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."

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.

High Park Zoo now with baby Highland cows

Free admission gets you into the High Park Animal Display where the cutest new additions to join the zoo are a couple of West Highland Calves; MacDuff and Molly McMoo. The breed originally came from Scotland and has a double fur coat to help protect them from cold and insects. This is Canada's oldest animal display and one of the smaller ones, it's like a small street long, but it is also near the playground area so you can combine the visits if you have children.

One of the new babies gets some grooming

Toronto's website says, "The animals are out engaging with visitors regardless of the weather. Spring is a particularly exciting time at the animal display as many baby animals are born. Come and see our keepers interact with and feed the babies. Meet the newborns and watch them grow up!"

Free admission Open every day 9:00 am - 7:00 pm
Animals: Barbary Sheep, Bison, Capybaras, Emus, Llamas, Mouflon Sheep, Peacocks, Reindeer, West Highlands Cattle and Yaks.

See more of the animals after the jump.

Toronto Buskerfest 2025

Woodbine Park is chock full of entertainment as the annual Toronto International Buskerfest is back again in support of Epilepsy Toronto. The festival moved from downtown Toronto to the eastern Beaches park in 2016 which certainly provided more room along with less impact to traffic, unfortunately it is a little harder to get to the event.

Buskerfest is billed as one of the biggest street performer festivals in North America and features four days of fun, with 100 performers, seven stages, a beer tent and some sporting events thrown in as a bonus. In addition to the staged shows there are a number of performers that wander the grounds, posing for photos and delighting the crowds.

The festival runs from Friday, August 29 to Monday, September 1, 2025 which makes for a fun Labour Day long weekend. Admission is by donation to Epilepsy Toronto.

Festival Hours

Friday, August 29, 4 pm – 11 pm
Saturday, August 30, Noon – 11pm
Sunday, August 31, Noon – 10 pm
Monday, September 1, Noon – 7 pm

See more photos from the festival after the jump.

Canadian International Air Show 2025

The 76th annual Toronto Air Show, or Canadian International Air Show (CIAS), is now on for the Labour Day weekend running Aug 30 to Sept 1 and with an initial practice on Friday, August 29. All shows will fall between noon and 3:40pm so keep your eyes on the skies over Toronto and Lake Ontario near Exhibition Place to see the planes take centre stage as an important part of the Canadian National Exhibition.

F-35

Some cool aircraft are participating in 2025 such as the P51 Mustang, the CF-18 and F-35 along with the long range patrol plane the Aurora, of course the Canadian Snowbird air demonstration team will be closing out the show.

Canadian Snowbirds

I find Hanlan's Point Beach near the Island Airport to be one of the best places to watch the aerial show, you can see the CN Tower and the City's skyline while the sun is behind you. It's less busy on the island and you can relax in the water waiting for the show to begin. Keep in mind that the beach is clothing optional so it might not be the place to watch for some.

CF-18

Northern Stars Pitts Team

The Snowbirds with the P-51 Mustang

See more plane pics after the jump.

Toronto Dragon Festival 2025

Flowing, golden dragons are part of the Toronto Dragon Festival happening down at City Hall from Aug 29 to 31. The 6th annual free festival runs from 11am to 11pm Friday and Saturday and 11am to 9pm on Sunday in Nathan Phillips Square. Performers will put on lion and dragon dances high overhead while balancing on poles, vendors will be selling Asian street foods and a Luminati Night Light Show will take place after dark. The reflecting pool will be used for the Reflection Water Show and a fashion runway show.

From the festival website, "This year’s Festival promises mythical encounters and futuristic thrills. For the first time ever, beloved figures from Black Myth: Wukong and Chinese mythology’s iconic Nezha will come to life in vibrant performances, turning the square into a live-action fantasy universe. Don’t miss your chance to snap photos and interact with these legendary characters! Adding to the excitement, the festival will feature humanoid robots and robot dogs – dancing, interacting, and showing off their skills along with our dragons and lions, in a one-of-a-kind showcase that merges ancient cultural artistry with tomorrow’s technology."

Mayor Olivia Chow joins the lions

Lions performing on high poles

See more of the dragon festival after the jump.

HMCS Haida National Historic Site

Along Hamilton Harbour's Pier 8 is His Majesties Canadian Ship (HMCS) Haida National Historic Site, floating much like it did in Toronto near Ontario Place before it was spruced up and moved to Hamilton. And Hamilton Harbour itself is also being beautified with great multi-use paths, parks, restaurants, marinas and other attractions.

A memorial for the port crane sits beside the ship

The large warship was made during WWII and later took part in the Korean and Cold Wars, serving Canada from 1943 to 1963 before it was decommissioned and became the ceremonial flagship of the Canadian Navy. The series of destroyers were made for Britain (where they were designed and built), Canada and Australia with 13 sunk during the Second World War.

From the ship's website, "HMCS Haida is Canada’s “most fightingest ship,” the first-ever ceremonial flagship of the Royal Canadian Navy, and the last of the twenty-seven tribal class destroyers in the world. Canada’s most famous warship served in the Royal Canadian Navy from 1943 to 1963, participating in the Second World War, the Korean Conflict, and the Cold War. HMCS Haida is now a Parks Canada National Historic Site docked in Hamilton, Ontario. As a museum ship, she now serves as a place to remember, explore, and connect. HMCS Haida began service escorting supply convoys to Murmansk, in Russia, above the Arctic Circle. Convoys were run in winter, when there is almost constant darkness, to make it more difficult for the German Lufftwaffe to spot them and direct submarine wolfpacks to attack. HMCS Haida and the ship's men earned their first battle honour, an honourary distinction recognizing active participation in battle for this Arctic service, during which the German battlecruiser Scharnhorst was sunk."

