Canadians love to party and just about any excuse will do: the changing of the seasons, wildlife migration, anniversaries of historical events. You name it, there’s probably a festival to celebrate it in Canada. No matter the season or the region, we’ve got festivals and events going on across this great big land.
Summer
It’s Canada’s birthday on July 1—Canada Day. Celebrate at our birthplace, Charlottetown, PEI, during the Atlantic Superstore Festival of Light.
Celebrate the longest day of the year and National Aboriginal Day at the Summer Solstice Festival in Yellowknife, NWT, or race a mountain bike through the night—no flashlight required—at 24 Hours of Light in Whitehorse, YT.
Mingle with cowboys at Alberta’s Calgary Stampede, a western Canadian classic. In the east, the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto, ON, is summer’s must-go-to.
Music, theatre and art go outdoors. Our top-tier arts festivals include:
For theatre and film-goers:
- Stratford Shakespeare Festival, Stratford, ON
- Bard on the Beach Shakespeare Festival, Vancouver, BC
- Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK
- Charlottetown Festival, Charlottetown, PEI
- Toronto International Film Festival, Toronto, ON
- Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival, Winnipeg, MB
- Victoria Fringe Theatre Festival, Victoria, BC
- Edmonton International Fringe Theatre Festival, Edmonton, AB
For music lovers:
- Edmonton Folk Music Festival, Edmonton, AB
- Vancouver Folk Music Festival, Vancouver, BC
- Winnipeg Folk Festival, Winnipeg, MB
- MusicFest Vancouver, Vancouver, BC
- TD Toronto Jazz Festival, Toronto, ON
- TD Victoria International JazzFest, Victoria, BC
- Festival International de Jazz de Montréal, Montréal, QC
- SaskTel Saskatchewan Jazz Festival, Saskatoon, SK
- Craven Country Jamboree, SK
- Dauphin’s Countryfest, MB
- Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest, Ottawa, ON
- Les FrancoFolies de Montréal, Montréal, QC
- Le Festival acadien de Caraquet, NB
- Lamèque International Baroque Music Festival, NB
- Folk on The Rocks, Yellowknife, NWT
- The Tuckamore Festival, St. John’s, NL
For northern and Aboriginal/Inuit arts fans:
Can’t decide? In the west, Alberta’s Banff Summer Arts Festival offers dance, opera, orchestral music, jazz and string quartet competitions, literary and visual arts, Aboriginal arts, and film.
In the east, discover a mixed bag of music, storytelling, rowing regattas and street buskers at St. John’s Time, NL.
Or meet in the middle to experience dance, food and unique cultures at Mosaic in Regina, SK.
For those who love a good spectacle:
Oooh and ahhh at international fireworks competitions: HSBC Celebration of Light in Vancouver, BC, and Loto-Québec International Fireworks Competition in Québec City, QC.
Watch exciting aerial exhibits at British Columbia’s Abbotsford International Airshow; The Canadian International Air Show in Toronto, ON; Atlantic International Balloon Fiesta in Sussex, NB; International Balloon Festival of St-Jean-sur-Richelieu in Quebec.
Everyone loves a parade and we’ve got ‘em in spades, including lots to celebrate and support the gay community:
In Victoria, BC, sailors test their nautical skills at the Swiftsure International Yacht Race, while 90 teams compete in the Victoria Dragon Boat Festival.
Celebrate with food and drink:
- EAT! Vancouver Food + Cooking Festival, Vancouver, BC
- Taste: Victoria’s Festival of Food and Wine, Victoria, BC
- Tofino Food and Wine Festival, Tofino, BC
- Mondial de la Bière, Montréal, QC
- PEI International Shellfish Festival, Charlottetown, PEI
- Summerside Lobster Carnival, PEI
- Digby Scallop Days, NS
Fall
With autumn comes the harvest. Enjoy the bounty of the land at food and wine festivals across Canada including:
- Okanagan Fall Wine Festival, BC: tour vineyards in BC’s major winegrowing region.
- Niagara Wine Festival, St. Catharines, ON: over 100 events including Niagara cuisine, artisan shows and of course, wine tasting.
- Kitchener-WaterlooOktoberfest, ON: enjoy nine days of Bavarian culture, music and sports at the biggest Oktoberfest in Canada.
- Rocky Mountain Wine and Food Festival: foodies flock to Calgary, Edmonton and (in the springtime) Banff, AB, to sample local cuisine paired with wine, spirits and beer.
- Fall Flavours, PEI: pick potatoes, catch lobsters or harvest oysters at the island’s food festival.
- Taste! A Celebration of Regional Cuisine: one unforgettable day in Prince Edward County, ON.
