So good to be back!!!…read more After missing out on this festival last year due to the pandemic and other events we finally made it back this year to the Unionville Festival. This year it was held on June 4th and was a special event for us as it was my daughter's birthday as well. When I asked her what she wanted for her birthday this year, she said she wanted to go to the Unionville Festival, so off we went. The Unionville Festival is an annual event hosted by the Unionville BIA. For more info, you can look them up at https://unionvilleinfo.com. Almost all of the businesses on Main Street Unionville offer something for families to do. The stores and restaurants are open, and some companies have booths or offer street food. It's also attended by several other vendors from the Markham area. There is much for kids to do as some of the locations have children's activities. The Varley Gallery had art-related activities for the kids. For grown-ups, there is a beer tent, and of course, the restaurant, bars and patios are open if you're looking for an 'adult' drink. Many of the shops are open for shopping and there are street vendors too. This is only a one-day festival but there is enough for two days. We had a great time as we ran into many people we knew, had some street food, and the kids had fun at the Fred Varley Gallery, we had dinner at the Old Country Inn, which doubled as one of the beer tents. It was a good day for us, as we shopped, we ate, we ran into friends and had a great time. Check out this once-a-year event for yourself.

This was my first year attending the Unionville Festival and it definitely will not be my last! The…read moreevent is organized thoroughly with a variety of vendors. To my knowledge, the number of vendors are increasing dramatically every year. Happening at Main Street Unionville, this festival is good for everyone and anyone. From bars, to family friendly restaurants AND cute little patios, there is something to do for everyone. Main Street Unionville is closed off for this festival all weekend so you can literally walk around this beautiful section of Markham while getting to know/enjoy different local businesses. The Opening Parade was also awesome! There was a lot of different cultural representations alongside great music. After the Parade there were a few entertaining performances that occurred at Carlton and Main Street. The festival was a lot fun and I really enjoyed the street musicians jamming out. Will definitely come back next year :)

I've always been a sucker for food festivals but over the years, I've become less and less…read moreintrigued by them because they're usually poor quality, expensive, and a huge waste of time. This was my first year going to the KHF because I happened to be in the area and I am SO glad I decided to check it out! I came at around 1pm on the first day (Saturday) so I braced myself for the lunch rush, but the lineups weren't THAT bad. Compared to other festivals like Night It Up, the longest lines here were only about 15 minutes long. I tried the takoyaki ($5) and aburi salmon roll ($5) from Kibo Sushi House and they were both very tasty. In fact, I think their takoyaki was one of the best I've ever had (even compared to sit-down restaurants)!! They managed to keep the outer shell crispy while dousing the top with delicious sauces, and each ball had a generous piece of octopus. I also got the large grilled oysters ($8 for 1/$20 for 4) and they were cooked very well, not to mention also slathered in a delicious chili garlic sauce. My boyfriend was so impressed by them that he contemplated buying another set of 4! Alas, the lineup got longer by then so we opted out. **EDIT**: I came back again today (Sunday) and they raised their prices to $8 for 1/$15 for 2/$20 for 3... I have to say, that's pretty shitty. I didn't stick around for the activities but I saw on their Facebook page that they had a huge lineup of performances, celebrity meet n greets, and other great things. Although the food is what enticed me the most and there weren't a lot of other types of vendors, I found this festival to be overall very enjoyable and would recommend others to check it out.

Korean Harvest Festival is just another reason for me to eat and celebrate. This is the 11th annual…read moreFestival held by Korean Canadian Business Association of North Toronto at Mel Lastman Square. Harvest Festival (Hangawi) is celebrated on August 15th of the lunar calender which is similar to Chinese Moon Festival, which they consider to be their "Thanksgiving"! And to celebrate and give thanks, families are gathered together to eat, drink and dance! That's all I need to know! Korean performers, fashion shows, traditional dances, hip hop/singing competitions are held on the centre stage. There are also arm wrestling and wings eating competition. Food vendors offerings Korean comfort food all curiously either in orange or brownish colour: rice cake in hot sauce, sausages, bbq, fish cake and buns. Curiously St Louis has the largest food area selling chicken wings, ribs, corns and potatoes... Western comfort food! It was kind of fun watching families sharing their laughter and food, kids playing with each other, friends chilling.......... That's makes any Festival special!

