Taste of the Danforth back in Toronto again

It has been a wild ride for Taste of  the Danforth but the street festival is back for 2026. The event billed as 'Canada’s Favourite Festival' stretches about 1.6km along Danforth Avenue from Broadview Avenue to Jones Avenue, ran from Friday to Sunday, August 7-9 and had almost two million visitors over the weekend. 

Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow meets visitors

The festival started in 1994 to highlight the Greek restaurants of the area, cancelled due to Covid, returned in 2023, then shut down once more in 2024 and 2025, so it was nice to see it return. Attendees experienced the neighbourhoods music, culture and food along the important arterial road which was known as Greektown. "Taste of the Danforth has always been a celebration of Greek heritage. Today, it is also a celebration of Toronto’s diversity and Canada’s multicultural spirit."

This year's TOD had six experience zones and four free entertainment stages; World Stage, RBC Showcase Stage, Greek Stage and the OLG Lets Dance Stage.

Chair Tony Pethakas says: “Greek heritage will always be at the heart of Taste of the Danforth. At the same time, the Danforth has evolved, just as our city, province and country have evolved. Today the Festival reflects a diverse and inclusive Canada—with a dollop of tzatziki on top.”

Toronto Distillery District Country Fest

These boots are made for the Distillery Districts' line dancing and country music during the August 6 to 23, 2026 Toronto Country Fest. YeeHaw!

From their website, "The Distillery District is going country! Grab your cowboy hats and boots! The Distillery is celebrating the best of country culture with Toronto Country Fest. Enjoy Live Music, BBQ, Games, a Mechanical Bull, Line Dancing, and More. The boots keep stompin’ all summer long! While Toronto Country Fest runs August 6–23, the country vibes start early and stay late with live country music daily from July 31 through September 7. Enjoy talented musicians and Nashville-inspired entertainment".

The line dancing lessons happens every Wednesday and Friday from 6 to 8pm. Intermediate is the Wednesday and beginner is on Friday. The event includes games, western food and beverages along with DJs and Nashville Nights (Friday and Saturday from 8:30pm to 10:30pm).

Ontario Honda Dealers Indy 2026 at Markham starts in 1 week

The 'Roar by the Lakeshore' is now 'Rolling Thunder in Unionville' as the Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Markham departs Exhibition Place in Toronto for the City of Markham. For 2026, race weekend is August 14 to 16, the first of the current five year contract. FIFA, transit line construction and CNE prep got in the way of Toronto's long run of hosting the Indy and so Markham stepped up and took over the annual high-speed racing weekend.

From the race's website, "The Ontario Honda Dealers Indy at Markham festival features world-class racing, international food, beer gardens, live entertainment and activities with lots to see and do for families and festival-goers of all ages. The on-track action for the 38th edition of this Ontario summer festival moving to Downtown Markham for the first time in 2026 features the NTT INDYCAR SERIES. Additional races from the NASCAR Canada Series, USF Pro 2000 Presented by Continental Tire, USF2000 Presented by Continental Tire, and Emzone Radical Cup Canada presented by Michelin round out a jam-packed weekend."

A new temporary street course has been built in Downtown Markham, north-east of Highways 407 and 404, right beside the Unionville GO station and near the YMCA and Pan Am Centre. Owners Kim Green and Kevin Savoree of Green Savoree Racing Promotions have constructed a 3.52-kilometre circuit featuring 12 turns (four left and eight right turns), running clockwise through city streets.

Markham features the only 2026 international race in the NTT IndyCar Series. This is 14 of 18 IndyCar races scheduled this year and Sunday's headline event will be a 90-lap, 317km high speed battle beginning with opening ceremonies and driver introductions at 11:30am followed by the Ontario Honda Dealers Indy race starting at 12:22pm.

The entire weekend is chock full of practice, qualifications and racing, mixed with entertainment, driver autographs along with a food and beverage festival. The tradition of Free Fan Fridays sponsored by Ontario Honda Dealers continues in Markham with entrance via a voluntary donation to Make-A-Wish® Canada. Saturday's headline is the NASCAR Canada Series Race followed by The Glorious Sons Live in Concert.

Entrances are near the Unionville GO Station or on the north side of the site near the Pan Am Centre, you can see the 2026 race map at the top of this post, or on their website. Visit Thunder Alley, the paddocks or buy Grandstand, Trackside Suites or General Admission tickets for one or for multiple days. The best travel option is via the the Stouffville Train line to the Unionville GO Station.

Humber Bay Parks along Toronto's waterfront

You got your Humber Bay Park West and you got your Humber Bay Park East, gateways to the bike paths along downtown Toronto's waterfront. This is one of my favourite parks because it is easily accessible off the Gardiner Expressway in the south-west end of Toronto, has reasonable amount of relatively inexpensive parking along with bathroom facilities and avoided all that fifa stuff going on in Exhibition Place. Plus nature and a boat launch.

