#TOWKND: Night Markets to Movies Under the Sky

Movies in the park, nighttime food festivals and all-day dance parties. Our world gets turned upside-down in summer, and we wouldn’t have it any other way. Here’s everything you can’t miss this weekend. You can sleep on Monday.

Thursday
Bloke and 4th’s ANNUAL WHITE SOIREE
Start your weekend white… er, right with Bloke and 4th’s ANNUAL WHITE SOIREE this Thursday. Hosted by fashion photographer Anthony James and with music by DJ Crunch, you had best bleach your blancs for a crazy night and yes, the white dress code is mandatory.

McGugan’s Craft Beer Patio Party
What’s cheaper and more sophisticated than air conditioning? $3 craft beer on draft, duh. McGugan’s Craft Beer Patio Party will be featuring beers from Beau’s, Cameron’s, Mill Street, Steamwhistle, and Wellington breweries along with games, prizes, and free hors d’oeuvres.

The Social Movement’s Be A Part of Art
For those who want more than Ikea prints in their apartments, The Social Movement’s Be A Part of Art is offering an interactive creative experience where you can work with an independent artist, get your portrait painted, or get a custom piece made from your ideas.

Grand Soiree at the Design Exchange
Luxury booze, shoes, and chocolate. Now that I have your attention ladies, Grand Marnier will be hosting Grand Soiree at the Design Exchange. Enjoy Grand Marnier signature cocktails, canapés by Parts and Labour, and Lindt Chocolate while you peruse the Christian Louboutin exhibition all for the price of regular admission.

Vice Photo Shows 2013
Put down the PBR, get on your bike and come out to grab your free copy of VICE’s annual Photo Issue. This year’s theme is “Collaborations” and they will be hosting photo shows in Toronto (July 18), Montreal (July 25) and Vancouver (July 31). Make sure to RSVP.

Shorts That Are Not Pants 
Escape the heat at the cinema! Shorts That Are Not Pants will be screening short films from all over the world. Click the link for guestlist, tickets are $10 at the door and $8 in advance.

T.O<3Music
Buy local, dance local. T.O <3 Music by Venet Media will be featuring performances by Toronto artists SheKing, Craig Stickland, Ablyss, and Gray. Only $10 in advance, with all proceeds going to the Remix Project.

Open Roof Festival – Molly Maxwell & Bryce Jardine
Why not do date night with a movie, music and a drink? Open Roof Festival will be screening local T.O. director Sara St. Onge’s feature debut Molly Maxwell along with musical guest Bryce Jardine. Amsterdam Brewery will be on hand with drinks, and munchies will be provided by Tita Flips and The Saucy Pieriogi. Rain or shine, first-come, first-serve for seating.

Toronto Summer Music Festival
Running from July 16 until August 3, The Toronto Summer Music Festival will be celebrating its eighth year of bringing classical music to Toronto’s masses. The theme this year is La Belle Époque, a cultural phenomenon that swept turn of the century Paris, and the festival will be featuring today’s most exciting artists from Canada and abroad.

Friday
DOS at Evergreen Brick Works
Tacos and international art battles? Hello, summer! DOS will be serving up collaborations of art, music and food this Friday at the Evergreen Brick Works. Featuring 40 artists from all over the globe, DJs Platurn and Grandtheft, and a one-night-only food mash-up from taquerias Big Star and La Carnita, this is set to be one of the city’s biggest jams of the season.

ART GALLERIA EXPO
If fresh, original art at a real-people price appeals to you, then the ART GALLERIA EXPO is where you should be. This unique art show experience will also be featuring live music, belly dancers (um, yes?), cheap drinks and a club after-party. Get on the guestlist, asap.

MIDNIGHT MRKT
Come for some late-night retail therapy at MIDNIGHT MRKT’s SUMMR MRKT EDITION: Appleton Estate Yard Party. Get some sweet threads from local, independent designers, artists, and vintage clothing collections along with music and rum-infused jerk chicken and drinks provided by Appleton Estate. Dance party afterwards.

Beaches Jazz Fest
Hankering for some sax on the beach? The Beaches International Jazz Festival (running July 19-28) is serving up awesome jazz music, fun activities, gourmet food trucks, and beer trucks. It’s officially festival season, kids.

Waterfront Night Market
Since everybody is already sweating like we’re in the Vietnamese jungle, why not enhance the experience with some Asian themed street food? From July 19-21, T&T Waterfront Night Market will be giving Toronto a unique, multi-cultural culinary experience serving up fusion fabulousness.

