The 2013 Waterfront Blues Festival in Toronto returns as an annual summer event. It is also the first taste of music in or near Woodbine Park in the Beach neighbourhood for this summer.

Where is the Toronto Waterfront Blues Festival?

"Map of Woodbine Park, Toronto" by Mike DeHaan

Toronto hosts the Waterfront Blues Festival in Woodbine Park, which is bounded by Lake Shore Blvd. East, Coxwell Ave., Eastern Ave. and Northern Dancer Blvd.

How to Find the Waterfront Blues Fest in Toronto

Take the 501 Queen streetcar east to Coxwell, or the 22 Coxwell bus south from its station on the Bloor-Danforth subway line. Bicycle or blade along the Martin Goodman Trail to Coxwell. Although you could drive, there won’t be many empty parking spaces at Ashbridges Bay Park or the lot shown in the map of Woodbine Park shown above.

When is the 2013 Toronto Waterfront Blues Fest?

The 2013 Waterfront Blues Fest will run from May 31 through June 2, 2013.

The times are:

• Friday May 31, 2013 from 7pm to 11pm.
• Saturday June 1 from 1pm to 11pm.
• Sunday June 2 from 2pm to 8pm.

Admission Prices for the 2013 Waterfront Blues Fest in Toronto

Admission is free, thanks to the sponsors.

However, you can donate $2 to enter a raffle in the “Don’t Lose the Blues” contest. The top prize is a $600 “Waterfront Blues Guitar”. Be sure to read the Don’t Lose the Blues Contest details; you also join their mailing list, for example.

The 2013 Waterfront Blues Fest Lineup

Each set is scheduled for two hours. Friday night has Jon Knight and Soulstack, followed by a tribute to Big Joe Turner. Saturday begins with the 24th Street Wailers; then Scott McCord & the Bonafide Truth; the Alexis P Suter Band; Fathead; and Eugene Hideaway Bridges. Sunday features Morgan Davis; Paul Reddick; and Deanna Bogart closes the 2013 Blues Fest.

The 2013 Waterfront Blues Fest as Prelude

The official Waterfront Blues Fest in Toronto site also promotes Afrofest (July 6-7, 2013) and the Beaches International Jazz Festival (July 19-28, 2013). Both events are at Woodbine Park; the Jazz Festival also uses other venues in the Toronto Beach neighbourhood.

I’d written “Toronto Afrofest 2012 at Woodbine Park” and “The Two-Weekend 2012 Beaches Jazz Festival Toronto” last year. I must research these events again soon to pass along the updates.

Other Canadian Blues Festivals in 2013

You could pack July full of Canadian blues fests this summer. These are listed alphabetically by city, rather than chronologically by date.

The 2013 Calgary Blues Fest

Calgary, Alberta hosts their 9th annual Calgary Blues Fest from July 29-Aug. 4, 2013 at Shaw Millenium Park in Calgary (between 6th Ave. SW and 9th Ave. SW, east of 14th St. SW). Take public transit to the SW terminal of the C-Train. Kudos for being “wheelchair friendly”.

The 2013 RBC BluesFest in Ottawa

Ottawa, Ontario holds the RBC Royal Bank BluesFest July 4-14, 2013. (Booth St. and Wellington St.; the box office is on Booth St. halfway between Vimy Place and Wellington St. It uses the Canadian War Museum grounds, about one kilometre west of the Parliament Buildings along Wellington. The LeBreton transit station is the closest for public transportation. I would not drive, since both Wellington and Booth will be closed nightly). Kudos for working toward wheelchair access.

The 2013 Festival International du Blues de Tremblant

Visit Mt. Tremblant, Quebec for their Festival International du Blues de Tremblant from July 5-14, 2013. They use several stages near Lac Miroir, along the Rue des Remparts.

The 2013 BluesFest Windsor

Windsor, Ontario holds BluesFest International Windsor on July 12-14, 2013, at Riverfront Festival Plaza, on Riverside Drive East, east of the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel.

Looking for More Annual Toronto Events?

Do you crave more events in Toronto?

