The Holiday Street Market is a winter street festival located in downtown Milton on Main St that…read moreruns from Commercial St to Brown St on December 2, 9 and 16, 2017 from 12 pm - 7 pm and admission is free. I went this past Saturday and I was a little confused in the beginning looking for the Milton Christmas Market and the lead picture in some articles were using pictures of German Christmas Markets which is really misleading, just to be clear it's a winter street festival that you would find in Toronto in the summer but it's in the winter and geared towards the Christmas holidays. The official name is the Holiday Street Market. The festival was pretty busy and there were lots of food trucks and places selling poutine because it was a poutine festival, artisan vendors, a beer tent and storefronts selling items. It wasn't anywhere near as big as they promoted it to be but essentially it's a winter street festival promoting businesses in the Milton area. Some of the food items we tried were: Mac and Cheese Bites from Sul-Irmaos Smokehouse ($5 tax included): Five pieces of deep fried mac and cheese covered in a sweet chili aioli sauce, it was pretty decent, nice light batter, great sauce but the mac and cheese could have used an extra filler like bacon or sausage. Deep Fried Oreos (4 pieces for $5 tax included): Don't recall the name of the vendor but man, these things were delicious, who knew something so simple could taste so good. Chimcurri beef taco from Uncorked on Wheels ($5 tax included): really good tender beef, accompanied by some coleslaw which gave it a nice texture. MapleLodge Farms: Were giving out free hotdogs as long as you made a donation to the Sick Kids Hospital. They also had a small beer garden and a place that sold mulled wine if that's something you are interested in and local musicians performing and an area where you could take pictures with Santa. Overall, if you could get past the misleading pictures and realize it's actually a holiday street market/festival and not some huge Christmas Market, it's not a bad way to spend a Saturday afternoon if you are in Milton or the surrounding area. There was some decent food that was reasonably priced, admission was free and it wasn't overly crowded. There definitely is some room for improvement to give the Holiday Street Market a more festive holiday feel, like more carollers, a massive Christmas tree, opening later into the night.

BUYER BEWARE. We signed up as vendors for 2018. Setup was terrible, tents were not ready, power…read moreworked only intermittently at best. The token system was a complete failure and customers did not know how it worked and refused to use the system. Worst of all, we were never paid for our tokens by the market owners, despite several follow ups they simply kept our money. Scammers, do not become a vendor.

This was such a fun, spontaneous evening! It had a cool Oriental night market vibe with tons of…read morefood stalls, bouncy houses, and two live DJs. The food was tasty but definitely pricey, especially after the entrance fee (which wasn't cheap). Highlight was launching lanterns into the water such a sweet little moment with my kid. It felt like a cool blend of culture-meets-festival energy. Would totally go again, just maybe pre-game with snacks first .

The website: I wasn't impressed with this waterfront night…read moremarket. I had such high hopes though. Their marketing & pictures of past events looked so good. Hubby & I bought tickets for this year's event. Firstly, their website doesn't have any FAQs. Other than a link to buy tickets & what the cost of the ticket gets you there's not much more information. First Impressions: We arrived just after 4pm & lined up. We got through pretty quickly because there wasn't much of a lineup. The device they were using to scan tickets wouldn't scan ours so they took a picture instead. We had VIP tickets so we got the "nicer" red lantern with tealight candle (the kind with a battery & a switch to turn on). They did a bag check & saw one of us had a bottle of water with us (unopened). They made us throw it into the garbage before going in. That wasn't nice. I later saw people with their reusable water bottles walking around with it. Why were those allowed and not ours? Not nice. As we went inside some booths weren't even set up. Though a good amount were already making their food items for waiting customers. One booth near the entrance was grilling skewers & the smoke went everywhere. The food: After wandering around I decided to get the ube burger & fries from the Bunso booth. The burger was a lot smaller than I thought it would be. The beef patties inside were quite thin. It didn't look appetizing compared to the picture. But it tasted a lot better than it looked. LOL. One thing I will criticize about the burger I wish they hadn't put so much black pepper into the patty. It was a bit spicy for me. It would have been nice if they had seasoned it more gently. The fries were decent. My only complaint is that they weren't hot. But given the circumstances where they were cooked (outdoors on a windy day) I can understand that. The Chatime food truck was nearby so I bought a purple aura bubble tea drink from them. It was too sweet for me. I only drank about half of it before abandoning it. Later on I got the egg shaped waffles in a small carton & the combo comes with lemonade in a flask. This was from Eggette Lab. The flask is a round ring & the strap is pink. Hubby drank the weak lemonade in it. It was funny to see him wearing the flask with pink ribbon & cartoon cats on it. Hubby got chicken skewers from Bunso (no picture) & a Vietnamese coffee style drink (didn't catch name of food vendor). The good: -The red lanterns hanging above the dance floor were nice. -The water feature where the lanterns go was nice. But the water didn't look too clean. -There was a plastic gold dragon by the water which looks nice in pictures & there's a small red bridge beside the water feature for selfie shots. -There was also some plastic Fu dogs where the dragon dancers have a tent. -The fake cherry blossoms looked nice too. -People were friendly & food vendors were friendly. -There were picnic tables set up near the back of the area away from the dance floor. It was quieter there. -The live dj was good. The bad: -A lot of the same food vendors here have also been at Mel Lastman Square events which is free to get into - I didn't feel like I was getting anything special or VIP. I was hoping to see more food vendors I hadn't seen before. -The only washrooms were portapotties which were disgusting & dirty. You can use the washrooms at enercare center but you have to leave the market & might not be allowed back in. -The VIP ticket came with a free alcoholic drink. That booth wasn't even set up yet when we arrived. Hubby was able to get a soju bomb later. -There are no recycle bins or green bins. Everything goes into the garbage. That's a lot of waste. When we got home we opened up the lanterns to look at them. They are cheap plastic lanterns. We recycled them at home. The electronic tea lights are ones you can get at the dollar store. It was nice to experience a different night market but I don't think I'll come back to this one. There are tons of free-entry night markets around the city that I can go to.