After a long period of distinguished service Haida was decommissioned from the Navy in 1963 and a private group turned the vessel into a museum ship beside Ontario Place. The ship was bought by the Ontario Government in 1970 and it was later transferred to Parks Canada in 2002, refurbished and moved to Hamilton. The floating museum opened in 2004 as a Parks Canada National Historic Site and for less than $5 you can visit the ship yourself.

See more of the ship after the jump.

Garrison Petawawa Military Museum

We were camping at Bonnechere Provincial Park, way east of Toronto, when we decided to visit Canadian Forces Base Petawawa, also known as Garrison Petawawa, to check out their Military & Canadian Airborne Forces Museum.

CFB Petawawa was for a number of years the home of the Canadian Airborne Regiment until it was disbanded in 1995. There still are a number of units that have incorporated airborne elements within their ranks including part of the Royal Canadian Regiment (RCR) and the Queen's Own Rifles (QOR) of Canada (a reserve parachute company). In addition the Canadian Special Operations Regiment (CSOR) performs special airborne operations when required.

The base was founded in 1905 along the banks of the Petwawa and Ottawa Rivers, providing training and homes for several units of the military and for a time also a home for prisoners of war in both World Wars. Admittance is free but they also ask for voluntary donations if you want to support their work.

Displays, both inside and outside the museum, are numerous and highlight both Airborne memorabilia and the general military exploits and equipment of Canada relating to the base and it's personnel. You can find photos, artifacts, uniforms, weapons and documents inside while outside there is a number of tanks and other equipment, including a Dakota transport plane painted in the striped colours for service in Europe dropping paratroopers during the initial invasion.

The rappelling and jump tower on base for training

Canadian International Air Show 2025 coming to Toronto Labour Day weekend

The EX is on and coming to a close soon, but not before the Canadian International Air Show helps to end the upcoming Labour Day holiday weekend with a fantastic show in the skies over Toronto. With three shows taking place Saturday to Monday, August 30 to September 1, 2025 and with a bonus practice show on Friday, August 29, all from noon till 3:40pm. UPDATE: See my post with the 2025 air show here.

This is North America's longest running air show and this year will mark the 76th year of the CIAS and you can find this year's performers listed below.

Canadian Forces Snowbirds
F-35 Demonstration Team
Dan Fortin – Nanchang CJ6
Edenvale Classic Aircraft Foundation – Fleet Cornell
Luke Penner – Extra 330SC
Marco Rusconi & The P-51 Mustang
Mike & Samantha Tryggvason – AirShow Cat Wingwalker
Northern Stars – Pitts team
RCAF – CP-140 Aurora
CF 18 Demonstration
RCAF CH-146 Griffon
Trevor Rafferty & the Christen Eagle

Note the Ministry of Natural Resources CL-415 Water Bomber has been cancelled. A statement about the water bomber released by the show, "We are disappointed to announce that The Ministry of Natural Resources Water Bomber has withdrawn from the CIAS 2025. In understandable circumstances, this asset is needed for critical firefighting operations across Canada right now. Our thoughts are with all those affected by wildfires this summer."

Ontario's last wooden railway Water Tower

Specifically the last wooden railway water tower on a wooden base structure and it is located in Barry's Bay, northeast of Toronto by a couple of hours. You can find it in the town's Water Tower Park! The towers were required during the early years of railroads as the steam locomotives needed water to boil to produce steam to power the engine. The railway was also very important to Barry's Bay as the lines were busy transporting lumber in and out of the area in the early 19th century.

It is easy to understand why there aren't too many railway water towers left, firstly there aren't anymore steam trains in active service (beyond the few tourist trains like the South Simcoe Railway) since they ended steam locomotive service in 1960, secondly a number of railway lines became unsustainable and shut down (luckily many have become recreational rail trails, or multi-use paths) and this is the case with Barry's Bay CN rail line, it ceased operations in the 1970s, the tracks were removed in 1984 and the line was converted to the JR Booth Heritage Railway Trail. This was going on throughout North America and most of the old equipment which was no longer required were allowed to fall apart or were actively destroyed for safety or development reasons.

This wooden tank was two-stories high and had a capacity of 60,000 gallons, with a shallow roof on a wood frame, held together with 14 iron hoops and lugs along the outside of the tank, all sitting on top of 12 timber posts on a concrete pad. It was actually the second tank as the first was built in 1894, dismantled and replaced in 1943, by 1964 it was unused and sold to the village in 1965 for less than $80. In 1975 it was going to be demolished due to its deteriorated condition but the community rallied for saving the tower and in 1977 it received its historical, protected designation. It took several years for the people to setup a restoration committee and finally in 2000 the Water Tower was restored and dedicated in the new park.

The park has quite a few attractions including commemorative historical plaques and a small section of rail line with a velocipede (a railway bike), a caboose (also not really used nowadays either), a wind phone memorial in addition there is a small, wooden train and an old steam tractor.