Things to do in Toronto

Use my Squidoo lens, “The DeHaan Lens of Annual Toronto Events” to plan your other weekends. It tracks all the annual Toronto events that I find interesting, and provides ideas for fascinating, free or frugal things to do in Toronto. We’d especially like to cover all Toronto summer attractions, and indeed all special events in Toronto; especially for Canadian holidays.

City Pass offers discount tickets to Toronto attractions, including the Metro Toronto Zoo. You buy the voucher online, print it and take it to your first destination; let’s say it’s the zoo. They give you the coupon booklet but remove the zoo tickets. Visit the next four attractions, where helpful staff relieve your booklet of tickets but leave you with the rest of the information. You save over $40 by spending about $70. The voucher is good for almost two years, but you have to use all the discount admission tickets within nine days. This is terrific for tourists looking for multiple things to do in Toronto, or for a hometown stay-cation: use discount tickets to Casa Loma, the CN Tower, Metro Toronto Zoo, Ontario Science Centre and the Royal Ontario Museum in a nine day adventure. That’s five things to do in Toronto, and at a bargain price!

Disclaimer: DeHaan Services has no relationship to the organizer(s); I am not reimbursed for writing this article. However, DeHaan Services does write web site or advertising copy for clients. Our skills are demonstrated in online articles in Decoded Science, Decoded Pregnancy, Environmental Graffiti, Squidoo and Suite 101. That’s why DeHaan Services highlights these online articles on this site.

Thanks for reading about the 2013 Waterfront Blues Festival in Toronto.

OLG, the Ontario Lottery Corporation, announced a new hosting fee formula for casinos and slots in the province. Have they finally “come clean” with this formula? Are they getting cleaner with the May 17, 2013 press release? Or does OLG simply plan to “clean up”?

My Previous Business Case Study against Gambling on an OLG Casino

"The Shell Game on Broadway, NYC" : image by jimw (jim Winstead)

Back in January 2013, Decoded Science published my very basic “A Sample Business Case Study of Math for a Casino Proposal“. That explained how the OLG hosting fee formula would have paid Toronto about 20 million dollars ($20M) for their estimated gambling revenues of about $1.4 billion. At the marginal rate of 0.5% for additional revenues, punters would have had to gamble another $6 billion for the OLG casino to pay another $30 million to Toronto; that would meet the low end of the OLG’s offer of $50-100 million per year in hosting fees.

Obviously bringing the fee to the full $100M would mean $50M/0.05=$10 billion in gambling revenue. That would fund 5 years of MetroLinx work in one year of slot machine and table gaming.

There was no explanation for the extra hosting fee in the Ernst and Young report. One Toronto City Hall staff member told me privately, at a public information meeting, that a “partnership” was being discussed, rather than the simple hosting fee. Sharing the OLG’s target of 20% of gambling revenues would have made for a very different business case study, since 10% of $1.4 billion would account for Toronto City Hall’s hope of about $140 million a year in hosting fees.

It was impossible to square the hosting fee for Toronto with what other municipalities would receive, even given the small gambling revenues their slots or casinos manage to take from their clientele.

OLG Estimates the New Hosting Fee for Toronto

OLG’s estimate for Toronto’s hosting fee under the new formula is approximately $50 million per year. That adds some $30 million to the previous formula’s fee.

The New OLG Hosting Fee Formula

What is the new OLG hosting fee formula? It is exactly the same as the old, with regards to the slot machine revenue. It starts at 5% but the sliding scale descends to 0.5% as the revenue goes up.

The new feature is that gaming table revenue will earn a consistent 4% regardless of the dollar figure.

Was OLG Playing the Shell Game with Casino Hosting Fees?

In the shell game, the player bets that he or she can follow the pea hidden under one of three shells. In an honest shell game, the operator uses quick moves and verbal distraction to mislead the player.

In a dishonest game, the original pea may be dropped behind the table or hidden in some other way.

Was OLG playing the shell game with the host cities? Their original hosting fee statement did indeed discuss revenue from slots but not from gaming tables (such as poker, blackjack, craps or roulette). When I originally wrote “OLG Proposal and Links to Toronto Casino Consultation“, I remember thinking that OLG likely hadn’t mentioned gaming tables because they were not included at the racetracks where slots were installed.