The Magical Lights of Milton is a Christmas fundraiser light show for the Milton Hospital. It is a…read more17min light show. You can donate $10 (or more). You need to turn your car radio (or any radio on your phone too) to 99.7FM for the music. It is pretty cool and the people running this has a nice taste in music. However, it is pretty confusing if it is your first time there because there seems to be a bunch of cars staying idle around not knowing what to do. I suggest you drive around the street to find a space, park there and listen to the music.

This festival is a local favourite. It gets extremely crowded and it's very difficult to find…read moreparking. We eventually found parking at the marina behind the waterside inn for $10. There is lots of free street parking all around...but good luck with that! The driving on lakeshore and surrounding streets is ridiculous. Find somewhere to park a little farther away and walk to the festival if possible. Entrance is free and there are regular shows happening on the open (but covered) stage in the gazebo. Many of the shows were interactive with the audience. Lots of carnival rides, games and junk food available....for $&. But the beauty is the location has a lovely playground that kids can play in for free. Food trucks, vendors, ice cream, lemonade and a poutine alley. We did not make it as far as the poutine trucks as we had dinner reservations at one of the many restaurants within walking distance. We did snack and have drinks from some of the trucks while there.

A well organized event in 2018. The festival was an amazing experience as it is most years. There…read morewas a drum cart which was an ingenious invention. I have a picture posted. The music was quite ok. The variety of food was amazing. Keep it up organizers.

This was our first time going to the Santa Claus parade in Milton and I was pleasantly surprised…read more The parade started at 1:30, and while it took a bit of time to look for a parking spot (tons of residential streets in the area, though we ended up parking in a commercial plaza's parking lot), there were still plenty of good, unobstructed viewing spots along the parade route. We lucked out on the weather today as it was sunny and above zero degrees, though I've heard that it can be windy and snowing this time of year - so we didn't end up putting the kids in snowsuits this year, which is a bonus. There were nicely decorated floats, mixed in with some marching bands and dance groups. Lots of candy canes were handed out, it felt like Halloween all over again! The Santa float came along at 2:30 (we were close to the parade starting point) and both my toddlers had a wonderful time. If you don't want to fight the traffic and crowds at the Santa Claus parade in Toronto, I suggest you give the Milton parade a try!

I've been to many Halloween events and this, by far, is one of my fav! It's not meant to be scary…read morelike Casa Loma's Legends of Horror or Screemers, nor does it have roller coasters and mazes like CW's Haunt, but it does have craftsmanship and artistry and guarantees a fun outing for the fam. Located at Country Heritage Park in Milton, this self-paced 1km leisurely walk is lined with hundreds of carved pumpkins. Some are single carved pumpkins, while others are arranged into one cohesive image. It's incredible, the amount of detail and work that goes into each pumpkin carving. The pumpkins are organized by themes and have the occasional plaque with some descriptors. New this year was the Dracula Maze which takes place inside a large barn. There were no jump scares and have a few live actors inside. The pumpkins are carved each year. And while it might not make a good photo to have someone stand in front of the pumpkins, they'd set up a small area with spotlights where you can take some cute pictures. We went on pet night and I think my dog enjoyed it... we even got a bag of dog treats when we left.

