Weekend events toronto

Weekend events in Toronto: August 9-11

Weekend events in Toronto is our guide to events happening this Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Here's what's happening in Toronto this August 9-11, 2013.

FOOD

Taste of the Danforth 2013
The 20th annual Taste of the Danforth street festival goest down this weekend, and you can be sure to encounter huge lines as the annual frenzy gets underway between Broadview and Jones at 6pm tonight. You can expect lots of food on sticks (some of it Greek in origin), some dancing, lots of corporate advertising, some children, and just generally lots of bodies and food.
Friday (6pm-12am), Saturday (12pm-12am), Sunday (12pm-8pm)

Market 707: Flavour of the City
Market 707, better known as the market with shops in shipping containers, is expanding this Friday night for Express Yourself: Flavour of the City, a sidewalk-wide celebration of art, food and food art. Express Yourself will feature interactive art stations and workshops as well as food art by vendors (not just for visual enjoyment). Swing by Bathurst and Dundas to catch a performance by Black Mink and to eat grotesque amounts of food because you need to train your stomach for the CNE anyway, so why not do it here?
Market 707 (707 Dundas Street West), August 9, 2013, 5PM Free

Agak, Agak, Hawk!
So, I have no idea what agak means but chances are the Chop Suzies Collective does. Spending their Friday night at the Daniels Spectrum, this dumpling crimping chain gangs is hosting a street food event where local restaurants and eateries like Gushi, Kashmiri BBQ, Paintbox Bistro ,Santo Pecado, Sukhothai, Tito Flips and Yakitori Bar will hawk food and tell stories of the women who inspired them. If delicious food wasn't enough of a draw, admission is free.
Daniels Spectrum (585 Dundas Street East), August 9, 2013, 4PM Free

Fortune Cooking
Harboufront Centre's weekend festivals are typically stroller-filled tourist attractions but foodies will love Fortune Cooking. The best of Southeast and South Asian food will be served at the festival's World Café and Lakeview Market. Local ramen experts will compete in Ramen Runoff to see who makes Toronto's best noodles. The festival includes performances by bands from all over Asia and Canada, with events scattered throughout the weekend.
Harbourfront Centre (235 Queen's Quay West), August 9-11, 2013, 6PM Free

For more food listings, check out our Toronto Food Events post.

PARTY

Bellwoods Block Party
This is a new market/party taking place each month just south of Trinity Bellwoods in the back lane behind 198 Walnut Street. Look for a mix of designers, food vendors, vintage dealers as well as live music. Oh, and it's BYOB, so think party as much market, and you're there.
August 10, 1pm-7pm

GAMING

ROM Game Jam
Gather round, gamers: this 3-day game jam at the ROM is a meeting of animated minds. Roaming the museum, budding game developers will create video games out of the contents they find, each completing a project and owning the IP and right to sell and distribute the game after the three days spent workshopping. 30 galleries and endless artifacts will be a part of the development. If you can't join, come watch the gamers in action all day by paying regular admission prices.
Royal Ontario Museum (100 Queen's Park), August 9-11, 2013

FILM

Sharknado
Ask and you shall receive — Sharknado storms the Carlton this weekend, opening for a very limited engagement. This Friday night only, the tornado of sharks will terrorize a small town that just so happens to be occupied by fantastic actors like Tara Reid and Ian Ziering. A TV movie no more, the film screens at midnight so cult film lovers will never have to see the light of day to attend. Tickets are available at the theatre box office.
Carlton Cinema (20 Carlton Street), August 9, 2013, 12AM $9.50

For more film listings, check out our This Week in Film post.

THEATRE

How Can I Forget?
Sook-Yin Lee's multimedia dream poem that has earned a great deal of pre-performance buzz opens tonight at LOT as part of the 2013 SummerWorks Festival. Performed by Lee and Benjamin Kamino, How Can I Forget? explores rememberance and forgetfulness with the two actors embodying aspects of the same person. The piece will be performed every night this weekend and closes on the 14th. Still unsure of what to see at SummerWorks? Check out our 10 must-see performances at this year's festival.
Lower Ossington Theatre (100 Ossington Avenue), August 9-11, 2013, 7:30PM $15

For more theatre postings, check out our This Week in Theatre post.

BIKES

Bike Rave
If you're tired of the corporate "raves" in the city's stadiums, this is a nomadic alternative with some gumption. The folks behind Bike Pirates are hosting this party for the second year in a row. Everyone will gather at Dufferin Grove Park, gather their bikes in glowsticks, lights and anything with colour and then cycle from dance party to dance party across the city, all night long. Download the playlist (http://zeus.justinbull.ca/bikerave2013.mp3) and be at the park at 8:30PM sharp so everyone can hit play in unison.
Dufferin Grove Park (875 Dufferin Street), August 9, 2013, 8:30PM Free

MUSIC

ALL CAPS! Island Festival

Camp out on the island and listen to music all weekend long at ALL CAPS!, the annual island festival that takes place at Gibraltar Point on the Toronto Islands. Sadly, this will be the festival's final year, which means this is your last chance to enjoy massive bonfires, swim and camp out overnight on the island while upcoming musicians perform. But before you mourn the end, there is still a festival to be had! Take the ferry out to Hanlan's Point this Saturday and Sunday and catch performances by the likes of Rich Aucoin, Hooded Fang, Eons, Magneta Lane and beekeeper amongst others. Ferry prices are not included in the ticket price but they are under $10 for a round trip. Show your enthusiasm about ALL CAPS! and maybe you can get the organizers to reconsider.
Artscape Gibraltar Point (443 Lakeshore Road), August 10-11, 2013, $67 camping pass, $30 festival pass

For more music listings, check out our August Concerts and This Week in Music posts.

BOOKS & LIT

Small Press Book Fair, Curio and Vintage Sale
For those who need calmer Sundays, Mercer Union is opening its doors to a lovely little book fair and sale. The Small Press Book Fair will feature print publications by small local zines and writers like Worn Journal, Nothing Else Press, Papirmasse, and Anchorless Press. Vintage and curios vendors will also be on site, from shops like Odds & Mends, Grocery, Pack Rats Vintage and Marjorie Francis. Swing by the Blansdowne art centre this weekend to sneak a peek.
Mercer Union (1286 Bloor Street West), August 11, 2013, 10AM PWYC ($2 suggested donation)

ART

August Programming at Xpace Cultural Centre
Xpace Cultural Centre celebrates the opening of its August shows with a reception in their new-ish College/Lansdowne gallery space this Friday evening. This month's shows include Storied Telling, a group show about how artists use their work in sculpture, 2D and performance to tell stories; Julia Dickens' Don't Go, an examination of how spaces change physically through redesign, gentrification and similar shaping, and Tobias Williams' Yellow Pages Catacomb, a paper installation about obsolete media. All shows will remain in the gallery until the end of the month. Join the artists at the opening reception this Friday.
Xpace Cultural Centre (2-303 Lansdowne Avenue), August 9, 2013, 7PM Free

MARKET

The Backyard Farm Market
The Backyard Farm & Market is a new urban farmers market set up at Eglinton and Erin Mills. With farmers from across the city and province joining to sell their chemical-free produce and artisans selling handmade pieces on a 1.5 acre piece of land, visiting this market feels like a trip to the farm. Stop by on Saturdays for the remainder of the summer for live entertainment, food and gardening opportunities.
2475 Eglinton Avenue West, August 10, 2013, 10AM Free

Have an event you'd like to plug? Submit your own listing to the blogTO Toronto events calendar or contact us directly.

Photo of Taste of the Danforth 2012


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