- Prince Albert Métis Fall Festival, SK: get ready to kick up your heels with traditional Métis jigging, fiddling and square dancing.
- The Wharf Rat Rally, Annapolis Valley, NS: a weekend for motorcycle enthusiasts that includes events like bike blessings and stunting.
When the leaves turn, it’s time for Celtic Colours International Festival, a nine-day celebration of Celtic music and culture in communities around Cape Breton Island, NS.
Experience an Aboriginal powwow and drum competition with indigenous people from across North America at the Canadian Aboriginal Festival in Hamilton, ON, in November.
Montréal, QC’s Black & Blue Festival is a seven-day party—the world’s largest non-stop gay benefit dance festival.
Celebrate reading and literacy at The Word on the Street, one day in many cities across Canada such Vancouver, BC, Kitchener and Toronto, ON or Halifax, NS.
Winter
Canadians face down winter by getting outside and celebrating the season, even revelling in it.
- Celebrate Mardi Gras in mukluks at the Yukon Sourdough Rendezvous, in Whitehorse, YT.
- Get in the groove of some 2,000 cross-country skiers at Edmonton, AB’s Canadian Birkebeiner Ski Festival, the biggest “classical” ski loppet” in North America.
- Skate on the world’s longest man-made skating rink at Winterlude in Ottawa, ON.
- The Return of the Sun Festival in Nunavut respects tradition and celebrates the glow of the sun on the horizon.
- Don a mask or crazy costume and join the crowds during St. John’s, NL’s Mummers Festival.
- Hibernation in Fredericton, NB, ends with Winterfesthiver’s ice slides, snow mazes and other outdoor activities.
- The epic Yukon Quest dogsled race pits man and dog against nature for 1,609 km (1,000 mi).
- See Ontario’s fabled Niagara Falls bathed in light at the Winter Festival of Lights.
- Concerts, skating parties and culinary events highlight Toronto, ON’s WinterCity Festival presented by RBC and Winterlicious.
- Enjoy evening galas and winery tours at Ontario’s Niagara Icewine Festival each January to celebrate icewine, one of Canada’s most delectable treasures.
- Festival du Voyageur is 10 days of music and contests (beard-growing, anyone?) throughout Manitoba.
- Ski, snowshoe and dig the family fun at the Corner Brook Winter Carnival, NL.
- Indulge at Cornucopia, the foodie extravaganza in tony Whistler, BC.
Spring
At the end of a long winter, Canada Blooms delights visitors with six acres of flowers in Toronto, ON. Some 37,000 cherry trees burst into bloom for British Columbia’s Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival. In Ottawa, ON, the Canadian Tulip Festival boasts three million flowers and more than half-a-million visitors.
Taste a Canadian icon at the Maple in the County festival in Prince Edward County, ON.
Festival Beauceron de l'Érableis one of the premier maple syrup festivals in Quebec—the world’s largest producer of the sticky sweet syrup.
Wine tastings and pairings, educational seminars and culinary competitions make British Columbia’s Vancouver Playhouse International Wine Festival a favourite of wine connoisseurs.
Welcome back our feathered friends at Wings Over the Rockies in the Columbia Valley, BC, or head north to Marsh Lake in the Yukon for Celebration of Swans.
Skin a ‘rat’ at the Muskrat Jamboree in Inuvik, NWT; throw a harpoon at the Beluga Jamboree in Tuktoyaktuk, NWT, or build an igloo at Toonik Tyme in Iqaluit, NU.
Language is no barrier at Blue Metropolis International Literary Festival in Montréal, QC, the world’s first multilingual festival of reading.
For some high-voltage comedy, drama and dance, check out Uno Fest, a solo-performance festival in Victoria, BC, or Nova Scotia’s Halifax Comedy Festival.
Taste mouthwatering seafood and learn the seafaring traditions along a 298-km (185-mi) stretch of coastal communities in Nova Scotia during Lobsterpalooza.
Music, culture and sport collide at the Telus World Ski & Snowboard Festival in Whistler, BC.
Celebrate Queen Victoria’s birthday on May 24 in British Columbia’s capital city with a long weekend and—in her namesake city—a long parade.
video
Edmonton International Fringe Festival
Íslendingadagurinn Festival in Gimli
Acadian Festival in Caraquet
Festival Acadien
Halifax International Busker Festival
P.E.I. Jazz and Blues Festival in Charlottetown
Montréal A Festival City
Saskatchewan Jazz Festival in Saskatoon
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Comments
Congratulations Suzanne Morphet on what I consider one of the best roundups of canadian festivals I have ever read. You managed to cover all the essential ones, plus numerous ones the "experts" might not know about. I will keep this compendium on hand long into the future.
Bravo!
Gregory B. Gallagher