I always forget to review this festival but it's my favourite winter event! It's so fun and lively,…read moreit'll make you forget it's cold outside. I try to visit every year because they always have new additions and activities. This year there were a few changes: -reservations ahead of time for the big 3 activities (ferris wheel, zip line, and slide). I think this change made sense theoretically but in practice it was very messy. They didn't advertise well enough that the tickets existed, so tons of people just showed up and were very confused. Also at first the tickets were available at 5pm BEFORE the day you planned on visiting and then it was changed to 1 hour before the festival opened for THAT day and that day only. Tickets were for 20 minute to 15 minute time slots. The scanning process was slow since so many people didn't know to reserve in advance, and sometimes the employees would just not care and let anyone in so the tickets served no purpose. -Less food trucks but more food booths (from sponsors like the milk company and maple syrup company). -The bell lounge didn't have phone cleaning or VR activities anymore, It was more for drinks and live music performances. - New Tim Hortons game where you threw pucks at a giant screen. -Cheese festival inside the mall! (very packed though so didn't visit) I really love this festival but it's too short! Make it available for 3 weeks and still end on the Nuit Blanche!

Went Friday night and wasn't disappointed. Weather was 2 no…read morerain and not to many people. There was a hour wait for the sledding you grab a pass and watch the clock. Ferris wheel was a super quick line. You go around slow at first then fast the last two times. There's curling and little hand clappers so you can cheer for your team. The saq is in a igloo which was super cool might not of been made of snow but It was just as cool. Fire pits everywhere to keep warm and you can even roast marshmallows super cute idea !

Date of visit: June 11, 2023…read more We were staying right down the street on Saint-Laurent during the festival and were quite amazed at just how giant it was! We started walking through near the beginning of the day and some of the vendors were still getting set up; the streets weren't very crowded yet. But by the time we were close to the western end (close to, because this was giant and we didn't get through it all!) and turned around, the large mass of people was impressive! The wide variety of art, shops, and food is hard to do justice with words, it's something you truly have to see for yourself. I didn't see much that tripped the lights fantastic for me, but I was more than happy to window shop for the most part. Part of our intention for visiting the festival was the drag brunch, which was not quite accurate. Drag, yes. Brunch, nowhere to be found. But the show was quite good, even if my French was not good enough to keep up with the mistress of ceremonies! Again, very impressed with this festival, Montreal should be proud of this gem!

Love Mural Fest. Only Montreal has that caliber of talent in such a small city. Not saying Montreal…read moreisn't a cosmopolitan city but it is sort of like the Boston of Canada where Toronto is NYC but you really can't compare. Anyway I love going. They do an amazing job. Last couple of years it has seemed more about the music and party and less about the art but partying is fun too! I know a lot of these street artists personally from working at S16; I am blown away by how much talent Montreal alone has then of course all the international heavy hitters come into town too.

Montreal is the best. I'm surprised I've never heard of Folk Fest sur le Canal (aka. Montreal Folk…read moreFestival) previously but it's magical. Very kid friendly with lots of families hanging out here. They were celebrating their 10th year anniversary so they were asking for donations ($10.00) as entry fee. Otherwise, you can still get in for free. FREE! Only in Montreal. Got to see some cool artists. Sarah Harmer twice (solo and with her band). Weather was perfect. Lots of vendors to eat, drink and buy things from. They even had free water jugs to refill your water and sunscreen. Never seen that before.

If you're looking for a relaxing time, while enjoying some local musicians play, this event is…read moregreat for you. I came here with a friend and the first thing we both said was that the location is perfect. It's located on the Lachine Canale, far from the St. Henri noise. There are tons of food trucks stationed on the outer perimeter of the event, with some smaller booths closer inside. There are two stages, so you do have an option between the musicians that are playing. Overall, fun festival and look forward to going back next year!

First timer at Osheaga and man on man was it a good one! At…read morefirst our uber dropped us off at laronde so we had to walk all the way back up the hill and got to the golf cart entree and we're rejected so had to walk around again but eventually you find it. We got searched as soon as you walk in which is fine it wasn't anything crazy just a quick look in the purse and metal detector. As soon as we got in we went to pee as there was nobody in line and the bathrooms were still clean and 0 wait time. We walked around and got a drink at the Jack Daniels bar and stopped to take some pictures at the osheaga playground swing set and than made our way through the free sample and made it to the hill where the huge osheaga sign is. The first person we saw was Dr. Fresh and he murdered the stage everyone was dancing and going nuts! Saturday seemed to of had the best line up in my opinion and boy oh boy was it packed. I can't wait to go back next year !

