This week, the city warmly embraces the autumn season with cozy exhibitions and fun events and shows to enjoy for the Thanksgiving long weekend. Spend your mornings stepping through stunning and intimate art galleries with loved ones, or share a laugh at a comedy show in the evening. Or add to your Thanksgiving menu with local goods after browsing through the Fall Harvest Market. This week’s Best Bets offers much to do for the long weekend ahead.
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100% Real Human
What does it mean to be human? The Second City has the answers! With a fresh collection of hilarious sketches, original songs, wild new characters, and jaw-dropping unpredictable improv scenes, this show explores the hysterical human experience in a world increasingly run by machines. Written and performed by the hilarious Second City mainstage cast (including this year’s June Artist of the Month Monica Garrido Huerta), this show is a joyful antidote to the troubles of the day. Forget your troubles, come on, be happy at The Second City’s iconic red-door mainstage, and have an exciting night out in the city! More info.
When: Oct 6-Feb 28
Where: The Second City
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Sappho Say What?
Gay AF Comedy, one of Toronto’s favourite queer comedy fix, is back at the Comedy Bar for an All-Lesbian-Lineup stand-up show! This super-sapphic-ultra-modern-girl lineup features hilarious Toronto comedy award winners and comedians seen on OutTV, JFL, CBC, SiriusXM, TikTok, and more. The lineup includes Tamara Appleton, Anasimone, Winnie Jiang, Spencer Glassman, and headlined by Canadian Screen Award winner, Elvira Kurt. Step down into the Comedy Bar basement this Wednesday night for an incredibly fun, incredibly Gay AF comedy production. More info.
When: Oct 7
Where: Comedy Bar (Bloor St W)
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Sunday Best: The Power & The Glory of Black Style
Spotlighting the power and history of Black style, Sunday Best opens to AGO members this week. Tracing the histories of migration, activism, self-determination, and fashion design, woven into the enduring ritual of dressing in one’s “best” clothing. Explore the AGO’s mix of displays with fashion, visual art, ephemera, and time-based media. This expansive exhibition considers the use of style and self-fashioning in Black diasporic communities, starting from the 1880s all the way to the present. Sunday Best makes its world debut at AGO this week for AGO members and opens to the public on October 16th with an opening performance celebrating 20 years in fashion with a special museum show. More info.
When: Oct 7-Feb 28
Where: AGO
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Cowboys and Wallflowers
Immerse in collages that blend iconic imagery and wit to challenge gender norms and domestic expectations. Created by Danielle Colle, her work highlights the ongoing struggles over household roles. See these intricate collages up close, made meticulously from vintage materials and Toronto archival prints dating all the way back from the 1800s to the 1970s. Visit this free exhibition that speaks on present struggles by highlighting the past, observe the beauty in the collages, and take in Toronto’s unseen vintage photographs. Join the artist for the exhibit’s opening show, and enjoy Cowboys and Wallflowers month-long display. More info.
When: Oct 8-Nov 7
Where: Assembly Hall Gallery
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Fall Harvest Market
Toronto’s hit Fall Harvest Market by Streets Eat Market makes its return to an even bigger location at Sugar Beach for this Thanksgiving long weekend! Celebrate the fall’s bounty with local vendors, harvest-inspired foods, delicious innovative drinks, and great experiences all on Toronto’s beautiful waterfront. In addition, enjoy these family friendly activities like pumpkin bowling, pumpkin carving and decorating, apple bobbing, exciting games and more! Browse through the artisanal market, enjoy live music by the cozy fire pit, and get ready for even more fun surprises! Spend your Thanksgiving weekend at this fun-filled market surrounded by the colours of autumn. More info.
When: Oct 9-12
Where: Sugar Beach
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Arcadia Earth
Arcadia Earth is opening their doors with extended hours for the Thanksgiving long weekend and bringing back the popular Harvest Café! Transforming Arcadia Earth’s Marketplace into a cozy fall café, get warmed up with hot coffee and cider, and enjoy live music and mini pumpkin painting. And stop by on Sunday and Monday for free mini portraits! In addition, The Harvest Café experience is free with the donation of a non-perishable food item or monetary donation supporting Second Harvest. Enjoy this perfect interactive fall adventure all while staying indoors! More info.
When: Oct 9-12
Where: Arcadia Earth
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After the Island: Caribbean Canadian Ceramics
The Gardiner Museum, Black Artist’s Networks in Dialogue, and the Museum of the African Diaspora have come together to present a landmark curatorial gallery exploring contemporary ceramic practices rooted in Caribbean histories, memory, and cultural transformation. The exhibition brings together four artists each with connections to Canada and the Caribbean, and uses clay to explore the body as a site of memory, protection, resistance, and belonging. Walk through the exhibit as it displays ceramics, sculpture, installation, painting, scent, and an interactive video game and see how these artists use material language to make visible the forces that shape bodies, objects, and the worlds they inhabit. More info.
When: Oct 9-Apr 25
Where: Gardiner Museum
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