Now I wonder whether the plan all along had been to pay Toronto, and other cities with casinos, only from slot machine revenues and not from gaming tables.

Suppose the estimated $1.4 billion in gaming revenues in the Toronto casino had included the gaming tables. If we change the final $900 million in revenue from earning a 0.5% hosting fee to 4%, that’s a net gain of 3.5%. Well, 3.5% of $900 million is $31,500,000. That just about makes up the difference from the original $20M to the new $50M.

But for all we know, OLG never planned to include gaming table revenue in the base for the hosting fee. At 4%, that would mean that OLG expected revenue of $30M/0.04= $750,000,000 from table gaming. That’s $750 million over the estimated $1.4 billion spent in a Toronto casino, that had never been included in the Ernst and Young study.

In the latter case, Toronto’s overall hosting fee would have been $20M/2.15B = 0.9%, or less than 1% of revenue; rather than $20M/1.4B = 1.4%. Let’s remember that the OLG had estimated that racetracks earned about 4% of slots revenues before last year’s modernization formula.

Conclusions about OLG Casino Fees

Unfortunately, my first conclusion is that there are more questions than answers. It’s impossible to write a favourable business case study about the Ontario Lottery Corporation’s proposed Toronto casino while these remain unresolved.

Did Ernst and Young ever ask OLG what they included as “revenue” in the hosting fee formula?

Did the OLG plan to avoid paying anything to any host city for gaming table revenue at a casino? Has that been the case in the past? Perhaps Windsor and Niagara Falls city councils should inquire.

Did the OLG truly believe it was applying the same formula to each host city for casino and gambling revenues, even after offering Toronto far more than the published formula could afford? If so, was that a failure of mathematics, or a failure to disclose the full nature of the formula?

My second conclusion remains what it was months ago. Then, it was based on the inconsistencies of host fee calculations and the shabby treatment of Ontario racetracks, who had been partners with OLG for many profitable years. Now it’s based on clearer evidence of a lack of complete disclosure. This second conclusion is that no city should trust OLG as a partner for a casino.

Perhaps OLG might not be playing the shell game with casinos in Ontario cities; but they make it hard to follow the hosting formula “pea” as OLG promises to “shell” out fees.

Other References

• “New OLG Hosting Fee Formula“, on the OLG site, on May 17, 2013.
• “OLG announced a new funding formula Friday for host municipalities“, by 680 News staff on May 17, 2013.

Professional Writing by DeHaan Services

DeHaan Services writes web site or advertising copy for clients. Our skills are demonstrated in online articles in Decoded Science, Decoded Pregnancy, Environmental Graffiti, Squidoo and Suite 101. That’s why we highlight these online articles on this blog page.

To only see our Toronto events (for things to do in Toronto) or fitness articles, please click on the appropriate category in the “Categories” section at the bottom of the right-hand margin.

Thank you for reading about how OLG revised their casino hosting fees in May 2013.

Disclaimer: The information contained in this article is for educational purposes only and should not be used for partisan politics.

My recent Decoded Science article, “How to Find Pythagorean Dates for Any Year” explains how the Pythagorean Theorem for right angle triangles also defines special days for mathematicians.

Discover the Joy of Pythagorean Dates

"Pythagorean Dates in 2013" : image by Mike DeHaan

My article explains:

• What is the Pythagorean Theorem for a right triangle?
• What is a Pythagorean Date?
• How to solve the Pythagorean Theorem for any date in a year, using a worksheet.
• How you might approach writing a computer program to list all the Pythagorean Dates in a century.

Who Cares about the Pythagorean Theorem?

Legend reports that ancient Egyptians used a 3-4-5 right triangle, made of knotted rope, to survey their land after the annual Nile floods. At least, quite a few web sites state that this is claimed; some argue for and others against its truth. Certainly that civilization needed the ability to determine who had to plant seeds on the farmland after each flood; lives and livelihoods depended on the surveyors’ tools.

