Category Archives: Toronto festivals

365 Things to Do in Toronto, Toronto, Toronto events, Toronto festivals

121. CONTACT Photography Festival

May 1, 2011 Heikki Walden

May 1, 2011

Featuring over 1000 local, national and international photographers, CONTACT is Toronto’s not-for-profit annual photography festival, and the largest photography event in the world. CONTACT aims to advance the knowledge, creativity and innovation in photography, and as such, supports emerging artists and professional photographers alike. An open call for exhibitions allows the festival to show work across the city in over 200 venues, featuring public installations, special events, and primary exhibitions.

CONTACT Photography Festival — Photo by Chien-Chi Chang

“Figure & Ground” is this year’s festival theme, addressing the way in which photographic images can alter our perceptions, inspire our knowledge-base, and unveil meaning. This theme encourages CONTACT patrons to ponder their relationship with their environment.

For information on venues, primary exhibitions, public installations, featured exhibitions and open exhibitions, go to http://scotiabankcontactphoto.com/. The CONTACT Photography Festival starts today and continues until May 31st.

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118. Hot Docs Festival

April 28, 2011 Heikki Walden

April 28, 2011

Toronto’s premiere documentary film festival, Hot Docs, starts today!

Tonight’s screenings include POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold, and Fightville. Whether you’re looking for a film to inspire, make you cry, lift your spirits, or simply entertain, Hot Docs has something for everyone!

Venues include the TIFF Bell Lightbox, Winter Garden Theatre, Isabel Bader Theatre, Innis Town Hall, the ROM Theatre, Cumberland, and of course, the Bloor Cinema; Hot Docs is truly a city-wide event! A Hot Docs Pass is your best bet for truly enjoying the breadth of this film festival; there are a variety available which cost from $98 (for a Festival Pass which gives you ten Regular Screening Tickets and nine Late Night Screening Tickets that you can share) to $300 (for a Premium for Two Pass which gives you two tickets per screening, resulting in 200+ tickets for documentary fanatics)! Single tickets are also available for $14.

For a schedule of screenings and for information on how to buy your passes or tickets, go to www.hotdocs.ca!

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96. Sprockets Toronto International Film Festival

April 6, 2011 Heikki Walden

April 6, 2011

The Toronto International Film Festival may be the biggest event on your celebrity-watching, premiere-viewing, red carpet-walking calendar, but the Sprockets Toronto International Film Festival for Children is certainly a force to be reckoned with in the world of films created for children.

Created by TIFF, Sprockets affords children and youth the opportunity to learn about the world around them through film.

Weekdays feature School Programming for students in elementary and secondary schools, but Sprockets includes two public weekends for those three and up, so start planning your weekend today! You and your kids will have the opportunity to watch films from around the world – films that may not be shown in Toronto again! For more information on Sprockets, including a calendar of screenings and the opportunity to purchase tickets, go to http://tiff.net/sprockets.

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66. Sugarbush Maple Syrup Festival

March 7, 2011 Heikki Walden

March 7, 2011

Spring is in the air which means…it’s maple syrup season! You don’t have to go too far outside of the city to celebrate Canada’s most famous export – Bruce’s Mill Conservation Area (near Stouffville) and Kortright Centre for Conservation (just north of Woodbridge) are both participating in the Sugarbush Maple Syrup Festival from March 5th until April 10th. Activities include demonstrations, wagon rides, crafts and family activities, and of course, pancakes and maple syrup!

Admission is $9.00 for adults and $6.50 for seniors and children 4 years old and up. Pancake meals vary in price from about $2.50 for a pancake and a drink to $20.00 for a family platter. Canada produces about 85% of the world’s maple syrup, so get out there and show your Canadian pride (and celebrate spring!) by checking out the Sugarbush Maple Syrup Festival!

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39. Dieu Du Ciel! Beer Tasting Dinner

February 8, 2011 Heikki Walden

February 8, 2011

You know that certain types of wine complement certain foods, but did you know that the same is true of beer? Dieu Du Ciel! Beer Tasting Dinner is your opportunity to become a beer connoisseur! You’ll enjoy a ten course beer dinner at Beerbistro, where beer is not only on the menu, it is an integral part of every menu item!

Whether it’s the cheese and lager fondue, beer bread pizza, or mussels steamed in beer broth, beer-lovers will rejoice as they enjoy a feast, featuring beer from Quebec-based master brewery, Dieu Du Ciel! Many of the beers on tap for tonight’s event were crafted specifically for this event and are unavailable anywhere else in the world.

Tickets are $125 plus HST and gratuity; you can book by phone: 416-861-9872. For more information about this event, go to the Winterlicious website, and to learn more about Beerbistro, check out their website.

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38. Visit The Rosedale Diner for Winterlicious!

February 7, 2011 Heikki Walden

February 7, 2011

A family-owned restaurant in operation since 1978, Rosedale Diner is well-known for serving “real food to real people” – Winterlicious is your opportunity to sample some of this “real” (and delicious!) food!

