With the party month that was July behind us and TIFF just weeks away, it looks like the city of Toronto is taking a little breather before the scene gets hoppin’ all over again. For diehards, there’s still tons of stuff to do. Here’s what’s happening this weekend.
Thursday
Ferragosto Celebration
How do Italians celebrate summer? With a 3-course meal, an in-house cigar roller (Frank Correnti Cigars), good music (by Leo Sgovio) and killer cocktails (by Campari and Aperol). Reservations for the “Italian Celebration of Summer” at Osteria dei Ganzi are highly recommended.
Sip & Sail Cocktail Cruise
If you’ve always wanted to yell “I’m on a boat!” and haven’t, a) you’re missing out, and b) now’s your chance. Board the Oriole this Thursday at 6pm for a cocktail-fueled cruise on Lake Ontario. Re-enacting scenes from Titanic, Arrested Development and Saturday Night Live sketches is a must.
Sail-In Cinema
Sure, the exclusiveness that is TIFF is around the corner, but is Brad Pitt going to get to see his movie premiere on a screen that floats on water?! From August 15th to 17th, you can either bring a blanket to Sugar Beach or throw the anchor off your boat (that’s how it’s done, right?) to watch movies on a two-sided screen that floats on Lake Ontario.
Girl and Boy: 90s Dance Party
There’s nothing like a good retro dance party, even if it secretly destroys you inside that the era you grew up in is now throwback fabulous. Yeah, we’re not ashamed to say we remember the ’90s, and you’ll likely hear us screaming things like “Back in my day…” and “They don’t make music like this anymore…” if you head to Clinton’s on Thursday for a dance-athon that pays tribute to the end of the 20th century, which was arguably the coolest century in history so far.
Espressions | Sip, Paint, Share and Live Music
The dating scene in Toronto is the pits. Dudes, can we not get more creative than online dating? Of course, we can! That’s why we’re all about Espressions, a chance to flex your actual creative muscles in front of your peers while you sip coffee and chill with strangers. It’s like speed dating but with canvases. You don’t even need to be talented because there will be staff on site to help give you pointers. We recommend using pickup lines like, “I can really see the sexual tension in that blob of red you used there.”
Rooftop Rendezvous – Get Tempted!
Shanny in the City & City Events are hosting a night of “schmoozing and networking” on Cube’s rooftop patio. Sure, you can bring your business cards, but why not make it exciting by taking networking to the next level by giving people fortune cookies or your phone number on a pack of matches. Old school!
Arcadian Visions
Some nights we stay up cashing in our bad luck, and some nights we like to get cultured. On Friday, Montreal-based violist Pemi Paull is putting on a solo recital at the Harbourfront Centre, which will also feature special guests like Domenico Gabrielli and Alan Hohvaness. (Did we say that with the kid of confidence and authority that makes you believe we’re well acquainted with classical music? Good!) Oh, and it’s free. Take that, exclusive opera houses and concert halls!
How To Make Money Selling Drugs
If you show up to this film screening with a charged beeper and a messenger bag, you’ll be out of luck. This isn’t a tutorial, homie. Starring Eminem, 50 Cent, Woody Harrelson, Russell Simons and other heavyweights, this doc takes a look at life on both sides of the “war on drugs.” Catch it at the Open Roof Festival.
Friday
2013 Canadian National Exhibition
From Friday until September 2nd, Toronto gets to feel a lil’ bit like ‘Merica, thanks to the CNE. Can you deep-fry a burger? Hell yeah you can! Can you go on a ride and throw all fears of the collapse of the economy to wind? Let’s find out!
Toronto, I Love You
A live romantic comedy about Toronto? Now this we’ve got to see given that our own love lives in Toronto are more like hilarious tragedies. Twelve improvisers from our great but characteristically cold city will get inspired by classic rom-coms and use audience participation to create a love story about Hogtown.