The ancient Greeks thought the world of numbers. Remember that “geometry” is Greek for “earth measurement”.

Modern math students need to know the Pythagorean theorem; it’s important to Euclidean geometry.

Level 1 SAT Math testing has algebra; functions; geometry; numeric operations; and probability and statistics. Level 2 moves beyond Euclidean plane geometry to 3D and coordinate geometry. Do the SAT math tests explicitly deal with the Pythagorean Theorem? Do you want to risk being poorly prepared because you didn’t study it, or try a SAT math practice test?

Dr. Steve Warner has an excellent reputation for SAT test study guides for math. His paperback “320 SAT Math Problems arranged by Topic and Difficulty Level” has earned 4.9 of 5 stars across 38 reviews. Geometry is just one of the subject areas he covers.
Likewise, his “The 32 Most Effective SAT Math Strategies” deserves its 4.8/5 rating from 40 reviews. In its second edition, this paperback distills his ten years of experience teaching SAT test preparation courses in addition to his university teaching load. Many of his students have raised their math SAT scores by about 100 points. Some of the book reviews agree that they or their children have reaped similar rewards.

One Canadian Educational View of the Importance of the Pythagorean Theorem

The education ministry of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador devotes 12 hours of its Grade 10 math program to the “Pythagorean Relation” (PDF). That’s a significant amount of classroom time, and over a dozen pages for the course outline.

Professional Writing by DeHaan Services

DeHaan Services writes web site or advertising copy for clients. Our skills are demonstrated in online articles in Decoded Science, Decoded Pregnancy, Environmental Graffiti, Squidoo and Suite 101. That’s why we highlight these online articles on this blog page.

To only see our Toronto events (for things to do in Toronto) or fitness articles, please click on the appropriate category in the “Categories” section at the bottom of the right-hand margin.

Thank you for reading about how to find Pythagorean Dates in any year.

The Victoria Day holiday weekend starts the Canadian summer season. My favourite annual Toronto event for Victoria Day is watching the free fireworks display at Ashbridges Bay.

Learn how to join those who arrive safely and on time.

Celebrate Queen Victoria’s Birthday with a Fireworks Display in Toronto

"Statue of Queen Victoria" image by soosalu (Sirje S)

Canadians celebrate Victoria Day as a long weekend leading to the official May 24 date. We combine nostalgic fondness for the deceased queen of the British Empire with our fondness for buying beer in cases of two dozen cans, by calling it the “May 2-4 Long Weekend”.

Toronto has a proud tradition of lighting fireworks to commemorate the Queen’s birthday.

Where are the Toronto Fireworks for Victoria Day?

In 2013, the fireworks display will light up Ashbridges Bay, at the foot of Coxwell Avenue where it meets Lake Shore Blvd East. Most people cross Lake Shore Blvd; be sure to press the button to get your “walk” signal.

I get a pretty good view from Woodbine Park on the north-east corner of Coxwell and Lake Shore. Thanks to the Beaches Living Guide for noting that park officials reserve an area for “people with disabilities and their families”.

When will Toronto Light the Victoria Day Fireworks?

(Updated May 17): Toronto Parks technicians will light the first fuse between 9:45pm and 10pm on Monday night, May 20, 2013. Let me repeat: arrive early to avoid being disappointed.

How to Get to Ashbridges Bay

Take the TTC early. My best suggestion is to take the 501 Queen Streetcar to Coxwell, then walk south.

Coxwell tends to be really busy with cars, so the 22 Coxwell bus south from the subway station on the Danforth line is pretty slow going. In fact, walking along Coxwell becomes a group experience since so many people walk to the park.

The TTC will add extra service to the 22A Coxwell South, 92 Woodbine South and 64 Main bus routes.

Bicycle along the Martin Goodman Trail to Ashbridges Bay, but be prepared with your headlamp and reflective gear for the ride home. The trails are usually really busy on the holiday weekends. As well, the south trail is still restricted off Lake Shore Blvd just east of Leslie…when I was there last, a week or two ago. So bike carefully!

