what’s on

Check out our ongoing and upcoming events and series.

events calendar

December 2023

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December 2023

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Waterfront ReConnect: Boom Town
Boom Town employs vibrant colour, playful characters, and environmental lighting to enliven the York Street intersection, improving safety and accessibility for pedestrians and cyclists.
An intersection under an urban highway is painted blue; maintenance equipment have been converted into bright, friendly characters with "googly eyes" overlooking passers-by

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Waterfront ReConnect: Pixel Story
Pixel Story references the multitude of vantages, scales, speeds, and distances at which to view the Expressway, enticing passersby to move forward towards the waterfront, or pause to reflect on its diverse stories.
Pedestrians explore a colourful wall under an expressway.

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Bentway Staging Grounds
Bentway Staging Grounds is a site of active, environmental learning that continues The Bentway’s creative work along the Gardiner Expressway. Visitors are invited into a living laboratory for urban ecology, with experimental gardens that use rainwater run-off from the highway above to support the growth of flowering plant species.

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Fountain Monumental
Logan MacDonald premieres Fountain Monumental, a series of 20-foot-tall images situated within the new Bentway Staging Grounds public space pilot. MacDonald re-imagines the original shoreline of Lake Ontario and invites us to consider the unique history of our city’s waterways while also imagining a decolonial future that prioritizes ecological preservation.
People walking on built pathways underneath a highway at night. Highway columns and large-scale screen installations showing abstract are brightly lit.

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The Gateway
A colourful procession of woven arches stretch across The Bentway’s Skate Trail, bringing the northern lights into the city. Yi Zhou and Carlos Portillo’s installation The Gateway accentuates the monumental architecture of the Gardiner with vibrant hues of green, blue, violet, and magenta.
Polar Bear Skate (2023)
The Bentway’s wildest winter tradition returns! Brave Torontonians are invited to strip down to their skivvies and skate the trail for a good cause. Our annual Polar Bear Skate is both a clothing drive and a bold way to close out the year.  The event is free to attend – just bring your skates and […]
Multiple people in undergarments ice skating.

on view / ongoing

  • Make the World Go Round

    Make the World Go Round

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    Toronto-based illustrator and muralist Caitlin Taguibao brings the city to life with Make the World Go Round, a striking signature mural installation that wraps the columns of the Bentway Skate Trail, immersing viewers in the iconic sights and scenes of the Toronto that we know and love. A vibrant tribute to the diversity of experiences that make Toronto great, this newly commissioned mural will offer fans a lasting impression as they leave the festival. 

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  • Roller Skate Lessons

    Roller Skate Lessons

    Fridays from Aug 7 to Sep 25, 2026. Two sessions: 6:30pm-7:30pm or 7:30pm-8:30pm.

    Learn how to roll with us! This summer, we’re offering weekly roller skate lessons for those who are looking to gain basic skills. Our expert instructors will help novice skaters build confidence on wheels and navigate our figure-eight trail. 

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  • A Persistent Crossing

    A Persistent Crossing

    May 9, 2026 to Spring 2027

    Bentway Staging Grounds hosts the final chapter of its immersive installations, where human silhouettes, native vegetation, and Ontario pollinators invite visitors to reflect on their place within the city. The work blurs boundaries between people, place, and the natural world, revealing the interconnected rhythms of built and living environments. 

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  • Petal and Stone

    Petal and Stone

    October 2025 through to 2027

    A 10,000 square-foot mural project inaugurates the Gardiner Wallworks series, transforming this concrete expanse into a poetic tableau of site memory, native flora, and symbolic passage. Inspired by the architecture and ecological communities bridging The Bentway and Exhibition Place, it offers commuters and residents an evocative new lens on their urban landscape.

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  • Waterfront ReConnect: Boom Town

    Waterfront ReConnect: Boom Town

    On view now

    Boom Town employs vibrant colour, playful characters, and environmental lighting to enliven the York Street intersection, improving safety and accessibility for pedestrians and cyclists.

  • Waterfront ReConnect: Pixel Story

    Waterfront ReConnect: Pixel Story

    On view now

    Pixel Story references the multitude of vantages, scales, speeds, and distances at which to view the Expressway, enticing passersby to move forward towards the waterfront, or pause to reflect on its diverse stories.

  • Bentway Staging Grounds

    Bentway Staging Grounds

    On view now

    Bentway Staging Grounds is a site of active, environmental learning that continues The Bentway’s creative work along the Gardiner Expressway. Visitors are invited into a living laboratory for urban ecology, with experimental gardens that use rainwater run-off from the highway above to support the growth of flowering plant species.

  • Memory Work  

    Memory Work  

    On display May 1, 2022 onwards

    Situated at the western entrance to The Bentway, Memory Work is a mural made up of twelve embellished photographic portraits of revolutionary women and non-binary figures from a future Toronto. Initiated by studio From Later with artist Rajni Perera and Memory Work Collective, this speculative monument imagines a city characterized by collective care and politics…

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