This is a Labour Day weekend tradition for me. It runs from the Friday evening until the Monday…read moreevening and takes over the outdoor area of Mel Lastman Square facing Yonge. The draw for me is the Mexican food and the variety of the different dishes that are there which include: tacos, empanadas, tamales, churros, and much more. The only slight negatives for me are the variety of the different dishes like selling only one kind of tamale or just four kinds of tacos and the prices of the food. Perhaps having been spoiled by eating at places in the U.S. or even at other sit-down restaurants in the GTA, you end up paying a bit more. I guess if you expect to pay food truck prices, then you'll view the prices at par. In general, with drink, your meal could cost close $15. In addition to the food village, you also have a number of vendors selling clothing, jewelry, soccer items, and other products you would see at a flea market. And of course, there are large corporations like Scotiabank, Bell and State Farm trying to offer you cheap freebies for your personal information. There are also live shows that include music and dance. Definitely makes you feel part of the culture when you're enjoying their food while watching a live dance. Another bonus although not necessary this year in particular is that for the last few years, McDonald's is there with their free coffee truck. Could me useful if you had too much tequila. Everything considered, if you like pretty good Mexican food, enjoy immersing yourself in the culture and maybe finding some interesting items, then this is the place to be. So if you missed it this year, put it in your calendar for next year. You know when it is already.

This was a drive-thru event in 2020, but for this year, the event got converted to an immersive…read morewalk-thru experience. Now, I've been to many light show events with my family, both Halloween and Christmas ones, drive-thrus and walk-thrus, and this event, is one of my favourites this season. As my husband put it, the walk-thru experience allows you to completely submerge surround yourself with holiday lights that are animated and synchronized to cheerf Holiday music. The location is right off the 400 by the Dave and Buskers and IKEA at the newly built gardens at Assembly Park. The tickets have timed entry and it took our family, with kids age 4&6, about 25m to walk though. I don't want to give away the surprises, but make sure your phone has enough battery to take lots of pictures! We especially liked the light tunnels. One thing of note - my phone kept on turning off because it was too cold. It was -5 the night we went, so make sure you keep your phone close to your body when you're not taking pictures. At the end of the light show, it opens up to a tent with Santa (free) and you can line up and take pictures with him. There are also vendors, and midway rides for the kids. This portion is free to the public, but there really isn't much to see or buy. Take a look at my photos and maybe you can squeeze this fun activity into your holiday break. The event runs until January 2, 2022. Merry Christmas Y'all!

This is the best Street festival I've been to in the GTA…read more It's huge, there's a good variety of vendors & there's a wide variety of price points (eg you can still get $1 pop, $4 hotdogs, $5 paella, $2 pizza slices & $5 mango lassi, but you can also get a $15 coconut). And some vendors give out free stuff too. There's even a separate alcohol section (with $5 for 12oz craft beer) so you can get your buzz, even in the middle of the day.

I love the Aurora Street Festival and try to go every year. The Aurora Chamber of Commerce runs…read morethis yearly event and this is its 22nd year. They block off Yonge St from Wellington St South to Murray Dr to make a 1.5 km long pedestrian mall where you can buy all types of food from vendors and food trucks. Like the name says, it's a festival running right down the centre of Yonge St. They claim over 500 vendors participate and it sure seems like it, once you start walking it keeps going and going... This is a big event, some 30,00 people come out for the event, it's a really great family oriented crowd. Your kids can get their faces pained at least a dozen times. Along the way are people selling everything from toys and gadgets to new products and food. Oh there is a lot of food, some of it's even healthy. There are a lot of handout along the way, from businesses to public organizations like the Police, the region, the city, etc, etc, etc and I always come home with a shopping bag pull of useful stuff, most of it for free ;-) There are a lot of scheduled entertainers along the way, there's no way to get bored, and always a lot go good bargains. There us little shelter along the way so sunblock is a must, I have come home from this festival redder and fuller than I planned.

How has it taken this long for a festival of Pizza to come into existence in the GTA? I mean…read moreVaughan/Woodbridge/Maple, the Italian strongholds of Southern Ontario - and nothing? Until NOW! And man do the organizers of Vaughan Pizza festival do it right! Over 21 different pizza restaurants all selling their wares at extremely reasonable prices. I managed to get half a pizza for 6 tickets (1 ticket = $1). How many places are you going to get a full pizza hot outta the over for $12. They had pizza and Italian food representing all of the major Italian communities in Ontario, as well as some special guests from Jersey and beyond. Every pizza maker is either cooking their pizza in portable wood burning pizza ovens or these gas BBQ rotating pizza ovens. No reheated Pizza Pizza here. Speaking of Pizza Pizza... none of the overblown pizza chains were there, only local independents. AMAZING! Plus there was booze and 2 nights of live music. Night one of all throw backs to early 90's dance hits (Stevie B, Lil Suzy, to name a few) and night two had Dj Pauly D from the Jersey Shore - I know I know, stereotyping but whatever it was cool. On day three they had a pizza eating contest with some international heavy eaters on hand. This is a great location as well (right off the 400 and the 407, at the now virtually defunct Interchange Way Plaza - former home to AMC Vaughan), lots of parking, lots of space, amazing Can't wait for next year AND their brand new Burger Fest! Eatcrest Out

It turned out the day I chose to visit was bitterly cold. It was a shame that this dampened the…read moreotherwise good experience. There were various installations located throughout the Distillery District. Make sure you go down all the little alleyways to see everything. As I was about to leave I heard one of the staff informing a visitor that there was going to be a fire show.

