While some people want to hide inside the house all through winter, many others anticipate it and look forward to getting out into the fresh crisp air. Event organizers are busy all through the year hosting fun festivals, both indoor and outdoor, and wintertime is no exception. You’ll find holiday lights, active pursuits and cultural activities, so embrace the season with our Guide to the Best Winter Festivals in Toronto and the GTA…
Winter Festivals — December
Canada’s Wonderland WinterFest
Date: Until January 4, 2025
The amusement park becomes a winter wonderland for WinterFest. Take a starlit walk through a 100-foot-long, coloured LED tunnel. Plus there’s festive shows and food, and an artisan market.
Uxbridge Optimist Fantasy of Lights
Date: Until January 4, 2025
More brilliant than ever, the annual Uxbridge Optimist Fantasy of Lights event features light displays every evening, even on Christmas Day!
Niagara Falls Winter Festival of Lights
Date: Until January 5, 2025
Get your fill of sparkle and good cheer at the Niagara Falls Winter Festival of Lights. It’s Canada’s largest FREE outdoor festival!
City of Toronto: Cavalcade of Lights
Date: Until January 7, 2025
The City of Toronto hosts Cavalcade of Lights, a free festival that bathes Nathan Phillips Square, transforming City Hall and its surroundings into a dazzling wonderland every night during the the holiday season.
Halton Hills: Light up the Hills Winter Festival
Date: Until January 12, 2025
Halton Hills is lighting up their parks this holiday season at the Light up the Hills Winter Festival to bring joy and hope to surrounding communities with light displays, free to view.
Lights on Stratford Winter Festival of Lights
Date: Until January 19, 2025
The free annual Lights On Stratford Winter Festival of Lights transforms Stratford’s heritage downtown core and parks with luminous art and interactive light installations.
Kensington Market Winter Solstice Festival
Date: December 21, 2024
Mark the winter solstice at a free street festival in Kensington Market, featuring fire warming stations, live music, theatrical scenarios, roaming ensembles of tall puppets, and fire arts.
Aga Khan Museum: Light Up the Dark
Date: December 27-29, 2024
The stunning exterior of the Aga Khan Museum comes to life with the free Light Up the Dark event, featuring mesmerizing light projections.
Mountsberg Conservation Area: Winterlit
Date: December 29, 2024 — February 17, 2025
Bask in the natural beauty of Mountsberg Conservation Area by taking an illuminated walk in the woods at Winterlit, where trails sparkle brightly for a combined distance of approximately 1.5 kilometres.
Winter Festivals — January
Friday Harbour: The Skate Escape
Date: January 17 — February 28, 2025
Celebrate the joys of the winter season at Friday Harbour with The Skate Escape on the shores of Lake Simcoe. The free event features ice skating, live entertainment, and more!
Design TO Festival
Date: January 24 — February 2, 2025
DesignTO is Canada’s largest annual design festival, celebrating creative thinking and making with more than 100 exhibitions and events.
Toronto Spring Festival Fireworks Celebration
Date: January 25, 2025
Toronto Spring Festival Fireworks Celebration is blasting into Toronto City Hall’s Nathan Phillips Square for the first time, featuring the Echo Market with food stalls, an ice show, DJ performances, dance shows, and Hanfu experience.
Bracebridge Fire & Ice Festival
Date: January 25, 2025
Celebrate a true Canadian winter at the Bracebridge Fire & Ice Festival, featuring snow tubing down the main street of this picturesque town.
Winterlicious Toronto
Date: January 31 — February 13, 2025
Now in its 20th year, Winterlicious Toronto food event returns for another delicious edition, featuring three-course prix fixe menus.
Taste of Burlington
Date: January 31 — February 9, 2025
Whether you’re an experienced foodie, or new on the scene, you can try a new and delicious dishes (that you didn’t have to cook!) while supporting local business at the annual Taste of Burlington.
Winter Festivals — February
Harbourfront Centre: KUUMBA Festival
Date: February 1-28, 2025
Celebrating its 30th anniversary, Harbourfront Centre’s KUUMBA Festival is Toronto’s largest and longest-running Black Futures Month Festival, featuring music, theatre, dance, spoken word and more.
