October 23rd-November 3rd Ghost Quartet @ Crow’s Theatre, 345 Carlaw Ave. Murder ballads, doo-wop, jazz noise, and raucous campfire drinking songs collide in the Canadian premiere of this surreal chamber musical from Dave Malloy, composer of Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812. Tickets available online.

October 23rd-27th Halloween Haunt @ Canada’s Wonderland. Face your fears when darkness falls as Canada’s Wonderland is transformed from a “theme park” into a “scream park” during Halloween Haunt. Experience the thrills of your favourite rides at night and the frights awaiting you in our terrifying haunted attractions and shows. $31.99 tickets available online.

October 23rd-31st Legends of Horror @ Casa Loma, 1 Austin Terrace. An immersive theatrical interpretation of all of the classic horror figures. Audiences are led through a one hour, 2 km self-guided walking tour commencing in the lower gardens of Casa Loma and winding its way through the castles tunnels and darkest spaces never before open to the public. $42.83 tickets available online.

October 23rd-November 2nd The Funhouse Toronto: A Haunted Experience @ The Funhouse, Lisgar St. The Funhouse has taken a turn towards the paranormal. Venture through this immersive art venue, featuring several new experiences and and a twisted take on their art maze. $28 tickets available online.

October 23rd-November 2nd Screemers @ Better Dead Centre, 100 Princes’ Blvd. Now in its 27th year, Screemers features seven haunted walk-through themed horror mazes with over 120 live scare actors, unlimited rides on the Midway of Horrors, and more. $34.95-49.95 (plus tax) tickets available online.

October 25th-27th Art Toronto @ Metro Toronto Convention Centre, 255 Front St. W. Art Toronto, Canada’s international fair for modern and contemporary art celebrates its 20th anniversary season this year! The fair features work from over 100 galleries from across Canada and around the world, and attracts more than 20,000 art collectors, professionals, and enthusiasts every year. $17-25 tickets available online.

WEDNESDAY

7 pm Music Bingo @ The Gladstone Hotel, 1214 Queen St. W. A FREE weekly event combining the love of music with the traditional bingo format. Each player receives a Music Bingo card which consists of an assortment of songs. Instead of calling out numbers, they play the music! Singing along encouraged. 

8 pm Drake Trivia @ The Drake Hotel, 1150 Queen St. W. Teams of four or less put their random knowledge to the test as the hosts fire off questions ranging from sporting records and celebrity scandals to geographic discoveries and culinary lingo. $2 to participate. Email host@thedrakehotel.ca or show up early to reserve a spot.

THURSDAY

5 pm Vintage Crawl Toronto @ various locations. Get ready for a great night of #sustainable shopping! Vintage stores across Toronto will stay open late and online vendors will be popping up. Check here for a list of participating stores. Until 11 pm.

7:30 pm F*ck Sh*t Up: Trans + Non-Binary Performer Cabaret @ The Gladstone Hotel, 1214 Queen St. W. Enjoy performances by Nookie Galore, Jord Camp, Weird Alice Yankadic, yes, and Kurt Cumstain as part of the Gladstone’s Thursday night cabaret series. With hosts Babia Majora and Fluffy Soufflé. Stick around after the cabaret for tunes and more good times. PWYC (no one will be turned away).

10 pm Ultimate Warlord @ Swan Dive, 1631 Dundas St. W. A scary night of pre-Halloween music with DJ LP and David Lush playing post-punk, electro, cosmic, minimal synth, and disco.

FRIDAY

7 pm Friday Night Live: Wicked @ Royal Ontario Museum, 100 Queen’s Park. Start the Halloween season with a night of fright at #FNLROM! Cackle in the Rom’s eerie galleries while experiencing wicked entertainment and cuisine. $22.60 tickets available online, limited amount available at the door.

8 pm Dark Waters @ Ripley’s Aquarium of Canada, 288 Bremner Blvd. Splash into Dark Waters and send chills through your gills as you explore the depths of the Aquarium. Enjoy spook-tacular signature drinks from one of the many cash bars, snacks from the Aquarium cafe, and if you want to creep it real, you can dance it up with the fantastic DJs Lucie Tic and Cozmic Cat. Don’t forget to dress for the occasion! $36.16 tickets available online.

