Ontario Family Day 2011, the most boringly named but nevertheless welcome holiday is upon us. So I've made it my goal to find some stuff to do in Toronto that doesn't suck (for humans and zombies). And for those of you not into the family thing, not to fear, the presence of kin is not a prerequisite for most of these events and activities. But before I get to what's going on, here's a review of what's open and closed on Monday.
Closed
- Most shopping centres and major grocery stores
- All LCBO and Beer Stores
- City of Toronto and other government offices (of course)
- Toronto Public Libraries
Open
- The TTC will be on a holiday schedule (but scheduled track work has been cancelled)
- The Pacific Mall, the Eaton Centre (10-6) and most stores in its vicinity on Yonge Street
- Various City of Toronto museums, the ROM, Ontario Science Centre, and CN Tower
- Movie theatres
What's happening in Toronto
- The TIFF Lightbox has a variety of free programming over the weekend, including Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland.
- The NFB Mediatheque ONF is also open and offering both film screenings and animation workshops.
- Spacing Magazine is having a launch party for their Winter Issue at the El Mocambo.
- Sticking with the film film theme, Ron Mann will be at the Camera Bar to discuss his documentary film work (starts at 6pm).
- The Drake Hotel will be open and hosting its live music series Elvis Monday's, featuring Drunk Hussy, Heartbeat Hotel, Alex Low, The Wildcore, Teen Tits and Wild Wives.
- Two of the year's biggest trade shows are taking place this weekend in the Auto Show and the National Home Show.
- Though not an event per se, the Annex's Snakes and Lattes will be open and offering up is hundreds of boardgames for those who enjoy getting competitive with family members.
- And if none of this sounds appealing, perhaps something as simple as skating might do the trick. Here's a list of some of the city's best outdoor rinks, and two recent additions (all of which are scheduled to be open).
Lead photo of a very happy looking zombie family by eudaimon in the blogTO Flickr pool.