Your guide to a joyful LONG WEEKEND
From picnic-ready takeout to hidden-gem parks and Toronto-made movies, local experts share their advice for making the best of the May 2-4 holiday
This spring has been tough, but thankfully our fair city still has so much to offer, lockdown or no. Make this May long weekend one to remember, whether it’s discovering a cool new park, packing an epic picnic — or just taking in a classic Toronto-made movie. Here’s our Together guide to having a great holiday weekend, even when most places are closed.
5 TAKEOUT OPTIONS FOR THE PERFECT PICNIC
Experts: Ann Kim, Jed Smith, and Peter Jensen, co-owners of Junction Triangle restaurant Donna’s
Credentials: Donna’s is not only one of the very best restaurants in the city, but their fresh, innovative fare makes for some heavenly takeout (their roast beef sandwich and pea salad are truly legendary).
Donna’s (827 Lansdowne Ave.) Although sandwiches would be the obvious choice for a picnic, there are lots of other items off our menu that we think would be a great choice for dining al fresco, such as our chicken drummers with green garlic and ramp ranch and hot sauce. Take the food to Campbell Park around the corner from us, or walk a little further to the rail path or Wallace Emerson.
ACR Hot Roti & Doubles (2680 Lawrence Ave. E.)
The doubles here are the best around! The baras (fried flat dough) are so pillowy we could eat them all day. It is worth it to drive several minutes out of your way to pick them up on the way to your picnic destination at Bluffer’s Park or Rouge Park.
The Manna (726 Bloor St. W.)
Do you know about gimbap? That’s what you need to get at the Manna. Gimbap is a popular Korean snack and is the perfect picnic food. It’s a similar format to maki rolls, but instead of fish, it’s usually filled with beef or egg, spinach, carrot, burdock root, cucumber or pickled radish. If you have a big appetite and are craving variety, get some extra snacks at Banjara and Tacos el Asador and have a feast in Christie Pits.
Pai Northern Thai Kitchen (18 Duncan St.)
Get some Pad Thai and also some spring rolls and skewers and then head over to the lake. You can find a spot near the harbour or you can maybe hop on the ferry to the islands and have your picnic there. The food will bring you peak summer-beach vibes.
Que Ling Vietnamese Cuisine
(248 Boulton Ave.)
You can’t go wrong with a fresh banh mi for your picnic. Take it over to Riverdale Park and watch over the city at sunset.
5 HIDDEN-GEM PARKS TO EXPLORE
Expert: Bob Georgiou of the Toronto blog Scenes From A City
Credentials: Georgiou started his city blog in 2012 to learn more about his beloved Toronto and has been traversing the GTA ever since, documenting its historical spots, picturesque places — and gorgeous parks.
Here are some of Georgiou’s favourite hidden-gem parks for you to discover this weekend: Lakeview Park, Oshawa
This park has everything: tons of picnic space, a beach, a boardwalk, walking paths and the Oshawa Museum, which features some of the city’s most historic buildings, like the 1849 Henry House and 1846 Robinson House.
Lake Wilcox Park, Richmond Hill One of a few kettle lakes in the Oak Ridges area, Wilcox Lake has a great boardwalk and walking paths (kettle lakes are the water-filled grooves and dips in the land created in the last ice age by retreating glaciers). Bonus: it’s also located near the ecologically significant Oak Ridges Corridor Conservation Reserve trail system.
Forks of the Credit Provincial Park, Caledon
The goal here is hitting the Cataract Falls, with your journey taking you over steep hills, near the flowing Credit River, and through beautiful meadows.
Kortright Centre for Conservation, Vaughan
This scenic park offers a collection of beautiful trails, with tall trees (which, in pre-COVID times, feature in the annual Maple Syrup Festival) and breathtaking vistas of the nearby Humber River. Bring your binoculars — Kortright is known for its amazing bird sightings, like the mighty peregrine falcon!
Earl Bales Park, Toronto Yesterday’s private golf course is today’s ski hill and neighbourhood park. Earl Bales Park comes with a stormwater pond and historic house among its surprises.
3 FUN FAMILY ACTIVITIES
Expert: Tanya Hayles, founder of the Black Moms Connection community
Credentials: There is one silver lining to the COVID-19 era: “If the pandemic has given us anything as parents, it’s extra time that we likely wouldn’t have gotten as working parents,” says Hayles, a busy mother who is also an in-demand event planner, speaker and founder of agency Color In White Spaces, which provides anti-Black racism education.
Here are Hayles’s favourite ways to spend a long weekend with the family:
Toronto Railway Museum (255 Bremner Blvd.)
While the indoor component is closed, the outdoor component is sure to delight that train-obsessed toddler/pre-schooler. Its proximity to Rogers Centre and the CN Tower makes it a destination where you can walk around and take pictures.
Scarborough Bluffs (1 Brimley Rd. S) Sometimes it’s hard to believe such a beautiful spot is right in our backyard. Pack a picnic, and create a bingo card of things to see and find and do along the beach and trails.
Science At Home (ontariosciencecentre.ca)
Turn your kitchen into a science lab and test out some of the Ontario Science Centre’s DIY projects, like making a cardboard Mars rover or growing a crystal.
4 MOVIES TO COSY UP WITH AT NIGHT
Expert: Anne Brodie, film critic
Credentials: Film critic Anne Brodie is busier than ever. She says: “movie releases have tripled since the pandemic landed!” Her reporting on films and filmmakers can be heard on “What She Said with Candace Sampson,” where she dishes on the deluge of new releases.
“Unarmed Verses”
Charles Officer’s soul-stirring documentary looks at a 12-yearold Black girl in crisis. The city is planning to tear down Toronto Community Housing’s Villaways neighbourhood to build luxury condos. She deals with disruption, economic discrimination and family problems with grace and intelligence, alone. It’ll get you.
“Bollywood/Hollywood” and
“My Big Fat Greek Wedding” These feel like basically the same movie so I counted them as one: romantic comedies with weddings and culture crossovers; one is bad and one is better, but they are both joyous. Life is mixed, but there is wedding cake so we plod on. “Take This Waltz”
This sunshine opus on love is set firmly on a Toronto street where sunlight beams through the green canopy and brings life to the people and places below. But there is shade as a woman married five years is restless. See, she’s met a fella ... Clearly a work from writer-director Sarah Polley’s artistic heart and soul. Still reverberates today and I haven’t seen it since 2011.