And after a two year hiatus we are back baby! Osheaga is a highlight of summer in Montreal and this…read moreyear was no exception. As always the line up on each day usually revolves around different genres of music depending on the headliner. This year had a mix of rap edm rock and pop with headliners like Dua Lipa, arcade fire and Future. The festival also has a barrier of food trucks to eat at and local artist installations as well. The visuals and sound quality have gotten a lot better in the last years too. With so much to do you can easily fill your day from staff to finish weather your seeing 6 artists or only a few the crowd and energy are worth coming for alone!

Igloofest is one of my favorite music festivals I've been to. Artists are always incredible, and…read morethe vibes are great! Love seeing everyone come together in their ski/cold weather clothing and dancing to the music. Would recommend!

Great venue, too cold and more warm places to settle in would be nice. People here are friendly…read morealthough some may get drunk typically a bit and some only speak French basically. I would not suggest going alone if possible as I had to do that. I also had to get my ticket by buying a hotel package and could not buy a ticket separately from the IF site directly. I had wanted VIP and this was not an option for me by choosing a hotel package. IF took 2-2.5 weeks to respond to my email inquiry regarding this. It seems an app was an option but I didn't know what app I could download and if it would have been compatible usage within the US. Internet coverage was included to Canada w my plan but my data roaming auto-turned off and I could not figure out how to turn it on right away. I was also driving in the evening and I could not find a comfortable place to stop for awhile. I almost did not go but decided I needed to go as I was interested in both main stage artists and had my own edm outfit that I should've done a better job showcasing. Food options were decent and alcohol was easy to get. Bathroom access was okay . I think it was so cold that they should've opened up the dining areas on the other connected island and had TVs to watch the performances from inside the dining areas of that part of the Old Dock. The safe space would have been good here too. Providing this environment and resource helps encourage and maximizes diversity with race, sexuality, religion, and minimizes bias. There are recycling bins here and the culture here seem to make best efforts to follow. Many Americans would sadly see this as another trash bin. Montreal has a ton of TooGoodToGos including mini-supermarkets. The little contributions we can do to help sustainability can only help our world, and the culture seems to reflect this too. I wore double layers and it was enough for awhile. Some of the locals didn't seem to have more than a single layer and they seemed fine. Main stage artists did not have merch available to sell and side stage had a few things that I felt were over priced on top of my lack of interest. Some great beats and covers from the side stage though I am not a big fan of covers. Igloofest has some great sponsors and I like how they support some local French hotels too and not just the American standard ones. Some of the friendly people here, I do wish we could've bonded to be even friendlier . Not being able to speak French fluently didn't help. Too cold for Google Translate to be my constant friend and my juice almost ran out near fest end too. Maybe if I had put my reversible sequin jacket on earlier and had IF on it, this would have rocked everyone's world that much more. There was a free picture booth and a chance to win a free VIP package. I tried it later in the night, and a group of people get a picture(s) for free at the end. In my first take, one of the staffers got in the pic since it was just me. I kind of wish I had asked to keep it but maybe to ask if I win, that I would win a boyfriend too, lol. Alas, it was too cold for me to really think and the idea of being in a new area and being able to speak only minimal French (Je joue les echecs.) Maybe if I make my social media public, with all these pictures and certain tags, maybe something positive could come of that. The loneliness I felt here reminded me of a person who won the same type of award I did where he told me to carry my award around everywhere. Or online where some people pretend they want to meet you and purposely don't. The struggles I took to get here on my own ( 3 car dashboard warning signals all resolved after stopping on the side 3 times), product shipped under proper protocols that could not be done in the US, appreciating some food quality, drink, and a gym, all help culminate an independence for me to attend an event and the related prep and struggles all on my own.

Nothing else says summer better than a good Caribbean carnival parade in the middle of downtown…read moreMontreal. This year was only my second time going to the Carifiesta, why? Because I've been to many carnivals in the Caribbean in the past, my expectations were high and I kinda didn't want to be disappointed. Compared to last year, I have to say that there were more colors and that the participants were very dynamic, I really liked the costumes. Now hum...the parade was supposed to begin at noon... and yes it was pouring rain at a moment well hum when they finally decided to begin the parade ( around 2 PM!), but a good bit could have been done if they had left on time! As I was waiting for the parade near the starting point, I've noticed too many participants arriving wayyyyy past noon.... Also, one of the trucks had sound system difficulties, they've made a whole cacophony out of it while, with a little bit of organization, they would have just put it on the side right away (as they finally did 1h later *rolling my eyes*) and moved on with the parade. I give it 3.5 stars because I love the idea, I love music and I love people from different backgrounds just getting together... Carifiesta is really more of a fiesta rather than a Carnival maybe with more structure and organization I will give it a higher rating... Can't wait to see what they'll have improved for next year!