This is the third year of this annual festival running Jan and Feb at the Toronto Historic…read moreDistillery District. The lights come on sundown to 9pm/10pm. It features many different artists from around the world. The exhibits are immersive with some that includes participation like this year's Cloud Swing (where people swing under light clouds). Each show piece is very different in theme and they are different over the years. I've been all three years. For some reason, the nights chosen have always been cold (at least my fingers freeze when taking pictures/videos! Luckily there are shops and restaurants you can enter to warm up.

If you have ever wanted to experience the Filipino culture all in one place on one day, you need to…read morehead to the corner of Bathurst and Wilson in North York. Parade, carnival rides, freebies, beauty queens, Filipino street food, beautiful handmade crafts, VIPs, and live bands that's what you'll find at the 3rd Annual Taste of Manila. It's THE largest Filipino Festival in Northern America, did I say it's FREE? Crowded, hot and noisy, it's typical of any festival but when you smell the aroma of cooking meats and you see the variety of Filipino street food (okoy, adidas, kwek kwek, siomai, banana cue....), you'll want to dive right in and sample everything. There's never a dull moment with live entertainment all day long with the appearances of VIPs like Rock Band Retrospect, Actors Xian Lim and Vina Morales, Mutya ng Maynila 2016 Hayley Bowdery, Toronto Mayor John Tory, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. There is definitely something for everyone here. Why not a higher rating? I'm Filipino, I know the culture, I'm used to the food and I'm not into rubbing elbows with VIPs. However I did enjoy eating the food, taking pics, riding the ferris wheel (this is a BIG accomplishment for me since I'm afraid of heights), and collecting freebies (pens, fans, bottle water and even a pretty Toronto pin).

This is a great festival! It really has a great vibe - everyone here is having fun, and everyone is…read moreeating and enjoying themselves, and the music is too loud in a good way. Treat yourself to a genuine street festival and check it out.

This was such a fun, spontaneous evening! It had a cool Oriental night market vibe with tons of…read morefood stalls, bouncy houses, and two live DJs. The food was tasty but definitely pricey, especially after the entrance fee (which wasn't cheap). Highlight was launching lanterns into the water such a sweet little moment with my kid. It felt like a cool blend of culture-meets-festival energy. Would totally go again, just maybe pre-game with snacks first .

