Open Spaces: Toronto Outdoor Summer Fun
"A happy city is a social city, living close to your natural environment and having good relationships with neighbours is what it's all about"
What's On
Looking Back: Canada BiblioArchives / Library Archives Library and Archives Canada (LAC) collects and preserves Canada's documentary heritage.
Green Space
The Kay Gardiner Beltline Trail runs from west of Allen Road and south, just west of the Don Valley, and is a great city escape for cyclists and walkers.
BRICKWORKS
Evergreen community naturalization programs is a collective effort that includes people from all walks of life in the revitalization of their schools, community and in making cities our more livable. Spread the green.
Get there on Saturday for the Farmers' market. The Evergreen Foundation is our blazing star, forging ahead to raise $55 million to transform this heritage site into a sustainable urban green space.
As part of the Don River watershed and City of Toronto Parks, Forestry and Recreation, this urban oasis helps to protect wildlife and habitat.
A splendid hike through the Central Ravines and Beltline is part of the urban forest pathway leading to the Evergreen Brickworks conservation area, where Saturday morning is buzzing with a Farmers Market and family activities.
Trees make our city livable. One of the most valuable resources in our city is our 10.2 million trees.
Allen Gardens is set in one of Toronto’s oldest parks and transports you into a warm, humid horticultural feast of six themed greenhouses featuring a mature forest of Palms, Succulents, Bamboo, Orchids, Hibiscus and Bromeliads.
This is an urban botanical oasis offering welcome sanctuary among beautiful plants from around the world, often finding some privacy from unwelcome stares under the centre piece historic, cast-iron and glass domed “Palm House”, built in 1910.
Early morning at the David Balfour Park in the Deer Park neighbourhood. The Rosehill Reservoir sits under this glorious park at 75 Rosehill Ave., just two blocks southeast of St. Clair Ave. and Yonge St.
City Hall's best-kept secret: The Podium Green Garden is an expanse of public garden space at the pod level at City Hall, which may not be visible from the street but is a sweet space to get away from the crowds at Queen St. and Bay.
Just go for a walk!. My friends travel all over the world only to discover that Toronto is a natural wonder with 600 km of trails and more than 1,600 parks like this one, midtown in the Village of Yorkville.
Garden West
Going out of town in search of something Victorian? An afternoon at the Royal Botanical Gardens on the border of Burlington and Hamilton is divine. If you take your bike on the Go Train, you get off at Aldershot, and it's probably a less than 15-minute ride down to the lake at the Gardens. Visit the tea room in the gardens for lunch.
A new bride joins her wedding party for a ferry ride to Ward's Island and the wedding reception.
Star Gazing
If you love looking up at the stars, the David Dunlap Observatory offers public viewing nights held most Saturday nights throughout the summer months and early fall. This facility is located in Richmond Hill, Ontario and is operated by The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada.
GreenShift supplies cups and other products made from sugarcane, corn or natural paper fibres with special certified, biodegradable coatings.
Bluffers Park is 14 kilometres of waterfront, public, open, day-use park with a long sandy beach, picnic areas, swimming, scenic trails, a volleyball court, launching facilities for recreational boaters, as well as private yacht clubs with the backdrop of the majestic Cathedral Bluffs rising more than 90 metres above Lake Ontario.
On New Year's Eve, you can ride the TTC for FREE. Party and hang with your friends - no one needs to drive, including the über driver, Toronto Transit Commission.
July at Ward’s Island, Toronto. Lunch stop at the Lake, Ward's Island, looking back at the city across Lake Ontario.
Quote from Canadian Author, Charles Montgomery, Happy City: Transforming Our Lives Through Urban Design.