9:30 pm Remote Control Halloween Video Dance Party: ’80s vs. ’90s @ Handlebar, 159 Augusta Ave. Join VJ Mobotron for a spooky Halloween edition of the ultimate retro video dance party! Are you gonna be an All Star or are you Never Going to Give It Up? Who was the greatest diva? Whitney or Mariah? The ageless question of which decade rules supreme, the ’80s or the ’90s will be settled on the dance floor!

10 pm Chronologic Halloween: Storming Area 51 @ The Garrison, 1197 Dundas St. W. The 2019 Halloween edition of Chronologic promises to be bigger, better, and scarier than ever! Join The Goin’ Steady DJs as they play the scariest hits of all time in chronological order. Costumes encouraged. $5 before 11:30 p.m., $10 after.

10 pm Aura Nova’s Graveyard Smash @ The Beaver, 1192 Queen St. W. Dig yourself six feet under to join Aura Nova and a cast of wicked witches for a one-night-only show of ooky spooky sex and magic. With acts this sexy, don’t be surprised if your monster from it’s slab begins to rise! Featuring Aura Nova, Betsy Swoon, Kurt Cumstain, Dolly Berlin, and DJ Allysin Chaynes. $10 or $5 for those who come in costume.

10 pm Jamz! Presents: Nineties & Nightmares @ Clinton’s, 693 Bloor St. W. A Halloween dance party featuring all the best pop and hip-hop jams from the ’90s and ’00s. Costumes strongly encouraged, so come dressed to kill! $10.

10 pm Freaky Friday @ Stones Place, 1255 Queen St. W. Hop on your broomstick and make your way to Stones Place for a very witchy dance party! DJ Blush plays ’80s and ’90s rock, pop, and alternative. $5.

10 pm The Breakfast Club 80s Halloween Tribute Party @ Revival, 783 College St. DJ Starting From Scratch gives you the best ’80s pop, new wave, rock, alternative, TV themes, and of course, Halloween goodies. Wear your costume (’80s-influenced looks preferred) for a chance to win prizes all night long! $15 advance tickets available online, more at the door.

10 pm DJ Teenage Werewolf @ Swan Dive, 1631 Dundas St. W. Friday night freak out with DJ Teenage Werewolf! Rock ‘n’ roll, soul, psych, punk, and more.

10 pm Get Buck @ The Ossington, 61 Ossington Ave. DJ Nino Brown spins hip-hop, soca, RnB, and dancehall. Deep grooves that transcend.

10 pm Wax Candy Disco Party @ The Piston, 937 Bloor St. W. DJ Efsharp and Cyclist serve up platters of the sweetest soulful, refreshing, and uplifting disco in one of the best sounding rooms in the city. $10.

10:30 pm Scream Me Up Disco @ The Baby G, 1608 Dundas St. W. Beam Me Up’s annual celebration of disco’s spectral rise, from the depths of the darkness back to the limelight! Join residents the Patchouli Brothers for a supernatural night of fiendishly funky, phantasmically soulful disco, boogie, proto-house, and other aural oddities that are primed to make you groove. Costumes encouraged but not required.

10:30 pm Strapped: Circle of Life @ Glad Day Bookshop, 499 Church St. Strapped, Toronto’s sexiest celebration of queer women, takes over the Glad Day Bookshop with the sexy theme “Circle Of Life” (think Lion King realness, Cheetah girl vibe, Black panthress). Vaughan, Sonja, and Ace Dillinger on the decks + performances by LadyIce Mugler. $16.93 advance tickets available online, with 10% of sales supporting Moka Dawkins and her solidarity fund. 

11 pm Get Good @ The Drake Underground, 1150 Queen St. W. Diggy The DJ spins alongside notable special guests with the main intention of rocking the party and keeping the crowd moving. Expect to hear rap, R&B, trap, dancehall, party, and throwbacks. $10.