The website: I wasn't impressed with this waterfront night…read moremarket. I had such high hopes though. Their marketing & pictures of past events looked so good. Hubby & I bought tickets for this year's event. Firstly, their website doesn't have any FAQs. Other than a link to buy tickets & what the cost of the ticket gets you there's not much more information. First Impressions: We arrived just after 4pm & lined up. We got through pretty quickly because there wasn't much of a lineup. The device they were using to scan tickets wouldn't scan ours so they took a picture instead. We had VIP tickets so we got the "nicer" red lantern with tealight candle (the kind with a battery & a switch to turn on). They did a bag check & saw one of us had a bottle of water with us (unopened). They made us throw it into the garbage before going in. That wasn't nice. I later saw people with their reusable water bottles walking around with it. Why were those allowed and not ours? Not nice. As we went inside some booths weren't even set up. Though a good amount were already making their food items for waiting customers. One booth near the entrance was grilling skewers & the smoke went everywhere. The food: After wandering around I decided to get the ube burger & fries from the Bunso booth. The burger was a lot smaller than I thought it would be. The beef patties inside were quite thin. It didn't look appetizing compared to the picture. But it tasted a lot better than it looked. LOL. One thing I will criticize about the burger I wish they hadn't put so much black pepper into the patty. It was a bit spicy for me. It would have been nice if they had seasoned it more gently. The fries were decent. My only complaint is that they weren't hot. But given the circumstances where they were cooked (outdoors on a windy day) I can understand that. The Chatime food truck was nearby so I bought a purple aura bubble tea drink from them. It was too sweet for me. I only drank about half of it before abandoning it. Later on I got the egg shaped waffles in a small carton & the combo comes with lemonade in a flask. This was from Eggette Lab. The flask is a round ring & the strap is pink. Hubby drank the weak lemonade in it. It was funny to see him wearing the flask with pink ribbon & cartoon cats on it. Hubby got chicken skewers from Bunso (no picture) & a Vietnamese coffee style drink (didn't catch name of food vendor). The good: -The red lanterns hanging above the dance floor were nice. -The water feature where the lanterns go was nice. But the water didn't look too clean. -There was a plastic gold dragon by the water which looks nice in pictures & there's a small red bridge beside the water feature for selfie shots. -There was also some plastic Fu dogs where the dragon dancers have a tent. -The fake cherry blossoms looked nice too. -People were friendly & food vendors were friendly. -There were picnic tables set up near the back of the area away from the dance floor. It was quieter there. -The live dj was good. The bad: -A lot of the same food vendors here have also been at Mel Lastman Square events which is free to get into - I didn't feel like I was getting anything special or VIP. I was hoping to see more food vendors I hadn't seen before. -The only washrooms were portapotties which were disgusting & dirty. You can use the washrooms at enercare center but you have to leave the market & might not be allowed back in. -The VIP ticket came with a free alcoholic drink. That booth wasn't even set up yet when we arrived. Hubby was able to get a soju bomb later. -There are no recycle bins or green bins. Everything goes into the garbage. That's a lot of waste. When we got home we opened up the lanterns to look at them. They are cheap plastic lanterns. We recycled them at home. The electronic tea lights are ones you can get at the dollar store. It was nice to experience a different night market but I don't think I'll come back to this one. There are tons of free-entry night markets around the city that I can go to.

My rating is 4.5 stars. Despite some tough ribs that I got, I'll round up for organization and…read morefriendliness. For years, I'd drive by Thomson Memorial Park when Scarborough Ribfest was on and I'd continue driving. It looked amazing, but the parking looked insane that it was too much for me to handle. I was doing some research on my phone that had nothing to do with food. I saw an ad for Scarborough Ribfest being in drive-thru format at Centennial College's Ashtonbee Campus and it piqued my interest. I decided to head over here to grab some dinner on a rare Sunday outing. I knew where the campus was. I had no idea where the main entrance was, though. Luckily, signs saved me and guided me over to the venue without a hitch. There were lot of staff from The Rotary Club of Scarborough helping out. One asked whether I was here for the ribfest and pointed me over to another section where donations were being taken. Oddly, I was prepared with change and placed it in the bucket. Another woman handed me a menu. I took a slow drive over to the ribbers, mesmerized by the various food trucks out on my drive over there. The menu had four rib vendors. I went with the one that offered mac and cheese, which was Sticky Fingers. I had food from this place at the Mississauga Ribfest a few years ago. I loved their food there and needed to revisit it. The woman at Sticky Fingers was great. I wanted the full rack dinner and asked if I could get a side order of mac and cheese. She checked with her advisor, came back, and said yes. I said yes, too, as if I were getting married to said mac and cheese. I didn't want to get a tub of it, but you could for $10. I paid using my debit card. I tipped and tapped. Done! The folks at Sticky Fingers were so nice. I got my food, thanked the woman, and headed out. I passed by the food trucks, which ranged from funnel cakes, to my favourite, Tiny Tom's Donuts. I knew that my dinner would be way too much food for one meal, so I decided to bypass the trucks and head home. I chowed down when I got home. I was disappointed with how dry the ribs were. Perhaps it was the luck of the rib rack draw. The ribs weren't meaty, except for a handful of them in the centre. As a result, they were tough and I felt like I was gnawing on leather. My poor tired jaw! Bummer. They weren't like that at Mississauga Ribfest. The sauce was delicious, though. The baked beans and coleslaw, however, were excellent. The baked beans were flavourful, savoury, and yummy. The coleslaw was crunchy and had lots of flavour. I could so order more sides. The mac and cheese was so creamy. It was excellent, too. I know that I'd be okay getting a tub of it next time. What stands out is how organized and friendly folks from the Rotary were. It was my first drive-thru ribfest and this one provided the best introduction to this format. (312)

Horrible ribfest. Too much weed being smoked. Lines moved slowly. One of the servers said loud…read moreenough to hear since when do pakis eat ribs. Garbage cans were not emptied often enough. Creepy crowd but it's in a bad neighborhood. I made a comment on the ribfest Facebook page and I received a very rude private message from none other than scarborough ribfest. The organizer won't even use his personal account. Maybe they should visit the Oakville ribfest and learn a thing or two.