I’d be really cautious about cycling north after the fireworks, what with pedestrians, bus and car traffic.

If memory serves, Lake Shore Blvd East might be closed to cars for some time; the parking lot at Ashbridges Bay is pretty sure to be full.

Best Suggestions

Make this Victoria Day holiday a day of enjoying the beach and park. In other words, plan to arrive by mid afternoon, and even then don’t expect to have the beach or parking lot to yourself.

Whatever you do, plan to arrive early. No, at least an hour before whatever you’re thinking. I’ve seen too many people driving south while I’m walking north after the show is over.

Other Frugal Victoria Day Events in Toronto

Toronto Parks and Recreation lists nine alternatives for enjoying Victoria Day 2013, or any other summer day for that matter.

On the other hand, they warn that “all City of Toronto recreation centres will be closed on Monday May 20 (2013)  and there will be no City recreation programs operating on that day”.

Could You Spend More in Toronto for Victoria Day Events?

I had to work a bit to confirm that Canada’s Wonderland offers their usual fireworks on Sunday May 19, 2013 at 10pm. They too have made this an annual Toronto event; and “good on them”.

I’m sure they would like you to pay admission to spend the day enjoying the attractions. I’ve never tried to watch from outside the grounds and wouldn’t know where to park.

Other Toronto Events for the Victoria Day Weekend

I will be hard pressed to get some other important Toronto events into their own posts, but must be sure to mention two.

Inspirational Steps on Sunday May 19, 2013

The Sikh community’s “Inspirational Steps” charity run takes place on Sunday May 19, 2013. They start at 9am at 7080 Dixie Road in Mississauga. While shorter distances are available, some will run a full marathon of 42.2Km to 905 Middlefield Road in Scarborough. They will run on the sidewalks and follow standard pedestrian safety rules.

I noticed because my favourite centenarian marathon runner, Fauja Singh, will set the pace at the start. It’s worth scrolling to the bottom of the official Inspirational Steps web page for his action photo.

The Toronto International Circus Festival 2013

Harbourfront Centre hosts the Toronto International Circus Festival 2013 from May 18-20, 2013, neatly covering the Victoria Day weekend this year.

I’m completely out of time to research beyond the word “free”. Harbourfront is at 235 Queen’s Quay West. See the official Toronto Circus Festival page for details.

What about a Victoria Day 2013 Mississauga Fireworks Display?

(Added May 16, 2013): If Mississauga were to host a fireworks display on Victoria Day 2013, I’d expect to find it in Celebration Square. Although “Celebration Square gears up for summer“, their summer season begins on May 23 with a movie night. The article mentions Canada Day activities for July 1st, 2013 but nothing jumps out about “fireworks in Mississauaga”.

The PC Superdogs will perform there on Sat. May 18 from noon to 2pm, but I don’t expect to see even one firecracker.

Other GTA Fireworks Displays in 2013 for Victoria Day

(Added May 17, 2013): 680 News reports fireworks displays in 2013 for the Victoria Day weekend, down the page of “Victoria Day 2013: what’s open and closed, fireworks, events“, for the following GTA locations:

• On Blue Mountain in Collingwood on Saturday May 18, 2013 at 9:30pm.
• In Dundas, Ont., at the Dundas Driving Park on Sunday May 19 at 9:30pm.
• 680 News confirms the Canada’s Wonderland fireworks display for Sunday at 10pm.

They usually add the phrase “weather permitting”, so keep that in mind. Some venues might offer a rain date.

Looking for More Annual Toronto Events?

Do you crave more events in Toronto? There are usually many venues for fireworks for Canada Day, as my “Canada Day 2012 Celebration Choices in Toronto” attested.

Things to do in Toronto

Use my Squidoo lens, “The DeHaan Lens of Annual Toronto Events” to plan your other weekends. It tracks all the annual Toronto events that I find interesting, and provides ideas for fascinating, free or frugal things to do in Toronto. We’d especially like to cover all Toronto summer attractions, and indeed all special events in Toronto; especially for Canadian holidays.