SATURDAY

10 am The Dr. Seuss Experience Opening @ Square One Mall, 100 City Centre Dr. An imaginative and interactive immersion into the wondrous world of Dr. Seuss! This Seuss-tacular sensory spectacle takes each guest on an awe-inspiring journey through nine different Dr. Seuss books, allowing each visitor a chance to magically step into the pages of each of the books. Tickets available online.

10:30 am AGO All Hours @ Art Gallery of Ontario, 317 Dundas St. W. AGO All Hours invites visitors and local artists of all ages to explore the creative, cultural, and historical phenomenon of gaming from the 1980s to the present. With activations like a Pac-Man inspired gaming experience created by Toronto artist David Fono, a large scale vintage arcade organized by illustrator Eric Kostiak-Williams, and drop-in art making, pop-up talks, guided tours, new art installations, and an evening performance by Toronto’s own Allie X, this all-day event promises to uplift and inspire. Until 10 pm. $35 for single ticket purchasers or free for visitors 25 and under, annual pass holders, and members.

1 pm Howl’oween @ The Bentway, 250 Fort York Blvd. Local dogs (and their owners!) are invited to participate in a site-wide costumed pup parade complete with loot bags, prizes, treats, and local vendors. After the parade, puppy partiers are encouraged to stick around for drinks and games at the licensed Howl’oween “Yappy Hour.” There will be prizes for the best canine costumes in the small, medium, and large dog categories + a special bonus “Miss Congeniality” prize for the happiest dog of the day. Registration required for participation in the parade. 

8 pm Snailoween 2019 @ 146 Ossington Ave. Toronto’s iconic comic book store The Silver Snail is proud to present another year of amazing Halloween costumes, killer performances, and all around craziness in the former Ossington Tire building. This year they’ve hit all the stops, with thousands of dollars in prizes, classic carnival gaming, and themed selfie stations to visit some of your favourite comic book characters! $32.09 tickets available online.

9 pm Rue Morgue Presents: Dance of the Damned Halloween Party @ The Opera House, 735 Queen St. E. Join the staff and writers of the world’s premiere horror in culture and entertainment publication, Rue Morgue, for a night of Halloween horror you won’t forget! Featuring a sinister spectacle of eye-popping visuals with digital deco from VJ Keeping, a midnight costume contest featuring $1,000 in cash prizes to the winners, the demonic dance music of DJs Jimi LaMort and Saucy Miso, and lots more. $41.54 tickets available online.

9 pm Halloween Massacre @ Roy Thomson Hall, 60 Simcoe St. Halloween Massacre promises to be one of the largest Halloween events in Toronto, with DJs spinning the latest in Top 40, hip-hop, and R&B + exciting live entertainment to keep the party going long into the night. Halloween costumes highly encouraged (best costume prize is a trip to Cuba). $37.22 tickets available online.

9 pm DDBX is Fucking Dead X @ venue TBA. Dudebox’s annual Halloween party celebrates its 10 year anniversary! Sounds by Nino Brown, Kuruza, New Currency, James Redi, Jon Chetty, Black Friend, and more. $16.34 tickets available online, with 100% of the profits donated to Rise Tribe and Cannabis Amnesty.

10 pm Promise Halloween @ Lithuanian House, 1573 Bloor St. W. A monstrous brick and arches complex hugging two epic stages, thumpin’ tunes, mesmerizing twists and turns, and bonkers nooks to get lost in. With scarily exciting headliners from mysterious warehouses afar, amazeball local DJs and all your kooky friends in costume. $49.72 tickets available online.

10 pm Sympathy for the Devil: Stones Place Halloween Party @ Stones Place, 1255 Queen St. W. Stones Place is throwing another devilish Halloween party and they’re giving it up to the big red guy downstairs! DJ Blush playing ’50s, ’60s, and ’70s rock, pop, and soul + costume contest with prizes to be won for the top three getups. $10.

10 pm Purple Stardust: Prince & Bowie Halloween Dance Party @ Sneaky Dee’s, 431 College St. Celebrate two musical legends this Halloween at Sneaky Dee’s! Expect to hear music by Prince, David Bowie, and more. $5 advance tickets available online.