I watched two families of ducks up close, enjoying the edge of the water, dipping in and out of the water as the parents kept watch on their brood. It was delightful.

From the City's parks website, "Humber Bay Park West is a narrow park jutting out into the water of Lake Ontario in the City's west end. It's an excellent spot for bird watchers hoping to find interesting waterfowl and shorebirds. Along the shores of Humber Bay West, you'll also spot a wide variety of ducks overwintering in Lake Ontario. Combine your walkthrough Humber Bay Park West with a loop around Humber Bay Park East for a great day of hiking. A number of parking lots and paved pathways make this an accessible park." In the east park you can find the Humber Bay Butterfly Habitat.

Then the city with it's bike paths and trails is just open to travel with bicycles. No more parking or traffic jams to bother you along the way. Here is the City's website about Toronto bike paths.

Toronto Aga Khan Museum home of beauty and culture

The stark white, clean exterior of the Aga Khan Museum first welcomes you into their gorgeous courtyard, full of large, raised reflecting ponds, trees squeezed up to a lavender field and the glass pyramid type thing of the adjacent Ismaili Centre. The Museum hopes to foster curiosity of, and also highlight Muslim cultures and their interaction with other societies throughout the many centuries up to now. You can see that cool glass pyramid driving along the Don Valley Parkway. The address of AKM is 77 Wynford Drive, Toronto and there is paid parking on site.

BMO Financial Group has sponsored free admission on Wednesday evenings (4-8pm), "BMO Free Wednesdays provides barrier-free access to the arts, allowing the Museum to remain a welcoming and inclusive environment for all." You can get the free tickets to this BMO event on site without having to pre-register.

Aga Khan has over 1,200 pieces in their permanent collection and the museum also hosts performing arts, educational programming and temporary exhibitions. The works are outstanding and include books, paintings, ceramics, jewelry and much more, originating from the 9th century to current times. 2026 has a number of TD Pop-Up experiences bringing many varieties of music on Wednesdays and weekends.

A fountain sits in the main room of the permanent collection, probably one of the largest pieces

A recent (2014) hanging scroll painting, part of a pair of paintings called Nabog by Havv Kahraman. She painted six figures in the two paintings - all of herself

I liked this all-white installation. It is a simple setup of two chairs facing each other, separated by a table which incorporates a white chessboard, you can even see 64 chess squares along with 32 white chess pieces in their pregame placement. The piece is titled "Play it by Trust" by Yoko Ono (2002, Roskilde version, edition 3 of 6) and I didn't read the plaque until I got home and I'm like is that by the Yoko Ono, famously married to a Beatle and named in a Barenaked Ladies song, and the answer is yes. 

She did a number of these chessboard installations, first shown in 1966, and some are quite large and appearing in a number of museums around the world. Since you have no colour anywhere, you can only play by trusting the other player to remember their own chess pieces, you must also trust yourself to remember yours. All together you must work to complete the game that shows no visible distinction and which Yoko meant as an anti-war metaphor. Both Yoko Ono and John Lennon played a game in their 1972 film "Imagine". Yeah, I was shocked too.

Inside the Museum, permanent collections are well spaced in the relatively small museum, I mean you are not walking through hundreds of rooms in this place, although there is also a large, glassed-in central courtyard and an auditorium. Currently on the second floor is a temporary collection called "Game On! Exhibition", described by the website as "Games transcend borders and generations. As a universal language, they inspire learning, imagination, and global exchange, carrying ideas and traditions across cultures. Whether on a chessboard or a polo field, feel the thrill of strategy, the mastery of skill, and the joy of play, with every game telling a story of human creativity and connection. From board games to daring sports, explore how games connect people, spark creativity, and build communities."

Glorious Bones by Canadian artist Esmaa Mohamoud (2018)

Football helmets on pikes, set on an island of black grit, bring bright colours to the room. The helmets are covered in art reflecting African Kente patterns. She speaks of identity, racism and classification of black bodies.

Later this year the Toronto Biennial of Art will appear at the Aga Khan Museum. The free exhibition will be on from September 26 to December 20, 2026.

Museum Opening Times

Mon: Closed
Tues: 10 am - 5:30 pm
Wed: 10 am - 8 pm
Thurs, Fri, Sat, Sun: 10 am - 5:30 pm
Open all statutory holidays, except Dec 25.

Beauty of Lake Superior

We enjoyed a small vacation along the shores of Lake Superior home of clear cold water, forests that are so vast and geology that makes the shoreline a maze of textures, angles and rock types. We also tried panning for gold but found none, so not independently wealthy yet.

On a small island with a glacial pothole

We camped in Lake Superior Provincial Park Agawa Bay on a lot just seperated from a beautiful beach by a small camping road. As Ontario alone is so vast it takes some time to get up to the northern shore of Lake Superior so you need to plan your route and places to stay - it is about 9 hours from Toronto but worth the trip to take in the sights and attractions of Northern Ontario.