City Pass offers discount tickets to Toronto attractions, including the Metro Toronto Zoo. You buy the voucher online, print it and take it to your first destination; let’s say it’s the zoo. They give you the coupon booklet but remove the zoo tickets. Visit the next four attractions, where helpful staff relieve your booklet of tickets but leave you with the rest of the information. You save over $40 by spending about $70. The voucher is good for almost two years, but you have to use all the discount admission tickets within nine days. This is terrific for tourists looking for multiple things to do in Toronto, or for a hometown stay-cation: use discount tickets to Casa Loma, the CN Tower, Metro Toronto Zoo, Ontario Science Centre and the Royal Ontario Museum in a nine day adventure. That’s five things to do in Toronto, and at a bargain price!

Disclaimer: DeHaan Services has no relationship to the organizer(s); I am not reimbursed for writing this article. However, DeHaan Services does write web site or advertising copy for clients. Our skills are demonstrated in online articles in Decoded Science, Decoded Pregnancy, Environmental Graffiti, Squidoo and Suite 101. That’s why DeHaan Services highlights these online articles on this site.

Thanks for reading about where to watch fireworks in Toronto for Victoria Day 2013.

The annual Doors Open Toronto event consistently finds new and interesting places to look behind the scenes in buildings and locations, both famous and obscure.

The 2013 Doors Open Toronto continues this process. I’m going to highlight new locations, and focus specifically on several locations where people usually gather to worship.

The Guildwood Park and Guild Inn site is a gratuity, simply because I have a map handy from “Arts, Crafts and Entertainment at Guildwood Toronto in 2012“. It seemed important to provide some geographic context for that annual Toronto summer event. For Doors Open Toronto, the outdoor-only Guild Park tour starts at 10am, noon and 2pm on Sunday May 26.

Basic Information about Doors Open Toronto in 2013

"Map of Guildwood Park, Toronto" image by Mike DeHaan from Google Maps

What is Doors Open Toronto?

Doors Open Toronto literally opens the doors of many Toronto buildings to the general public, providing a glimpse of their inner workings for one weekend.

Note that the Guildwood Park tour is an exception, since the whole tour stays outside.

When is 2013 Doors Open Toronto?

Toronto Doors Open 2013 runs on Saturday and Sunday, May 25-26, 2013. Check the official site, linked below, for the exact date and times for the locations you want to visit. Some are only open one day or the other.

Also check whether the location has guided tours at specific times, or is open for you to wander through at your own pace.

Two Guidelines for Doors Open Toronto

Always click the links for official information so you can follow two guidelines for Doors Open Toronto:

1. Be on time for tours, and on the correct date(s).
2. Does this venue permit photography, or not?

Does Doors Open Toronto Focus on Churches?

No, Toronto Doors Open has a huge variety of buildings, from civic infrastructure through arts and culture and religion, to schools or monuments.

This article simply follows one of many possible unifying themes. Last year I covered “Three Themes for Doors Open Toronto 2012” which did include churches.

Several New Locations for Doors Open Toronto in 2013: Places of Worship

It’s certainly not the first year for Doors Open Toronto to include places of worship; but let’s note some of the new venues. This section is organized alphabetically by religion and venue; my apologies for any that I missed.

A Buddhist Temple for Doors Open Toronto

The Jing Yin Temple at 722 Brimley Road hosts visitors on both Saturday and Sunday. They are about mid-way between Eglinton Ave. East and Lawrence Ave. East. My first glance at the photograph made me say “Pagoda?”, but the title is “Temple”. You can experience chanting sessions at specific times.

Christian Churches Newly Hosting 2013 Doors Open Toronto

The Evangel Hall Mission, at 552 Adelaide St. West, will only be open Sunday for four tours. The external architecture is fascinating and “unabashedly contemporary”. Check the official site (below) just to see the picture; it looks as though one half is stuck to the other and may fall at any moment.

Visit the First Church of Christ, Scientist at 196 George St. on Saturday only. Again, there are four guided tours.

The Interfaith Communities of South Etobicoke offers nine different places to worship, including the Canadian Sufi Cultural Centre which had previously been a Pentecostal church.

