Enjoying Trailhead Place in Toronto

Live music is rocking out Ontario Place during Trailhead Place's event just outside Ontario Place in Toronto, near the Inukshuk Park. You can sample VQA wines along with sponsor samples and adult beverage bars at the event in the parking lot beside Trillium Park. The site comes with the Lakeside Lounge and the Market and live music is on during most days the event is open.

Free VQA wine tastings

Live music by The Dudes of York a cover band from Toronto

The event runs on the weekend and on holiday Mondays, opening at 11 am and closing Saturdays at 9pm and Sundays and Mondays at 7 pm. And I have to say that it is great to be able to do things, like listen to concerts outside once again.

See more of Trailhead Place after the jump.

Algonquin Highlands and Buttermilk Falls

We avoided the busy Highway 11 and Highway 400 traffic and returned home along the east side of Lake Simcoe, traveling through a forested, magical land called the Algonquin Highlands. It was a pleasant day to check out some of the sites in the area and the first place we stopped was at Buttermilk Falls.

The river runs from Halls Lake to Boshkung Lake and is controlled by Halls Lake Dam at 1609 Highway 35 where the water tumbles over the control logs and splash down a concrete sluice way. On the day we visited the heavy rains from previous days made the flow exceptionally strong down the sluice and onto the lower river bed. This used to be the route for logs and the concrete sluice replaced a wooden chute in 1927 and at the nearby town offices you can find a tall statue of a lumberjack cutting a log.

Crossing the dam you can find signs that point to the Buttermilk Falls portage and trail which follows the river downstream and provides great views of the rumbling waters.

See more of the highlands after the jump.

Alapalooza 2021 at Kawagama Lake

Cottage country knows how to rock with the return of the annual Alapalooza music festival on Sunday, August 1, 2021. This event is thrown by Al Fletcher who brings in the bands onto his amazing cottage property on Porcupine Bay in Kawagama Lake (near Dorset). This year was special because it was Covid style which meant that the bands were moved out of the cottage stage and onto the waters edge so that boaters would have the best views. The music starts at 7pm with The Mighty Fish, followed by Sidebar and the Dylan Wallace Band finished off the scheduled lineup.

Party boats started gathering ahead of the opening act while on land the crowd was limited to allow for social distancing.

We started out on our own party boat and later moved onto dry land where we were able to check out the amazing cottage and docks. Party goers were fond of the glow stick necklaces and danced at the side of the stage. Normally the concert is jam packed but the special precautions for Covid kept the numbers down on the property, however the boats taking in the show were full of dancing fans.

The central room of the amazing cottage was the typical stage location from past years. 

The forest was lit up with a spectacular light show

A family of ducks wants to join the fun

Kit and Michelle from the Mighty Fish get the party started. They were a duo this year but can ramp up to 5 members

See more of the concert after the jump.

WNBR Toronto 2022 save the date

 

Less Gas, more Ass! Toronto's favourite bike ride will be back on Saturday, June 11, 2022 to protest pollution from vehicles. World Naked Bike Ride (WNBR) Toronto Organizer Gene Dare is also looking at a night ride in Mississauga for 2022. See photos of the 2022 event on my blog post here.

The Toronto ride starts in Coronation Park (from approximately 10am) until departing for the streets of the city at 1pm. Just show up and ride! You can find pictures of the 2021 ride on my post here.

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Update Sept 2021: Gene Dare will be at Yonge-Dundas Square in Toronto on Sunday, October 31, 2021 to promote the 2022 WNBR Toronto. From 8-11 pm you can join Gene in the Square - as per his facebook post: "This year I will do the most daring promotion of the ride with Donald Trump. No fake news here. Bring your costumes; naked at worst; or best. It will be an arising moment for all!"

Colour explosion in RendezViews Patio

A former parking lot in downtown Toronto was transformed into a giant patio in 2020 and is within a giant graffiti mural orchestrated by RendezViews and Collective Arts Brewing of Hamilton. The patio is a joint development with restaurants The Ballroom and The Fifth and is located at 229 Richmond Street West. Of course I visited the patio on a Monday - when it is closed! However, it was worth the detour on the bike because it is spectacular.

Artists Attack and Bruno Smoky, known as Clandestinos Art, painted the asphalt surface as well as the back of The Ballroom and the overall art installation is titled "Reflections". The graffiti mural is on the wall while the old parking lot and picnic benches are painted in bright yellow, pink, green and turquoise.

From their media release, "An idea was born last November when Mayor John Tory dubbed 2021 the Year of the Arts, to transform RendezViews and inspire a greater impact as a destination. “I wanted to use the power of art to restore hope, joy, optimism and vibrancy to the city,” says Oliver Geddes (Owner, The Fifth). Hamilton-based Collective Arts Brewing, known for its colourful and creative labels (and a longtime collaborator and supporter of artists) was the perfect partner to bring this vision to life.

