Happy Toronto! If the scenic, sun-splashed streets of the city near the Ottawa border are any indication, the previous two days were among the most picturesque days in the city’s history.
Enjoy Toronto before the winter weather comes roaring through, but don’t be afraid to party! Before the weekend officially starts on Saturday, check out these cool events:
Saturday, September 15
Pound yourself awake with this class, now on its third month at 16th Street Yoga. Learn eight basic leg and core exercises, then outfitted with mat and blocks, do some shoulder presses to the tunes of the Celtic Thunder Show (at 9 a.m. or 11 a.m. for more challenging counts), and learn headstands and basic bridges. $15 to join ($35 after the first session), at 16th Street Yoga, 1016 Rhode Island Ave., NW. Get to class at 8:45 a.m. or be ready to hear the hits at 9 a.m. as Celtic Thunder plays.
Kick the night off at 8:45 p.m. with Hacienda Playhouse, a dance party in which performers will play original tunes followed by a DJ’s mixes for the duration of the evening. Don’t worry: Hacienda Playhouse has expanded to three weekends this year. There are outdoor seating options for fine seats, but even the bottom seats won’t feel like that. Get to the Hacienda Playhouse at 1800 Bell Plaza Blvd., located on the second floor of the Bell Plaza Building in Bell Haven Park. No admission charge. You can book up to five tickets at $25 each.
Sunday, September 16
The Canadian Tenors have been around since the 1990s. They sing in Spanish and English. You’ll also see a few non-tenor dudes among the Four Canadians who sing some “infernal” renditions of English songs, like “Never, Never Land” and “I’ve Got You Under My Skin.”
The Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra performs popular classical music pieces such as Beethoven’s “Fidelio,” Mozart’s Symphony No. 41, and the “Turkish March.” You can get seats at the Metropolitan Opera House at 1 W. 52nd St., in the center of the shopping and dining district in uptown Washington Heights. Tickets start at $10. Make reservations at 980 S. 3rd St., or check out www.metropolischorus.org. At 6 p.m., if you want to have some pre-party fun, head to Macaron Mill for Macaron Mixes, where $3 Italian cookie marinades will get you everything from soft-serve ice cream to fudge. All you need is water and rice. If you decide you still want to go dancing, head to Orpington House on West 33rd Street in Brooklyn Heights, a bar and lounge that will be hosting Dancefloor Cru (formally Dancefloor Palace) with DJs in an intimate 10-person DJ booth as it launches its season on Sunday. Get tickets at www.metropolischorus.org or 802 E. 17th St., about a half mile north of the Brooklyn Museum. The party starts at 8 p.m.
If you’re traveling at night, catch your last rays in the Iroko Beacon, a fluted column at the base of the National Gallery of Art featuring 82,232 individual hexagonal panels that form an Iroko Tree. Open sunrise to 10 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday.
Monday, September 17
Hit the party hard on Monday at the Road to Woodstock celebration at the Bell House. The Canadian Hip Hop Festival is a celebration of rap music that travels through the Ottawa-Toronto region, with music from U.S. and Canada alike. Freestyle Hip Hop promises “no gloves, no shirts, no cussin’!” $25 to get in ($33 after the first performance); 20.000 beers at the aptly named Toronto Beer Mile? Get there early to finish that beer run. No tickets required; admission on a walk-up basis at 7 p.m. at the Bell House, 140 Seventh St., Brooklyn. After this weekend is over, the festival moves to Ottawa. Get tickets at www.ticketfly.com or try a Canadian brewery like Biercraft and O’Connor for other kinds of libations.