10 pm Juicebox: Halloween Edition @ The Piston, 937 Bloor St. W. Throw on your coolest costume and get ready for the usual amazing tunes as DJs Babs and Jorge spin the indie, retro, and Britpop you need. You will hear: The Strokes, David Bowie, Pulp, The Stooges, LCD Soundsystem, Bloc Party, The Human League, Joy Division, Holy Ghost, Glass Candy, and lots more! Prizes for best costume. $10.

10 pm Worst Behavior: Hip-Hop Halloween @ Clinton’s, 693 Bloor St. W. Saturdays are for getting loose and being on your Worst Behavior! Bangs & Blush roll out rap and hip-hop from now and then. Costumes encouraged but not required (or just be like Rihanna, accessorize with a cat mask and call it a day). $10.

10 pm Panic: 80s & 90s Halloween Video Dance Party @ Remix, 1305 Dundas St. W. Do the Time Warp back to the ’80s and ’90s for a haunted evening of music videos selected by DJ Lazarus. Cash prizes for best costumes, Halloween decor, and treats around the club. $15 in advance, $20 at the door.

10 pm Stranger Things 80s Halloween Party @ Hard Luck, 772-A Dundas St. W. Hard Luck is heading back to the 1980s for the strangest and spookiest dance party you’ve ever seen. All your favourite ’80s tunes all night long. Consider this your formal invitation to the Upside Down for Halloween. $14.11 tickets available online.

10 pm No Requests: Halloween Edition @ Swan Dive, 1631 Dundas St. W. Come get spooky and scary as DJ BLKLUOS plays the best party music all night long. No cover and no requests.

10 pm Boos & Booze @ The Boat, 152-A Augusta Ave. Halloween dance party featuring DJs Tyler Johnston and Lowell Sostomi throwin’ up the biggest jams from the 1970s to 2019! $5 beers and $6 shots and rail. $5 before 11 pm, more after.

10 pm DJ Moe Funk @ Farside, 600 Gerrard St. E. DJ Moe Funk plays strictly vinyl funk, soul, old skool, jazz, and other treats.

10 pm Roll + Skank @ The Ossington, 61 Ossington Ave. DJ night with the hottest beats around. All the way from the UK, this is what you’ve been waiting for.

10:30 pm Jelly Halloween @ Glad Day Bookshop, 499 Church St. Jelly Halloween is pure wickedness! DJs Sammy Rawal, Tamika, and Diego Armand serving sounds all night to bounce to. House, trap, dancehall, vogue, club, dembow, afro, electronic, and baile funk. Come with LQQKs that kill. $10.

11 pm Itzsoweezee @ The Drake Underground, 1150 Queen St. W. Itzsoweezee is a party catering to lovers of floor-filling hip-hop, house, and electronic music. Wear your Halloween costume for a chance to win a $300 cash prize or gift cards! $10.

SUNDAY

11 am Punk Rock Flea Market @ Lee’s Palace, 529 Bloor St. W. Toronto’s gnarliest curated pop-up market, featuring the most rad selection of curated vendors, your old fave tunes, new buds, cold brews, and good times. Until 5 pm.

12 pm Pedestrian Sundays @ Kensington Market. The last Pedestrian Sundays of 2019! Celebrate Kensington Market and its vibrant community of businesses, artists, and people until 9 pm.

7 pm Brass Facts Trivia @ The Ossington, 61 Ossington Ave. Test your knowledge and win prizes! Hosted by Famous Kirk Hero. Until 10 pm.

10 pm Sinful Sundays Burlesque: Batwing Ball @ Cherry Cola’s, 200 Bathurst St. Come be entertained at this weekly “temple of tease,” where you’ll find a fresh lineup of burlesque entertainers, drag, and variety acts. Their Batwing Ball show features the darker side of striptease with spooky acts full of thrills and chills! Free entry; tipping encouraged.

~ For event submissions, email Caitlyn Holroyd at caitlyn_holroyd@hotmail.com