This is channel cut out of the rock by glacier water flow, the black rock eroded easier than the Canadian Shield rocks

Looking towards Agawa Rock Pictographs

So glad we brought the kayaks to explore the edges of the great lake, especially around Lake Superior Provincial Park and the Agawa Rock Pictographs. You can see the giant rock faces rise sharply above the lake, rocks that seem to change every twenty feet, going in different directions and crisscrossed with seams of other rocks, some which eroded faster that others showing signs of glacial flows pushing boulders around like nothing and rounding them into smaller rocks and pebbles and eventually down to the familiar granite sand. The water is so clean and with colours of green and blue that are startling beautiful.

A small storm swept through the area, rained bit, blew some stuff around, then had a few lightning bolts that started a in the park. It took them a couple of weeks to get the fire under control.

The smoke made more dramatic sunsets and turned the day's sun orange through the smoke

Looking up the geology of the area I was fascinated to find that the north shore was part of a continental rift that started to split up the North American continent, poured lava from volcanos, then felt the impact of the glaciers scraping the surface, then eroding areas with massive volumes of glacial melt. The ground is still rising every year from the missing weight of the glaciers.

art on the beach

An earlier sunset before the smoke

Toronto Taste of the Junction 2026

This annual Toronto festival shines bright on one day, bringing art, food and culture to Toronto's west end during the Saturday, June 27, 2026. The Taste of the Junction runs from 11am to 7pm in the Green P parking lot at 385 Pacific Avenue. This is just south of Dundas Street West that curves to the northwest, following the train line. The celebrating Black Culture tent is shown above.

You can find immersive installations and augmented-reality wall murals while enjoying food, drink and entertainment. There are five walk through cultural installations to experience as part of Passagesways while the 11 animated augmented-reality murals can be discovered using a free app (Artivive)

From the festival's website, "Visitors can explore 50+ vendor booths, shop unique creations from local makers, enjoy bites and drinks from neighbourhood favourites, and dive into pop-up experiences for all ages. The day will be energized by DJ programming, a vibrant market atmosphere, and a family-friendly Play Zone hosted in the Darren’s No Frills parking lot."

“Taste of the Junction is about celebrating the creativity and character that make Toronto’s neighbourhoods unique,” said Carol Jolly, Executive Director of The Junction BIA. “During Toronto’s Host City Summer, when more people are expected to be exploring the city, this festival gives residents, visitors, and fans a chance to discover the Junction as a vibrant west-end destination bursting with flavour, art, and surprises. It’s also an opportunity to support local businesses, enjoy public art, and experience one of Toronto’s most creative neighbourhoods.”

Together on Geary Street Festival

One of Toronto's most art filled streets, Geary Avenue, is throwing a free, one-day festival called Together on Geary on Saturday, June 27 from 1pm to 11pm.

From the Crawl's website, "A one-day neighbourhood celebration with live music + DJS, art, food+drinks, soccer-theme pop-ups, watch parties, interactive workshops, craft stations, kids’ activities, participation from your favourite Geary Ave businesses, and more."

Toronto Pride 2026

Toronto Pride weekend festival is here (June 25-28) culminating a month of celebration and preparation. The Trans March and StreetFair begin Friday, the Dyke March is Saturday and the big Pride parade is Sunday. Pride Toronto celebrates 2SLGBTQI+ communities with programming and events throughout the festival.

StreetFair is on Church Street, from Gould to Hayden, from Friday to Sunday between Gould to Hayden. The Gay Village pops with colour and music as the community parties till 11pm on weekends.

Trans March is Friday, June 26 with the rally and march taking place from 5-7pm, leaving from Church and Charles Street.

Mayor Olivia Chow joins the Dyke March

The Dyke March on Saturday, June 27 starts at Church and Hayden Streets and runs from 2 to 3pm.

The Pride Parade takes over downtown on Sunday, June 28. Starting 2pm at Rosedale Valley Road and Park Road, onto Church Street, then down Yonge Street, to Dundas Street and over to Nathan Phillips Square.

From the festival's website, " The Pride Parade returns in 2026 as one of the most powerful moments of the festival, a moving celebration of visibility, resilience, and joy. It’s a day when streets fill with colour, voices rise together, and our communities show up in full force. Whether this is your first Pride or one of many, the Parade is a reminder that you belong here. Starting at 2PM, more than 25,000 marchers and 250+ groups will take to the streets, each bringing their own stories, identities, and reasons for marching. Together, they create a living expression of Pride, one rooted in love, solidarity, and the belief that progress happens when we move forward side by side. The Parade kicks off from Yonge Street and Aylmer Street to Nathan Phillips Square, where thousands will line the route to cheer, celebrate, and stand in support."

See more photos after the jump.