LunarFest GTA
Date: February 1-2, 2025
LunarFest GTA welcomes the Year of the Snake through arts, culture, and storytelling at the Varley Art Gallery and an artist market at nearby McKay Art Centre, both in Unionville.
La Poutine Week
Date: February 1-7, 2025
With La Poutine Week, restaurants get creative for throngs of poutine fanatics, so bring your appetite and check out the participating spots in Toronto and the GTA.
Hamilton Winterfest
Date: February 1-17, 2025
Hamilton Winterfest includes 70+ events across the city, including a pop culture exhibition, concerts, crafts, dance, theatre, fashion, art installations, a Family Day festival and more.
Downtown Yonge BIA: Skates And Sounds
When: February 7-28, 2025
Downtown Yonge BIA hosts a month of skating parties with Skates And Sounds, including DJs, family activities, fire pits and free skate lending.
STACKT market: Sweet City Fest
Date: February 11-23, 2025
STACKT market returns with the Sweet City Fest, perfect for Family Day! The festival is free to enter and includes community events, live music and performances, experiences and workshops, vendor markets, and food and drink specials.
Harbourfront Centre & Street Eats Market: Maple Syrup Festival
Date: February 15-17, 2025
Harbourfront Centre and Street Eats Market host a new Maple Syrup Festival, featuring maple food, ice skating and family activities.
Ajax Winterfest
Date: February 17, 2025
The annual Ajax Winterfest is back for free frosty fun on Family Day, including inflatables, crafts, entertainment, free hot chocolate and s’mores.
GreekTown on the Danforth BIA: Fire & Ice Festival
Date: February 22-23, 2025
GreekTown on the Danforth BIA hosts Fire & Ice: A Celebration of Greek Mythology and Winter Wonders, a free epic winter festival experience fit for the gods!
Winter in Toronto — March
Brooks Farms: Maple Sugar Festival
Date: March 1-30, 2025
Take a wagon ride into the bush to learn about maple sugar creation, hang out at Playland, then warm up by the camp fire with a yummy roasted marshmallow. There’s also a pancake breakfast option at an extra cost.
Friends of Bronte Creek Park: Maple Syrup Festival
Date: March 1-30, 2025
Bronte Creek Provincial Park Maple Syrup Festival lets you enjoy a guided tour of Maple Lane, hop on a wagon to the Pancake House, and more.
Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA): Sugarbush Maple Syrup Festival
Date: March 8 – April 6, 2025
Enjoy a sticky and sweet family day at the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority’s annual Sugarbush Maple Syrup Festival in two TRCA locations in Woodbridge and Whitchurch-Stouffville.
Purple Woods Conservation Area: Maple Syrup Festival
Date: March 8-30, 2025
Purple Woods Conservation Area’s Maple Syrup Festival includes self-guided tours, games, activities, horse-drawn wagon rides and pancakes!
Puppet Festival Mississauga
Date: March 11–16, 2025
Puppet Festival Mississauga is an exciting festival filled with local and international puppetry during March Break.
Celebrate Toronto Festival (Rescheduled from March 8)
Date: April 5, 2025
Celebrate Toronto Festival is marking our city’s 191th Anniversary this year with a party at Nathan Phillips Square including vendors, skating and a fireworks display.
Ontario Maple Syrup Producers’ Association: Ontario Maple Weekend
Date: April 5-6, 2025
Enjoy the sweetest time of the year with the annual Ontario Maple Weekend at participating maple producers across Ontario.
Nottawasaga Valley Conservation Authority: Spring Tonic Maple Syrup Festival
Date: April 5-6, 2025
Nottawasaga Valley Conservation Authority hosts the Spring Tonic Maple Syrup Festival with traditional maple syrup and activities.
Sunderland Maple Syrup Festival
Date: April 5-6, 2025
Sunderland Maple Syrup Festival celebrates maple syrup with a pancake breakfast, sugar shack tours, plus two days of free shows and activities.
Muskoka Maple Festival
Date: April 26, 2025
Join Spring’s sweetest party at Muskoka Maple Festival, with free admission, maple-inspired dining options, games and live music.
More coming soon!
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