Weekend need to know: Nuit Blanche returns, public transit updates

The month of October and spooky season is upon us starting this weekend. Festivals continue to take over the city with the return of iconic events like Nuit Blanche, Kensington Market Jazz Festival and Legends of Horror at Casa Loma.

Road closures continue this weekend as well as TTC subway service staying open all night long for Nuit Blanche.

Here’s what’s happening this weekend:

Top events

Nuit Blanche

Nuit Blanche returns to Toronto in-person for the first time since before the pandemic, and this year the event will expand across the city to include North York and Etobicoke.

The theme this year is called The Space Between Us, which will include more than 170 exhibits and more than 150 participating artists.

Downtown
The heart of Nuit Blanche will take over Yonge Street from Dundas Street down to the lake and across to Harbourfront.

Downtown sites include Yonge-Dundas Square, the ArtworxTO South Hub at Union Station and Harbourfront Centre.

Featured projects include a massive installation on the side of the Deloitte building on 8 Adelaide St. W., a 60-foot-wide water screen at the foot of Yonge Street and a 200-foot high light tipi on Nathan Phillips Square.

Outside of the downtown core
Scarborough: 15 new art projects are located in and around the Scarborough Civic Centre and Scarborough Town Centre.
North York: 10 new art projects are located in and around the North York City Centre, Mel Lastman Square and the Meridian Centre for the Performing Arts.
Etobicoke: 14 new projects are located in and around the Humber College Lakeshore Campus and Samuel Smith Park.

Dawn art experience
Those who want to avoid the crowds or prefer early mornings can choose a more intimate Nuit Blanche experience by attending from 4 a.m. to 7 a.m. on Sunday.

The event will run from 7 p.m. on Saturday until 7 a.m. on Sunday. For everything else you can expect at Nuit Blanche 2022, click here. 

WATCH Nick Westoll give more details about the return of Nuit Blanche:

Love Stories of the Humber

A free, romantic walking tour is coming to the city’s west side this weekend.

The tour is presented by Myseum of Toronto and explores stories of love on the Humber River, led by and developed in collaboration with Adam Bunch, author of The Toronto Book of Love.

The tour is being held in two separate sessions over two days, from 3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

The walk is starting at Martin Goodman Trail and ending at Queen Elizabeth Way Monument.

(Photo credit: myseumoftoronto.com)

Kensington Market Jazz Festival

The 7th annual Kensington Market Jazz Festival announced its return to the neighbourhood this weekend.

The event will feature 2022 JUNO Award winners Caity Gyorgy and Will Bonness and past JUNO winners including Sammy Jackson and Allison Au.

The festival will kick off at Tom’s Place (190 Baldwin St). The other participating venues include Tapestry (formerly Poetry Jazz Café), Handlebar, Supermarket and Pamenar with seven shows each per day.

There are also Pay-What-You-Can shows in Bellevue Square Park on Saturday and Sunday from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. and 4 p.m. to 5:30pm.

The overall weekend concerts run from Saturday and Sunday between 1 p.m. to 11 p.m.

There will be no advance tickets, organizers are accepting cash only at the door.

Madoka Murata’s Discovery Through the Arts students at Hainan Community Centre at Kensington Market Jazz Festival in 2019. (Photo credit: Ryan Rubin)

Just For Laughs Toronto

It’s the last weekend for Just For Laughs Toronto.

Comedy nerds can still see the event’s headliners live this weekend like Trevor Noah, Mike Birbiglia, Iliza Shlesinger and more.

WATCH Stella Acquisto speak with comedian Atsuko Okatsuka:

Legends of Horror

Legends of Horror returns to Casa Loma on Friday and runs through the entire month of October ending on Halloween night.

The interactive horror show will have the audience walk at their own pace through a two kilometer trail starting in the lower gardens of Casa Loma and going through the castle’s tunnels and darkest spaces.

New at Casa Loma this year is Zombie Apocalypse, a zombie-themed haunted house, which is coming in mid-October.

Casa Loma will also designate specific time frames for families with younger children to attend where the events are meant to be less frightening, with no live actors or characters. Standard hours will operate as usual later in the evening.

Family hours: 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.

Standard hours: 7 p.m. to late

(Photo credit: casaloma.ca)

TTC updates

Nuit Blanche

In addition to the regular all-night Blue Night Network service, the TTC will run subway service all night on Line 1, Line 2, Line 3 and Line 4.

Day passes purchased on Saturday will be valid until 7 a.m. on Sunday.

Free entry is available at North York Centre Station and Scarborough Centre Station from 7 p.m. Saturday to 7 a.m. Sunday.

Two of the exhibitions will be located on TTC property – one at North York Centre Station and the other at Kipling Station.

Some routes will also be diverting to accommodate Nuit Blanche festivities, including the following:

• 19 Bay
• 72B Pape
• 121 Esplanade – River
• 172 Cherry
• 501 Queen
• 320 Yonge

GO Transit

GO Transit will operate regularly scheduled service during Nuit Blanche this year.