The eclectic wares of this establishment are reflected in the prix fixe menus for lunch and dinner: as an appetizer, why not try a sweet pea soup with crispy leeks and chili oil drizzle? Or how about Israeli hummus with za’atar and warm chickpeas with extra virgin olive oil? Entree choices include everything from a brie and apple omelet with onion frits, curried chicken mango salad, Moroccan lamb shank tagine, a vegetarian moussaka, and “poutine au canard:” off-the bone duck confit and Québécois cheese curds with frites and demi-glace gravy! Assorted desserts will leave you completely satisfied with this Bohemian-style restaurant with an unmistakable Israeli flair.

Check out the Rosedale Diner’s website for more details, and don’t miss our interview with Dubi Filar, owner of the Rosedale Diner!

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35. Visit The Wine Bar for Winterlicious!

February 4, 2011 Heikki Walden

February 4, 2011

Serving local artisanal food, featuring produce purchased directly from farmers at St. Lawrence Market, Winterlicious at The Wine Bar is nothing short of delicious! A $15 lunch or a $25 dinner are both fantastic opportunities to sample locally-sourced wares.

Whether you choose the wild mushroom soup with white truffle oil and thyme, the pulled pork poutine with Monforte goat cheese, BBQ sauce and green onions, or the organic shrimp bisque as your appetizer, you’re sure to enjoy unmistakably local flavours. Lunch mains include an inventive purple beet risotto, mushrooms and smoked chicken on toast, and an open faced beef cheek sandwich, while dinner entrees include a delicious wild mushroom polenta, seared wild fish, or grilled Miami ribs. Dig into dessert – whether you select the rum raisin bread pudding with crème anglaise, the Lindt chocolate mousse with maple chantilly cream, or the house preserved fruit crème brule with almond cookie, you’ll find the experience unforgettable.

To learn more about The Wine Bar, check out their website at http://9church.com/, and be sure to learn more about the St. Lawrence Market neighbourhood by watching our video interview with The Wine Bar’s chef, Bryan Burke!

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32. Visit Coppi Ristorante for Winterlicious!

February 1, 2011 Heikki Walden

February 1, 2011

Looking for some delicious Italian fare to brighten your Winterlicious experience? Look no further than Coppi Ristorante in Lawrence Park!

Serving natural and simple Italian cuisine since 1991, Coppi Ristorante’s dishes are “never adventurous but simple, never complicated but easy to comprehend, never too many spices, but one or two per dish.” This simple approach to food has commanded a popularity with Torontonians and tourists alike.

Enjoy a $20 prix fixe lunch menu, or a $35 dinner at Coppi Ristorante; choose an appetizer from selections such as the speck e pera (thinly sliced smoked prosciutto, served with sliced pear and goat cheese crostini) or insalata di finocchio e rucola (fennel and rucola salad with red pepper, pine nuts and pecorino cheese) and delight your senses with a delicious main such as salmone in padella (pan seared norwegian salmon filet with sauteed rucola and tomato and black olive salad) or tagliatelle al pesto di erbette (fresh tagliatelle tossed in a sundried tomato and herb pesto). Don’t forget about dessert! You can choose from the panna cotta agrume (citrus cream custard with toasted hazelnuts and mint pesto), tiramisu, or sorbetto al limone (lemon flavoured sorbet).

To learn more about Coppi Ristorante, check out their website, and be sure to take a look at our interview with restaurant owner Alessandro Scotto.

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31. A Passion for Dance, Opera and Dining

January 31, 2011 Heikki Walden

January 31, 2011

As part of the Winterlicious series of culinary events, Embrujo Flamenco Tapas Restaurant will host A Passion for Dance, Opera and Dining, “a brilliant combination of old music and traditional cuisine” from Madrid.

You’ll enjoy a gourmet, four-course meal featuring Spanish cuisine crafted from natural ingredients, while savoring the performances and sounds of the opera Carmen.

Dinner starts tonight at 7:30pm, and the performance continues until 9:30pm. Tickets are $69 plus HST and gratuity, and can be purchased by phone: call 416-778-0007.

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29. Fort York Food Fight! Chef Competition

January 29, 2011 Heikki Walden

January 29, 2011

As part of this year’s Winterlicious, several “culinary events” can be enjoyed across the city, including “Eat Pray Lovealicious” (an Italian cooking class at the Bonnie Stern School of Cooking), Taste n’ Tour Casa Loma Marketplace (an opportunity to tour Toronto’s Medieval Castle while dining on rustic fare), and today’s Fort York Food Fight! Chef Competition.

Getting started at 1pm, the afternoon gets under way with an “intimate interpretive food tour of Fort York,” which will help participants to understand the diet of Toronto’s early days. After, join in one of two workshops: Eat Green Through the Seasons, in which you’ll explore the ecological benefits of seasonal eating, or Growing Food Indoors, a foray into the world of alternative gardening. Following the workshops, you’ll witness a “food fight” between two of Toronto’s top chefs, Ted Corrado and Scott Vivian. Their challenge will be to create and prepare meals incorporating a secret, 1812-era ingredient available in the old days of the Town of York. The winner will be heralded as the Fort York Food Fight Champion and will receive $2500.

Join in the fun and learn more about the culinary history of Toronto! Tickets are $30 including HST and gratuity; tickets are available by phone at 416-392-690 ext. 221. Visit the Fort York Food Fight! Chef Competition website for more information.