Weekend need-to-know: St. Patrick’s Day parade to paint Toronto green

A dressed-up reveler poses for photos with a float during the 2022 Toronto St. Patrick's Day Parade in Toronto, Canada, on March 20, 2022. (Credit Image: © Zou Zheng/Xinhua via ZUMA Press) Represented by ZUMA Press, Inc.

Posted March 13, 2025 10:59 am.

Last Updated March 14, 2025 8:39 pm.

Toronto’s Irish population will be celebrating this weekend with lots of St. Patrick’s Day events to attend. There are no TTC or GO closures to keep in mind.

Toronto St. Patrick’s Day Celebrations

The annual Toronto St. Patrick’s Day Parade, a community event in celebrating Irish culture history and heritage will feature live entertainment and local dignitaries. The parade starts alon g Bloor Street at St. George Street at 12 p.m. Sunday before turning south on Yonge Street and finishing at Dundas Street.

It’s expect to last for an hour and a half.

Caroline Mulroney, the president of the Treasury Board of Ontario and Minister of Francophone Affairs, has been named the Grand Marshall of the parade.

Extra train service will be added on Line 1 Yonge-University and Line 2 Bloor-Danforth, along with additional streetcars on the 505 Dundas and 506 Carlton routes.

St. Patrick’s Day 5K Run/Walk

If you want to get moving on St. Patrick’s Day, the 25th annual St. Patrick’s Day run/walk is happening on Sunday as well.

You can choose between a 10-kilometre race, a five-kilometre race and the one-kilometre Kid Run. The race is raising funds for Achilles Canada, a non-profit that provides Canadians with an opportunity to receive the physical, psychological and communal benefits of running.

It kicks off at 10:15 a.m. from Evergreen Brickworks and you will be running on the Bayview Extension and Rosedale Valley Road.

Toronto Comicon

Fans of sci-fi, horror, anime and gaming are in for a treat this weekend as the annual Toronto Comicon is happening this weekend. The show kicks of on Friday at 10 a.m.

The show is offering family-friendly attractions, events and celebrities offering meet-and-greets and autographs. There will also be panels to get the inside scoop on movies and television shows.

Some of the celebrities showing up include Jared Padalecki from Supernatural, Anthony Starr and Karl Urban from The Boys and Manny Jacinto from The Acolyte. A full list can be found here.

Tickets are still available for the show which will run every day this weekend, from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Friday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.

Toronto FC home opener, lots of hockey action

Toronto FC will open up their home campaign with an afternoon game against Chicago Fire at BMO Field on Saturday. It will be their first of 17 matches at home this season. The match kicks off at 2:30 p.m.

The Maple Leafs and Marlies are also in action this weekend, including the Battle of Ontario. Toronto will face off against the Ottawa Senators on Saturday night. Puck drops at 7 p.m. at Scotiabank Arena.

Meanwhile, the Marlies have two-game series against the Charlotte Checkers this weekend at Coca-Cola Coliseum. The first game is Saturday at 1:30 p.m. followed by Sunday at 4 p.m.

TTC/GO closures

No TTC/GO closures

Road closures

Gardiner Expressway closure

As part of the long-term construction plan on the Gardiner Expressway, one westbound lane and one eastbound lane are closed between Dufferin Street and Strachan Avenue. The eastbound on-ramp from Lake Shore Boulevard at Jameson Avenue is also closed.

Weekend closures

Davenport Road

From 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday, March 15, Davenport Road will be closed between Bedford Road and Dupont Street for the safe dismantling of a crane.

Parliament Street

From Saturday, March 15 until Monday, March 17, between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. daily, the following lane restrictions will be in effect on Parliament Street between Mill Street and Lake Shore Boulevard East:

On Saturday, March 15 and Monday, March 17, traffic will be reduced to one lane in each direction.
On Sunday, March 16, two-way traffic will share a single lane. Traffic Agents will assist with traffic flow.

St. Patrick’s Day Parade

On Sunday, March 16, the following road closures will be in effect for the St. Patrick’s Day Parade:

From 8 a.m. until 12:30 p.m.
- St. George Street between Bloor Street West and College Street.
- Devonshire Place between Bloor Street West and Hoskin Avenue.
- Sussex Avenue, Harbord Street and Ursula Franklin Street between Huron and St. George Streets.
- Hoskin Avenue between St. George Street and Queens Park Crescent West.
From noon until 3:30 p.m.
- Bloor Street West between St. George and Yonge Streets.
- Yonge Street between Bloor and Richmond Streets.

TTC buses will divert around the parade route. More information is on the TTC website.

St. Patrick’s Day Race

From 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Sunday, March 16, the following road closures will be in effect for the St. Patrick’s Day Race:

Bayview Avenue between Evergreen Brick Works and Rosedale Valley Road.
Rosedale Valley Road between Bayview Avenue and Bloor Street East.

Temporary closures

Spadina Avenue streetcars have been replaced by buses between Spadina Station and Queens Quay until at least March 30. Commuters wishing to travel onwards to Union from Queens Quay will need to transfer to a 509 Harbourfront streetcar.
The Yonge and Bloor intersection will be reduced to a single lane until 2025 for condo construction and sewer installation.
University Avenue will be reduced to a single lane in both directions between College Street and Queen Street West to complete several infrastructure projects for the next several months.
Yonge Street is reduced to a single lane both ways between Wellington and King for underground work at the TTC’s King Station to add new elevators and make it an accessible station. Construction is expected to continue into 2026.
Queen Street is fully closed to traffic between Bay and Victoria Streets to accommodate work on a new station for the Ontario Line subway. The closure is scheduled to last until 2027.
Eglinton Avenue West is reduced to a single lane east of Islington and west of Scarlett Road due to tunnelling work related to the multi-year Eglinton Crosstown West Extension project.
Lane restrictions on Bayview Avenue between Roehampton Avenue and Armistice Drive while the city completes road resurfacing, curb and sidewalk replacement, and traffic signal and pedestrian upgrades. One northbound lane is currently closed on Bayview Avenue between Kilgour Road and Roehampton Avenue.
Cherry Street remains closed south of Polson Pier due to maintenance on the Ship Channel Lift Bridge (Strauss Trunnion Bascule Bridge). Road users are able to access the Port of Toronto and Cherry Beach via Unwin Avenue.
From Sunday, January 12 until the spring, one northbound lane on the Don Valley Parkway (DVP) from the Eastern Avenue on-ramp to Queen Street East will be closed to accommodate work for the Eastern/Adelaide Bridges Rehabilitation Project. One eastbound and one westbound lane on Eastern Avenue will be closed between Sumach Street and Broadview Avenue. One eastbound lane on Adelaide Street will be closed between Sumach Street and Eastern Avenue.
Lake Shore Boulevard is down to a single lane through Strachan, from Fort York Blvd to Ontario Place Blvd. Toronto Hydro is installing new electrical systems for the Ontario Place reconstruction and expansion. The lane restrictions will be in place until April 1st, 2025.
Queens Park Crescent is reduced to a single lane south of Bloor as part of the TTC’s Easier Access Program at Museum Station. The project is expected to be complete by the end of 2025.