Road closures

Nuit Blanche
Major downtown roads impacted will include parts of Bay Street, Queen Street, Yonge Street and the eastbound Yonge Street off-ramp from the Gardiner Expressway. This is due to expected event attendance and to improve free-flowing access to the art projects.

Thursday at 9 p.m. to Sunday at 2 p.m.
• Temperance Street between Yonge Street and Bay Street and Colborne Street between Yonge Street and Scott Street will have local traffic only along a portion of the roadways.

Friday at 9 p.m. to Sunday at 11 a.m.
• Yonge Street will be closed between Dundas Street and Queens Quay. East-west traffic will be maintained at major intersections along the stretch.
• Queen Street will be closed between York Street and Bay Street and between Bay Street and Victoria Street.

Friday at 6 p.m. to Sunday at 11 a.m.
• Westbound Gardiner Expressway exit 154 to Yonge Street will be closed.
• Esplanade Street will be closed between Yonge Street and Scott Street, with local traffic only along a portion of the road.

Saturday at 10 a.m. to Sunday at 10 a.m.
• Road closures and restrictions will be in place on Bay Street between Dundas Street West and Richmond Street West, including Albert Street and James Street. Hagerman Street will also be closed.
• Queens Quay West will be closed between York Street and Bay Street, with local traffic only along a portion of the road.

Road closures in the Etobicoke area will take place at 12 p.m. on Saturday:

• Colonel Samuel Smith Park Drive from Lake Shore Boulevard West to Humber College south driveway.

Road closures in the North York area will take place at 8 a.m. on Saturday:

• Yonge Street (southbound lanes only) from Park Home Avenue to North York Boulevard.

All roadways are expected to be open by noon on Sunday, October 2, 2022.

Michelob Ultra Night Run
October 1
• Trinity Street to Cherry Street will be closed from 4 p.m. to 10:30 p.m.
• Lake Shore Boulevard East from Parliament Street to Don Roadway will be closed from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m
• Cherry Street from Mill Street to Villiers Street will be closed from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m

Ontario Fallen Fire Fighters Memorial
October 2
• All northbound lanes on Queens Park/Queen’s Park Crescent East, from College Street to Grosvenor Street will be closed from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
• Grosvenor Street, from Queen’s Park Crescent East to Surrey Place will be closed from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

CIBC Toronto Run for the Cure
October 2
• Eastbound lanes on Lake Shore Boulevard West, from British Columbia Road to Remembrance Drive, will be closed from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Construction 

• Westbound Lake Shore Boulevard, between Jarvis and Yonge Streets, will be reduced to one lane until Friday, October 21, for continuing gas main work.
• College Street, from St. George Street to Spadina Avenue, is fully closed to vehicular traffic to replace the TTC streetcar tracks and make other improvements. College Street, between Borden Street and Spadina Avenue, is reduced to one eastbound lane. There is no westbound travel in this section of the work zone. These closures are expected to be in place until mid-November.
• The Carlton and Church Streets intersection remains closed for streetcar track replacement.
• The intersection of King Street West and Shaw Street is reduced to one lane in each direction for TTC and watermain work. Beginning Tuesday, October 4, the intersection will be fully closed for approximately six weeks.
• Traffic lanes around Queens Park, between Bloor Street West and Queen’s Park Crescent, are reduced to accommodate the TTC’s Easier Access (elevator installation) work at Museum Station.
• The Queensway has a reduced number of lanes, in both directions, between Parkside Drive and the King-Queen-Queensway-Roncesvalles (KQQR) intersection, for TTC track replacement and road reconstruction work. Eastbound left turns are not permitted from The Queensway to Glendale Avenue.
• Roncesvalles Avenue is closed from Queen Street West to Harvard Avenue for watermain replacement, TTC track replacement and road reconstruction.
• Wellington Street, from Church Street to Yonge Street, is reduced to one westbound lane for TTC track replacement and sidewalk improvements. Scott Street, north of Wellington Street, is closed to all vehicular traffic.
• Pottery Road, between Bayview and Broadview Avenues, will be closed from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. on October 2 to perform upgrades to a telecommunications tower with a mobile crane.
• The intersection of Steeles Avenue East and Woodbine Avenue will be closed from October 1 at 9 p.m. until October 2 at 5 p.m. for intersection paving by the Ministry of Transportation. The ramp from Highway 404 northbound to Steeles Avenue/Woodbine Avenue will also be closed during this time.
• Armoury Street, between Centre Avenue and Chestnut Street, will be intermittently closed tomorrow beginning at 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. Then, the street will be fully closed during the weekend for concrete pouring/pumping and crane hoisting at the New Toronto Courthouse.

To accommodate major crane hoisting activity at Sick Children’s Hospital, the following roads will be closed beginning Friday at 6 a.m. until Sunday:

• Elizabeth Street, from Elm Street to Gerrard Street
• Walton Street, from Bay Street to Elizabeth Street
• Elm and Elizabeth Streets intersection

Cherry Street will be restricted to southbound traffic only between Commissioners Street and Unwin Avenue starting Friday at 7 p.m. until Monday at 6 a.m.