Place of light in winter darkness
It sounds counterintuitive, but the brightest thing I did this winter was go skiing at midnight in the Don Valley.
“Bright” as in light-filled, not bright as in smart: to ensure there would be no snow, I bought crosscountry skis in the new year. It’s like washing a car on a sunny day: despite predictions of a blizzard-filled winter, it hasn’t snowed too much in the city since then. Snow-haters would disagree, though, as even a small amount is too much. Yet snow is the least dreary thing about winter.
Two Mondays ago, it started to snow lightly throughout the day and by midnight, there was enough on the ground so I walked into Rosedale and started skiing along the Mount Pleasant Rd. sidewalk. At Roxborough Dr., I headed east into the quiet Park Drive Reservation lands where the light from mansions high atop the ravine edges casts enough ambient radiance that, when reflected off the snow, bathes the forest in a winter glow. In the summer, when there’s no reflection and the trees have their leaves, these trails are much darker at night, sometimes pitch black.
As the ravine opened up into the Don Valley, the street lights along Bayview Ave. and those super tall DVP light towers that burn like dozens of sickly yellow midnight suns along the highway ensured I could see just fine. I made my way past the Brickworks, up to Pottery Rd. and back down the Don Valley trail to Cabbagetown and the Wellesley St. footbridge. Other than drivers passing on the road, I didn’t see a soul on the trails, though tracks in the snow suggested people had been hiking through not so long before me.
It was a respite from this long darkness: once the holidays are over and the lights are put away, we plunge off a cliff into an abyss, even though the days are slowly getting longer.
Bless that guy on your street who leaves his Christmas tree up until April — he’s a flame fighting against the overwhelming gloom.
Though the Don Valley’s light makes for 24-hour-a-day winter sport possibilities, it most certainly messes with our circadian rhythms when night behaves like day. However, we still seem to crave light in the evenings and the people attending a few well-lit winter events around town are testament that winter hibernation isn’t mandatory in Toronto.
At Ontario Place, a winter festival runs until March 18. I visited on a frigid and windy night in mid-December and it was a rather wonderful experience. A massive bonfire next to the lagoon warmed us up while we were surrounded by the 1971 space-age pavilions, an interesting collision of ancient elements and modern architecture.
Through it was cold out, the west side of the island makes for a good walk while exploring 12 illuminated exhibitions made by 20 local artists. Moving around, we quickly warmed up. There’s also a synthetic skating rink to add to the space-age quality of the experience and 150 trees have been decorated with 180,000 fairy lights.
There were lots of people there despite the cold, but as the site is so big it’s easy to feel nearly alone, as if we had the park to ourselves, though the skyline is always right there reminding us how close we were to the city. The warm glow of Ontario Place contrasts with the empty parking lots of the CNE I walked across from the Exhibition Loop stop on the 509 Harbourfront streetcar before arriving. Programming a space with activities, art and exhibits is as important as the location itself.
We walked east by the lit up Cinesphere, along the empty marina area and exited through Trillium Park, which opened last spring on the east side of Ontario Place. Though dark here, it has the best view of the skyline, reflecting off the lake like an electric mountain range.
On the other side of downtown, the Distillery District is once again hosting the Toronto Light Festival, now in its second year and running until March 4. Visiting last Sunday, the place was as jammed as a summer day with people exploring a dozen light-based installations. Some are interactive, like a piano visitors can play that connects to multicoloured light boxes hanging over one of the laneways. People were out in droves at a time when, in the past, there wasn’t much to do outside.
A large area at the Distillery was also licensed, so people can have a drink outside in the winter. It’s almost like Toronto has become Montreal or Quebec, cities that have long embraced winter life.
If the long darkness is getting to you, there’s some evening relief, light and warmth available if you want it. Just be sure to bundle up. Shawn Micallef writes every Saturday about where and how we live in the GTA. Wander the streets with him on Twitter @shawnmicallef