RIGOROUS MESS Vintage & Co. July Popup
FACT: There is no so thing as having too much clothing. If you agree with that statement, RIGOROUS MESS Vintage & Co. will be having their July Pop-Up Shop this weekend (July 19-21) at the Creatures Creating Gallery.

Saturday
Thrill of the Grill 2013
Canadian mathematics 101: Summer = BBQ. Toronto Danforth BIA’s Thrill of the Grill 2013 will see the street closed off and the area’s best chefs competing to see who has the most barbecue cred, judged by celebrity chef Lynn Crawford. All proceeds will be going to kidney cancer research.

Summer Uber SWAP
Ladies, leave your man at home and bring the summer clothes, shoes and accessories you don’t love anymore to Summer Uber-Swap: A Used & Vintage Clothing Exchange. Contributions of 10 items or more gets you in and, please, no kids items, menswear or home decor. Also, there will be no change rooms (just mirrors) so wear leggings!

UNITY Concert at Dundas Square
The UNITY Concert will be offering up some free, all-day hip-hop realness at Yonge-Dundas Square headlined by legend Talib Kweli and opened by Toronto great Rich Kidd. There will also be over 50 performances by local youth beatboxing, breakdancing, MCing, and live performances along with graffiti arts spaces for public engagement.

Christie Pitts Film Festival
Stop watching Netflix in your basement and get some fresh air by seeing a movie outside! The Christie Pits Film Festival will be screening SHUT UP AND PLAY THE HITS at the tennis court at Bloor on Dufferin.

Burlesque Ball
What happens in Montreal, stays in Montreal… Until now. Monde Osé’s Burlesque Ball, Montreal’s premiere sensually themed dance party, will be bringing a modern take on old-time strip-tease glamour and theatricality to Hogtown for an event that promises to be equal parts classy and seductive, bien sur.

The Fifth Luau and Cabin Five Tiki Hut
Dust off your Victoria’s Secret coconut bra for The Fifth’s Luau and Cabin Five Tiki Hut. Food cocktails, little umbrellas and pretty much every other cliché of paradise you can imagine (in the best way, of course). Check out Facebook and Twitter for ticket giveaways.

Cherry Bomb
It’s the second-to-last Saturday of the month which means CHERRY BOMB at the Andy Poolhall. If you didn’t dance enough at Pride (and even if you did), shake your body to DJs COZMIC CAT and DENISE BENSON at this inclusive event for queer ladies, trans folks, and everybody who loves them. Free before 10pm.

Big on Bloor Festival
Shake off the shackles of being trapped in the office all week by taking a day-time stroll around the Big On Bloor Street Festival. Bloor will be closed off to cars from Dufferin to Lansdowne on Saturday and Sunday in a celebration of local business, community, arts and culture featuring live music and the 200+ table Bloordale Market.

Sunday
Abbey’s Kitchen Stadium: Battle Two
Abbey’s Kitchen Stadium: Battle Two is serving up a hot plate of culinary showdowns featuring four of Toronto’s freshest food truck, restaurant, and pop-up vendor chefs in a reality TV-style competition. Guests will be able to purchase dishes at $5 a piece and the battles will be judged by a celebrity panel. For dessert, enjoy a raffle of food product gift baskets and restaurant gift certificates.

Movies in the Park
If you were alive in the 80s, or happen to know somebody who was, chances are you love The Goonies. Movies in the Park will be screening this classic at the Riverdale Park East, with all donations from the evening supporting children’s art programs at Art City in St. James Town.

The Leslieville Flea
Check out The Leslieville Flea Market on the third Sunday of every month for one of a kind items, furniture, hand crafted designs, antiques, vintage clothing, designer pieces and more.

Poor Pilgrim Island Show
Toronto Island will be transformed into a sort of Treasure Island for seekers of hidden musical booty at the sixth Poor Pilgrim Island Show. Using a special map (yarrr?), the audience will be led around the island in search of local acoustic favourites.

Ontario Oyster Festival
For those yearning for a cool ocean breeze (or any breeze, really), look no further than the Ontario Oyster Festival: Oysterstrong 25 – Eatin’ Ain’t Cheatin.’ Enjoy live music, inexpensive drinks, oysters, lobster, auction items and competitive oyster eating and shucking. Money raised will be going to Environmental Defense.