St. Mark’s Presbyterian Church is also only open to Doors Open Toronto visitors on Saturday. 1 Greenland Drive is just off The Donway, south of Don Mills Collegiate Institute. (Don Mills Road and Lawrence Avenue East is the nearest main intersection; this church is on the south-east portion of the Donway loop).

Islam, the Sufism Branch

I’ve noted Interfaith Communities of South Etobicoke : the Canadian Sufi Cultural Centre above.

Judaism in Doors Open Toronto

The Beach Hebrew Institute at 109 Kenilworth Avenue (off Queen Street East in the Beach neighbourhood), is a Jewish synagogue of long standing. The building began as a Baptist church for evangelical Christians. While there are no specific tours, they offer a concert from 11-12:30 on Sunday. It will not be open to the public on Saturday.

The First Narayever Congregation is also only open on Sunday, at 187 Brunswick Avenue. It’s north of Harbord Street, and halfway between Bathurst Street and Spadina Avenue. Tours are available but “not scheduled”. The building began as a “Foresters Hall”, no doubt built by the Independent Order of Foresters; it also served as a Mennonite church until 1943. (This is not a new listing, but it’s the first time I’ve noticed it).

Sufism

I’ve noted Interfaith Communities of South Etobicoke : the Canadian Sufi Cultural Centre above.

The Official Toronto City Hall Web Page for Doors Open 2013

(Updated May 22, 2013): The official 2013 Doors Open Toronto web page has far more than one hundred venues, alphabetically from “401 Richmond Street West” downtown and “Applewood, The Shaver Homestead” at 450 The West Mall through “Zeidler Partnership Architects Office” on Queen St. West and “Zion Church Cultural Centre” on Finch Ave. East.

Surprisingly, the Metro Toronto Zoo does not seem to participate in Toronto Doors Open this year. For a behind the scenes visit to the Metro Zoo in Toronto, check the Zoo Education and Camps page. Schools and day camps might be able to arrange special tours or educational visits to the zoo for their classes or groups.

Bonus Information: the Centre Island Ferry Schedule for Doors Open Toronto

The Artscape Gilbratar Point venue is new for 2013 Doors Open Toronto. It’s on Centre Island, and is only open on Sunday. The bonus information is the official summer Centre Island Toronto ferry schedule web page. Note that the Toronto Island ferries switch to their summer schedule just one day before Doors Open 2013 begins. That’s my excuse for tagging this article with “Toronto Summer Events”.

Looking for More Annual Toronto Events?

Do you crave more events in Toronto?

Things to do in Toronto

Use my Squidoo lens, “The DeHaan Lens of Annual Toronto Events” to plan your other weekends. It tracks all the annual Toronto events that I find interesting, and provides ideas for fascinating, free or frugal things to do in Toronto. We’d especially like to cover all Toronto summer attractions, and indeed all special events in Toronto; especially for Canadian holidays.

City Pass offers discount tickets to Toronto attractions, including the Metro Toronto Zoo. You buy the voucher online, print it and take it to your first destination; let’s say it’s the zoo. They give you the coupon booklet but remove the zoo tickets. Visit the next four attractions, where helpful staff relieve your booklet of tickets but leave you with the rest of the information. You save over $40 by spending about $70. The voucher is good for almost two years, but you have to use all the discount admission tickets within nine days. This is terrific for tourists looking for multiple things to do in Toronto, or for a hometown stay-cation: use discount tickets to Casa Loma, the CN Tower, Metro Toronto Zoo, Ontario Science Centre and the Royal Ontario Museum in a nine day adventure. That’s five things to do in Toronto, and at a bargain price!

Disclaimer: DeHaan Services has no relationship to the organizer(s); I am not reimbursed for writing this article. However, DeHaan Services does write web site or advertising copy for clients. Our skills are demonstrated in online articles in Decoded Science, Decoded Pregnancy, Environmental Graffiti, Squidoo and Suite 101. That’s why DeHaan Services highlights these online articles on this site.

Thanks for reading about some of the new venues for Doors Open Toronto 2013.