony Cotman of NZR Consulting has led the design process of the temporary circuit which features a 12-turn, 3.52-kilometre (2.19-mile) layout including a double-sided pit lane, thrilling straightaways and technically challenging sectors. The City of Markham has begun early works on the track and festival site in coordination with Metrolinx and other area partners."

Wednesday, September 03, 2025

Waterfront Toronto's floating art

Floating in Toronto Harbour appears to be a jumbled set of letters, but no, these letters aren't random, they spell "IT COMES IN WAVES", read from back to front, just like waves rolling into shore. This installation is part of a series of art works commissioned by Waterfront Toronto and it is in the Harbour Square Park Basin, just west of the Toronto Island ferry terminal. It is best read from the east side of the park where you can get some separation between the lines of letters to more easily read the words.

@jmhcet Waterfront #Toronto temporary floating #artinstallation by Ben Johnston called IT COMES IN WAVES. #itcomesinwaves ♬ Gilligan's Island Theme - The Hit Party Band
The work is by by Ben Johnston and features large yellow, drifting letters which will remain until early October. It is number five in Waterfront Toronto's temporary floating art series.

Doors Open

Scarborough Bluffs

Pride

Redball

Beaches

Graffiti

Lake Ontario

Nathan Phillips Square

Transportation