Outdoor Cinema in the Junction
If you’ve yet to catch a movie outside, it’s time to get your summer on this Friday when Foxed and The Fruit Hunters play back-to-back in the Junction. Bring your PBR ironically concealed in a Starbucks cup at your own risk.
The York-Eglinton International Street Festival
From Friday to Sunday, Eglinton is making the case for being “the place to be” from Oakwood to Dufferin when the street closes down for all things Caribbean, Italian, Portuguese, Latin and what’s being described as “a number of other nationalities.” We can only hope that Rob Ford will show up to prove once again why he ran for mascot of Toronto. That’s what he is, right?
Saturday
CraveTO Day :: CraveTO Night
Beer, music, food. Sounds like a party to us. Throw in the fact that this takes place at Toronto’s Historic Honest Ed’s Alley and Parking Lot and we’re already stoked for what promises to turn into Toronto’s own version of Fight Club or, you know, just another awesome chill summer fest.
TheVinylDen @ Habits
This is The Vinyl Den’s last gig at Habits until the end of October, so get your most revealing summer clothes on and shake what your mamma gave you on the dance floor and rage against the dying of the summer… or just have a beer. Whatever suits your fancy.
ANDY C | Destiny 20 YR Anniversary RAVE
Sure, the word “rave” gives us immediate flashbacks to a strange time in our lives when taking school buses from the suburbs to the city was a thing. Is that still a thing? We’re going to pretend we’re not too old to know the answer to that during Andy C’s 4-hour set at Kool Haus.
Saturday &Company – I Am Not A DJ
We can hear Dre singing it now: “Mississauga knows how to party, Mississauga knows how to par-tay.” This Saturday, hit up &Company in the burbs for a set by feature DJ Patrick Marzouk. This will be a Mississ-SAGA of a night.
Yogathon Canada
If you spend your weekdays doing yoga with your coworkers, now’s your chance to put those expensive moksha memberships to good use by joining the rest of Canada in a yoga fundraiser. Your $25 for Yogathon Canada goes to support Care for Children, and we’ll downward dog to that.
Figment Toronto 2013
This Saturday and Sunday, Olympic Island will host the first ever Canadian Figment, an event that’s been happening around the world for a while now but is finally coming to Canada. This is a not to be missed collaborative art project that will probably make you leave with the feeling that world isn’t so bad and life is kinda beautiful… or that everything’s chaotic and the Apocalypse is upon us. Either way, sounds fun.
Ai Weiwei According To What?
Ai Weiwei According To What? finally opens at the AGO this weekend. Do we need to say more? We’ll see you there.
Pop Art Party
Make like you’re a young muse to the late, great Andy Warhol and head down to Toika Lounge for a night of cool pop art by emerging artists with proceeds going to support Nellie’s Emergency Shelter.
The 2nd Annual Porch Crawler
Drinking should be a team sport, and what better way to beer-bond than with a patio crawl. Make sure to line your stomach with a hardcore brunch because, with 12 patios on the list, you don’t want to be the first man down or, worse, the last man standing (in a police lineup).
Murder at the ROM
An art-themed murder mystery that takes you on a scavenger hunt around the museum? Dudes, this is so dope, we don’t even know where to begin. Make like Ben Stiller and buy your ticket now.
Sunday
The Leslieville Flea
Not all flea markets are created equal, but we’re expecting killer stuff at this one because it’s in Leslieville, which means the vintage goods and antiques are actually going to be retro throwback pieces and not, you know, garbage from the days of Yore. Get there at the start at 10am to beat the hipsters to the punch, as in vintage punch bowls, obviously.
The 2013 Blue Flag Beach Bonanza
Environmental Defence is hosting the Woodbine Beach party to celebrate the beach’s status as a Blue Flag, which means its eco-certified. Expect yoga classes, sand castle competitions and scavenger hunts… and hopefully the kind of weather that lets us bust out the summer clothes we haven’t worn yet.
Movies In The Park
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Sunday night. Free. Bring a picnic dinner. This is what you’re doing, because it is the best idea ever.
