The 10 best things to do to avoid boredom this summer

Lassonde Art Trail

Now open, Biidaasige Park

1 The hottest place to see art this summer isn’t the AGO or a gallery on Dundas West—it’s the Lassonde Art Trail. Criss-crossing 4.2 kilometres of freshly forged pathways in Biidaasige Park, the trail is set to become the city’s trendiest new outdoor public art destination. Its 15 linked sites will be home to major works by marquee names in contemporary art, including Tracey Emin, Alexandre Arrechea and Ryan ­Gander. The east section, which opened June 4, includes a sculpture made from a table, stuffed animals and cutlery, all cast in aluminum by Canadian artists Nadia ­Belerique and Tony Romano. There’s also an organic sculpture made from straw, soil and plants by Kara Hamilton. The west part of the trail, which will be unveiled in late July along with the last 10 acres of the park, will feature an immersive poem by Lisa Hirmer and a fully functional oversized weathervane by ­Virginia Overton. And later in September, Kent Monkman’s first-ever public art commission, a 12-foot-tall bronze alto-relief sculpture, will join the crowd.

Sara Cwynar at MOCA

May 15 to August 16, 158 Sterling Rd.

2 Canadian artist Sara Cwynar, originally from Vancouver, spent several years working as a graphic designer for the New York Times before pivoting to fine art full time. Thinking so much about how design affects the way people process information left an indelible mark. Cwynar describes her new solo show at MOCA, Baby Blue Benzo Beta, as a “sensory overload”—the white cube of an art gallery has been plastered over with discordant images, including bucolic landscapes and sultry footage of Pamela Anderson. The exhibition’s centrepiece is a 20-minute video about the most expensive car in the world, a 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 that sold for $185 million in 2022. The show is both beautiful and overstimulating—and that’s the point.

SchittCon

July 31 to August 3, various locations

3 It’s been six long years since everyone’s favourite CanCon comfort show, Schitt’s Creek, exited the airwaves (and nearly six months since the tragic death of Catherine O’Hara, who played the wacky, ebullient Moira Rose). But, as far away as the heyday of the Rose family feels, that’s no deterrent for their most fervent fans, who will gather in Toronto from July 31 to August 3 for SchittCon, a convention celebrating the show’s wholesome joie de vivre. Highlights of the three-day program include a meet-and-greet with ­Jennifer Robertson, who played the obliviously sunny Jocelyn Schitt—sadly, no Dan Levy—and group visits to the Rosebud Motel; Ted’s veterinary clinic; and a cluster of businesses in Goodwood, Ontario, that stand in for Rose Apothecary, Café Tropical and Bob’s Garage.

A candlelit tribute to Bad Bunny

July 11, Royal Theatre

4 There’s no musician more universally beloved than Bad Bunny (a.k.a. Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio). The Puerto Rican songster charmed coastal liberals and mid­western housewives alike with his unique genre-defying blend of Latin pop and hip hop at the Super Bowl halftime show earlier this year. Since he won’t be bringing his stylings to the city this summer, we’ll have to make do with the next best thing: a string quartet playing arrangements of his songs in a room filled with hundreds of (electric) candles. On July 11, the Candle­light concert series presents a show that feels like a cross between Nirvana’s MTV: Unplugged in New York and mass at a Catholic church.

Funny Girl at Shaw Festival

April 24 to October 3, Festival Theatre

5 Barbra Streisand would not be the household name she is today if not for her breakout role as zany vaudeville performer turned showgirl Fanny Brice in 1968’s Funny Girl, which made her one of the highest-paid actors in Hollywood. It’s tough to imagine Funny Girl without Streisand, but the Shaw Festival is up for the challenge. Its new production of the epic musical stars Sara Farb, best known for her roles in King Lear and Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Catch the show and you may find yourself humming along to earworms “I’m the Greatest Star” and “Don’t Rain on My Parade” for weeks afterward.

Psychedelics: Art. Culture. Science

June 6 to December 6, ROM

6 Swirling colours, white rabbits and magic mushrooms abound at the ROM’s trippy new exhibition, Psychedelics: Art. Culture. Science. The globe-trotting, time-travelling show documents the search for expanded consciousness by way of mind-melting substances, from the psychotropic beverages consumed by 11th-century proto-­Peruvians to the tabs dropped during the Summer of Love in San Francisco’s acid-drenched Haight-Ashbury neighbourhood. Curated by archae­ologist J­ustin ­Jennings, Psychedelics provides a ­fascinating—if not exactly sobering—look at the seemingly universal human impulse to get stoned.

Toronto Arab Film Festival

July 24 to August 1, Revue Cinema, Spadina Theatre and Small World Centre

7 From July 24 to August 1, the city will host the Toronto Arab Film Festival, celebrating standout achievements in Middle Eastern film. Now in its ninth year, the festival draws more than 800 attendees annually with a range of narrative, documentary and experimental films that showcase the diversity of the Arab world. This year’s edition comprises 17 short films and seven features by a breadth of film talent from Morocco, Jordan and Egypt. It’s a cultural celebration meant to appeal to Arab and non-Arab audiences alike. The festival begins with a screening of Abu Bakr Shawky’s The Stories, a romantic epic about an Egyptian pianist who falls in love with a Viennese woman after answering an ad for a pen pal.

Cirque du Soleil: Luzia

June 18 to August 30, 2150 Lake Shore Blvd. W.

8 Nothing screams summer like the circus. From June 18 to August 30, Cirque du Soleil will bring its signature limb-­bending act to the city with Luzia, a show that features the three Bs: body paint, butterflies and breakdancing. It’s a celebration of Mexico, its name a portmanteau of the Spanish words for “light” (luz) and “rain” (lluvia). Expect eye-popping trampoline flips, juggling feats and aerial stunts, all set to a sizzling Latin soundtrack.

Independence Day 30th-anniversary screening

July 4, Revue Cinema

9 Most of us aren’t huge fans of America at the moment, which makes the schadenfreude of watching a stressful sci-fi epic about the US getting attacked by aliens on the Fourth of July irresistible. The Revue Cinema is hosting a screening of the 1996 classic Independence Day, starring Will Smith, Bill Pullman and Jeff Goldblum, who fight back against the extraterrestrial invaders. Thirty years later, the bombastic, action-packed flick will take you back to a time when even the most middling box office crowd pleasers were actually pretty good. Come for gratuitous scenes of the White House blowing up, stay for Will Smith delivering the line, “I’m just a little anxious to get up there and whoop ET’s ass.”

Toronto Fringe Festival

June 30 to July 12, various locations

10 Since 1989, the Toronto Fringe Festival has been delighting, alarming and confounding audiences—sometimes all at once—with its non-juried performances by unknown theatre artists every June. Yet, each year, amid the more conceptual happenings (performances have taken place everywhere from a climbing gym to the Miles Nadal JCC’s public pool), there are some bona fide hits: television shows Da Kink in My Hair and Kim’s Convenience both started as Fringe Festival plays. The 2026 schedule promises a wide range of programming including a chaotic play written by ChatGPT and clowns reading Shakespeare. Take a chance on the weird—it just might end up being wonderful.