I was so excited to attend this Caribbean fest! Although it was a small parade, it was still nice…read moreto see costumes and hear good music. I wish there were more floats! Something I was not a fan of, was that some people in the parade had real paint buckets and the audience got sprayed with it.

I was realy impressed with the beers. My friend showed me a few breweries and the beers blew my…read moremind. I've never tasted in a row so many beers that were clearly above the rest. Usually you can kind of guess what you will have, and the experience is not that much different than going to a corner store and trying another commercial brand. Not this time! Also even though it was raining, i was suprised that there was so many people friday night. There were also a few interesting attractions like the one where you try to hammer as hard as you can on a pad. I didn't hammer hard enough to ring the bell, guess i'm too weak :(... Finaly the blacksmiths on the site where not just for show and they were working hard to create beautiful works of art. I enjoyed listening to one of the blacksmith explaining the process of forging. Very, very cool I cant wait to go there next summer :D

I hadn't been to this gathering in previous years primarily for the fact that it is hosted in Laval…read morewhich can feel like an impossible trek when you don't drive. However, a partnership with the STL and a few shuttle busses made it far more accessible. The festival is hosted on the Laval Nature Center site which I didn't even know existed. Holy cow is it beautiful! I would spend my weekends there on a regular basis if I lived in the area. It's huge, rolling mountains, man made lake with boating and tons of activities throughout the site. The Fest itself was on the southern end of the Nature Center which allowed for one big open space with accessible parking areas. There were dozens of brew houses and local companies ranging from Popcorn to Pretzels and back to Jerky and pickled goodies. The event's entry cost was only $10 at the door (even cheaper presale) and I loved that 17 and under get in free of charge to play the inflatable games and other activities.Their set up made it possible to have this Beer Festival be a family event which is a challenge all on its own! The collection of exhibitors were very well balanced with smokehouses and blacksmiths on site. What would I change? Honestly, nothing. Particularly for the fact that this was only their 3rd year, I would say the organizers have managed wonders! Hats off to the team, can't wait to return next year.

My first time going to ilesoniq in MTL and I was generally happy with it! For a 2 day rave, it…read morecosted $185 for the ticket alone, which is standard. Let's go through everything step by step. 1. Getting there - there is minimal parking, if there is even any. Even the instructions on the website recommend you to take the STM/metro there instead of driving. It would've been absolutely insane to even try to drive near the park. Getting off at the Parc Jean Drapeau station leads directly into the festival, which is super convenient. 2. Getting in - OMG it was SO disorganized. There were no singular lines, like usual raves. Ratchet people kept pushing by and often I'd find a rando in the middle of my friends and I, only to glare him down until he returned to where he was before. It took an HOUR to get in, whereas EDC las vegas with 150-300k people took less than half an hour. So annoying. 3. Stages - 3 of them: OASIS FIDO, Bud Light, and the Neon stage. Oasis is the main, where all the bigger artists are at. With that said, it's super crowded there. The hill of parc jean drapeau also faces this stage so you can chill there and still listen to the music. Bud light is the house stage and they laid down proper tiling for people to shuffle on, which is good. Neon is one of my favourite stages because of how shady it is due to the trees. It was super sandy and dusty though and after dancing, I had a thousand pounds of wood chips and dust stuck on my body. It's definitely a cool stage, with hammocks and all (let's be honest, it's definitely the stage where people are tripping hard) 4. Food & drink - beer wasn't too bad in comparison to Ontario raves, they only had shitty beers like bud because they're the sponsor. They were handing out a lot of samples though, of cocacola and even beer, so people stayed hydrated. They also had people running through the actual festival with beer, fruit and lemonade so you didn't need to leave your spot to go get food/drinks. Finding a water refill station was ridic and they took down one of the only ones on the second day??? We had to resort to filling our bottles in the park's water fountain. Food was plentiful & there were many food trucks as well as actual booths. My happiness blew to a new level as I saw that there was a booth named 'Vegetarian' !!!!!! I ran over and to my surprise, it was run by the people of aux vivres, the amazing vegan restaurant on Saint Laurent. 5. Rest areas - they have a 'havres', which they set up for people that have anxiety, are having a bad trip or just need a rest in general .. very very smart idea and I'm surprised not more festivals adopt this idea. It was so cool in there, with pretty lights and hammocks to lay on. Ilesoniq actually took time and effort into making their festival LOOK like a real music festival and I'm sure we all appreciated that. 100% would go back, but oh god, it is SO dirty because EVERYTHING is muddy and sandy.

Amazing Show, I went only one Day, I spent like 2000$ totally worth it. A little advice for you buy…read morethe VIP Tickets if you want to have some fresh air because, this place, after 5pm, It gets pretty crowded.