Harbourfront Centre

Lonely Planet review

Throughout the summer, especially during the weekends, the Harbourfront Centre puts on a kaleidoscopic variety of performing arts events at the York Quay Centre; many are aimed at kids, some are free. Performances sometimes take place on the covered outdoor Concert Stage beside the lake. Also outside are a lakeside ice-skating rink where you can learn to slice up the winter ice, and a ramshackle series of Artists' Gardens - seasonally-rotating raised planter beds constructed by local artists in a spirit of 'guerilla gardening.' The idea here is to inspire people to reclaim abandoned corners of the city with native species and heritage food plants. Sculptural elements include everything from smashed crockery to broken hockey sticks and caved-in televisions.

Also at York Quay are a series of free galleries including the Photo Passage and a functioning Craft Studio which runs courses in ceramics, jewelry, glass-blowing and textiles. The Harbourfront Centre also maintains the Toronto Music Garden and incorporates the Power Plant and the Premiere Dance Theatre in the Queens Quay Terminal building. The Harbourfront Readings Series is a Toronto literary stalwart running from September to June.