“We are thrilled to collaborate with RendezViews this summer. This is an exciting opportunity to create a space in the heart of downtown Toronto to safely celebrate summer with friends while enjoying incredible art, music, food and drinks,” says Matt Johnston, Co-Founder and CEO of Collective Arts.

“Times have changed and Toronto wants and deserves something that meets the moment - an evolution of a destination Toronto doesn’t have but needs right now,” says Barry Taylor (Director of Operations, The Ballroom)."

You will need to make reservations and check out the website for the hours of operations along with any scheduled musical entertainment. They seem to be closed on Mondays.

Hours for the Week of July 26th
Mon: closed
Tue: 4:00pm – 10:00pm
Wed: 4:00pm – 10:00pm
Thu: 4:00pm – 11:00pm
Fri: 4:00pm – 2:00am
Sat: 4:00pm – 2:00am
Sun: 4:00pm – 10:00pm

Sunday in the Strand of 4C at Harbourfront Centre

A large mirrored box sits in Exhibition Common with one glass facade looking into the art installation by William Ukoh and Raquel Da Silva and presented by Bombay Sapphire. The title of the work is Sunday in the Strand of 4C and it will be at the Harbourfront Centre from July 25 to August 1, 2021 (open 24/7 and free to view).

From Harbourfront Centre's website, "A piece on the meditative nature of self-care Sundays. The reflective exterior element projects the outside influences of our current realities, while the interior architecture guides us into another realm, asking us to seek rest and solitude. The accompanying soundscapes induce a sense of peace while the film playing in the backdrop provides a calm, meditative space. Developed in the confinements of COVID-19, the inspiration dates back to William Ukoh’s childhood. A journey curated by Ashley McKenzie-Barnes and crafted in Toronto by artists William Ukoh and Raquel Da Silva, the installation examines feelings of nostalgia and connectivity to nature and community through the adaptation of sculpture and multimedia landscapes, that incorporate the lush botanicals of the Bombay Sapphire experience."

Looking into the installation

Stanley Barracks in Toronto at Hotel X

I have passed by the Stanley Barracks site in Exhibition Place many, many times not knowing what the heck the building was. At one time the tugboat Ned Hanlan was in front of the bland, block building before it was moved to Hanlan's Point on the Toronto Islands. I have yet to go into the building but I have been on the front yard a few times - it was a favourite place for Toronto Argonauts tailgate parties. Post military the building itself has been Canada's Sports Hall of Fame, then the Hockey Hall of Fame and finally a Maritime Museum (hence the tugboat).

Anyways, after exploring the fancy, white gazebo built over an entranceway into Hotel X, just east of Stanley Barracks and seeing the exposed archaeological site of the East Enlisted Men's Barracks, I decided to check out the historic plaque in front of the barracks building. The blue sign says, "The British army established a military post here in 1840-41 to replace aging Fort York. Known as the new Fort, it consisted of seven limestone buildings around a parade square, and a number of lesser structures. Massive defensive works were planned for the perimeter but never built. In 1893 the fort was renamed Stanley Barracks in honour of Governor General Lord Stanley. Canadian forces assumed responsibility for the post in 1870 and garrisoned it until 1947. The barracks then served as public housing until the early 1950s, when all but this building, the Officer's Quarters, were demolished."

Hotel X included the exposed ruins of the enlisted men's barracks into their site in 2012, at the request of the City of Toronto.

Stanley Barracks Officer's Barracks

The original Fort York, some 5km to the east and beside the Gardiner Expressway, was built in 1793 and in the early 1800s were found to be lacking and replaced with the New Fort York.  From the Fort York website, "Between 1932 and 1934, the City of Toronto restored Fort York to celebrate the centennial of the incorporation of the city in 1834. On Victoria Day 1934, Fort York opened as a historic site museum. Today, its defensive walls surround Canada's largest collection of original War of 1812 buildings. Even the older part of the one reconstructed building on the site, the Blue Barracks, contains a significant amount of 1814-period material and is an interesting example of the efforts made during the Great Depression to create employment by restoring and rebuilding historic sites. The grounds of the fort and the surrounding land encompass part of the 1813 battlefield, remnants of Toronto's late eighteenth-century landscape, and at least two military cemeteries. Below the soil of the fort lies a vast archaeological resource, capable of significantly expanding our understanding of life in the earliest years of Toronto's settlement."

The new fort or garrison included a large parade square, two enlisted men's barracks along with an officer's barracks (the only one still remaining in one piece) as well as four other buildings. You can only see the officer's barracks and the ruins of one enlisted men's barracks at this time, all of the other buildings are either gone or still buried beneath the asphalt and concrete of exhibition Place.

The ornamental canopy and walkway over the ruins leading into Hotel X

Remains of the foundations of the enlisted men's barracks

Regimental crests of the units stationed at the New Fort York displayed on the canopy

Canoe Landing Park

The long line of condos running along the railway tracks have filled in, the community centre and school nearby along with the shops, stores and restaurants have brought in thousands of people into the area and many of them check out the Canoe Landing Park. Within the park is a dog run, soccer fields, fishing bobbins art along with a splash pad and of course the big, red canoe by Douglas Coupland.

The big, red canoe sits atop a mountain of fill, perched overlooking the Gardiner Expressway

Fishing bobbers and splash pad

The bridge crossing between the condos in the background wasn't installed when I took pictures of the park in 2010.

A biking visit to the Toronto Islands

One of the safest places to bike in Toronto is actually on the islands, away from the busy roads. You can take the City's ferries or grab one of the numerous water taxis plying the trade in the inner harbour and they will take your bikes as well, or you could even rent one on Centre Island near the pier. Bring a picnic and enjoy the beaches or check out the few restaurants on the islands.

The quad bikes are back

Ferries are currently working at half capacity and tickets can only be used on the reserved date. Note they were sold out on July 16, 2021 so you might prioritize taking a water taxi to the island, then return on the ferry. I like to head out to Ward's Island check out the cottage/homes and the view of the city from the eastern most point, then check out the pier and fountains on Centre Island (don't forget the amusement park and Far Enough Farm and zoo), pass through Hanlan's Island with its clothing optional beach and leave from the ferry at Hanlan's.

Some of the cottages on Ward's Island are really impressive, many are tiny and some have seen much better days. The homes are owned by the cottagers, the land is leased from the City, passing ownership down to spouses, children or legal co-owners.

The haunted lighthouse

Planes parked off the runway at Billy Bishop Island Airport

The old airport facility and tower remain, falling into disrepair

The airport is on Hanlan's Island, you can access the airport by ferry or in the new pedestrian tunnel

Approaching Toronto and the ferry terminal

Some land locked bouys at the Centre Island Pier

This cat was stretched out on his back, enjoying the sun

The view from the east side of Ward's Island

Back on the mainland the second greatest place to bike in Toronto is along Toronto's Waterfront Trail.

Summer of Play in the Bentway

Playing in Public is the Bentway Park's latest installation under the Gardiner Expressway in Toronto. Fun and games are the themes of the collection with a smashingly large collection of basketball hoops of all sizes attached to the pillars supporting the elevated highway and seven other installations.

From their website, "The Bentway launches Playing in Public this summer, a collection of outdoor and online projects that invite you to rediscover “play” in the city. By the neighbourhood, for the neighbourhood, the program includes 8 art installations, a connective Play Path, roaming and audio experiences, and more. Playing in Public spreads out across “The Bentway and beyond” into local parks, public spaces, and sidewalks throughout the Fort York, CityPlace, Niagara, and Waterfront communities. Participatory and “playable”, it has been designed to offer COVID-safe engagement for local residents to explore their city in new ways. Installations (including work by Daily tous les jours, Esmaa Mohamoud, Assemble, Studio F-Minus, Thomas Mailaender and Erik Kessels, Pierre Poussin, The Street Society, and Nelson Wu and biosphere) are rolling out in the coming weeks; with the full exhibition launching in early July."

Nil:Nil

Dribble Dribble

Big Red

Walk Walk Dance

"The Playing in Public lineup includes:

Eight (8) creative installations, including new forms of basketball, play equipment, and music-making:
Walk Walk Dance by Daily tous les jours (Montreal)
Now open through July 24
Fort York Visitor Centre, 250 Fort York Blvd

Double Dribble by Esmaa Mohamoud (Toronto)
Opening July 7 (approx.)
The Bentway, 250 Fort York Blvd

Big Red by Assemble (UK)
Opening June 19 (approx.)
The Bentway, 250 Fort York Blvd

Nil:Nil by Studio F Minus (Toronto)
Opening June 19 (approx.)
The Bentway, 250 Fort York Blvd

Play Public by Thomas Mailaender (France) and Erik Kessels (Netherlands), co-commissioned with the Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival
Open now
The Bentway Studio, 55 Fort York Blvd (next to Canoe Landing Park)

Jax by Pierre Poussin (Toronto), co-commissioned with Concord Adex
Opening June 30 (approx.)
Under the Gardiner at Dan Leckie Way

Dream Street by The Street Society (France), co-presented by TAS
Opening June 19 (approx.)
125-133 Niagara St

Midsummer Mix Vol. 1 by Nelson Wu (Toronto) and biosphere (Toronto), co-presented with the Waterfront BIA
Opening June 30 (approx.)
South side of Queens Quay West (Bathurst St to York St)"