They're creepy & they're kooky, mysterious & spooky. They're all neat at the park, it's the…read morePumpkins after Dark! Summer is winding and Halloween is the next big day that kids look forward to celebrating. So what better to do than drive the fam out to Milton to see some Jack-o-Lanterns come alive at night. Given the pandemic is still upon us, a drive-through format has been retained this year from Sep 17 to Nov 8. Staff guided the 2.5 km route and ensured car headlights were off (or covered) such that their pumpkin display was the star of the show. When it was finally pitch dark after sunset, it was time to get the show on the road after much eager anticipation... Displays included favourites from Harry Potter, Star Wars and Game of Thrones. Disney classics, Greek mythologies, X-Men heroes, Naruto characters and Rock n Roll stars were also out n' about, while artistic renditions of the Day of the Dead, a Freak Show, and the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse catered to the Halloween theme. There was even a live pumpkin carving demonstration, as well as pumpkin-made rainbow bridges to pass under. With over 5,000 hand-carved pumpkins along the route, the displays are a fun sight for sore eyes! I have to admit from afar, each colourful work resembled those at holiday light shows. But upon closer inspection each was intricately composed of pumpkins. Talk about upping the level of difficulty for a one-of-a-kind family experience.

On Saturday July 26 I attended the TFOB. It was my 2nd time attending this particular Beer Fest…read more but my previous visit was in 2011, 14 years ago, at the same location, west side of The CNE Grounds. I arrived in the long lineup to get in at about 2:20 pm, 20 minutes after the Fest. started. The line moved fairly steadily and I got in at about 2:40. As usual at the bigger Beer Fests that I attend, I walked around to get 'a lay of the land' and find out which Breweries and other beverage Companies were there and what they had available. My admission included a sampling glass and 5 tokens which could be used for beverages and food. Additional tokens cost $1 each and samples were predominantly 2 tickets for a 4 oz (half glass) pour, therefore $2/each. I started sampling around 3 pm and continued doing so for 3 1/2 plus hours; I had a total of 10 samples - mainly beer - but also Pear Apple Cider and Mango Guava Vodka Soda. I experienced a wide variety of flavours and styles in the different beverages I had. Loud music was playing through large speakers in the large outdoor area that the Fest. mainly took place in; indoors there was a stage with instruments on it and several other beverage providers. For food, there were food trucks stationed in a separate area at the Fest.; due to the cost I had lunch beforehand. It started to rain later in the afternoon and I left around 6:45 pm. More Attendees had arrived as the afternoon progressed and although it became fairly crowded outside, there was still adequate room to circulate throughout the Fest. I quite enjoyed experiencing the TO Beer Fest. for my 1st time in a very long time. Largely a younger crowd was present and it appeared to me that many others who came quite enjoyed attending as well.

In the last 2 decades, I have been to TFOB probably 6-7 times. It was previously held at Fort York…read morebut a while ago, with growing popularity - they moved the location to Exhibition Place. I was not happy about this change because it became less accessible (far from the city core, and need to take GO transit) but I go there anyway as I love beers. I go there to sample many different beers - it is HEAVEN for beer lovers. Just like endless beer flights. Especially, if you have luck with the weather - the experience will be very relaxing. To me, it is like a paradise - surrounded by hundreds of thousands of happy, friendly, and cheerful zythophiles - feels like a community celebrating the golden beverage! As per food - the qualities are declining, unfortunately. They used to invite a variety of Toronto's popular restaurants and chefs, but not anymore. Now all are "food track level" except for Oyster Boys. Food can be purchased with both cash and tokens. Tokens are sold by mobile-token-sellers - TFOB staff are walking around selling tokens. It accepts credit and debit cards but I strongly recommend you carry cash, as the debit machine seemed to have a lot of issues here and there. Beers - there are several sections based on the types of producers (import, local, newbies, etc...). My recommendation is the area called "Change Makers" - you can sample new local breweries' products on tap - if you want to support new local businesses, and try new and different beers, it is a "must go". This year's best was - Town Brewery (Whitby). I am not saying this just because I am a Whitby resident. This place is really passionate about what they are doing and continues to make high-quality beer. I was glad to have beer from Left Field - for established stability. We also had a very nice conversation with the staff from Old Credit Brewing Co - I thought their beer was worth people's attention! Final note - be careful about the size of the bag you bring in. If it is too big, you are not allowed to enter. Only a small handbag is allowed. No backpack. There is no locker around (on-site, at Exhibition GO station or Union Go). So, you will be in big trouble if you have a big bag! Cheers!

Disclaimer: I won 2 complimentary tickets from Yelp Toronto Giveaway. So we ended up just paying…read morefor the food. Love the set up and location of Taste of Toronto. This is the first time I ever been to Fort York. Getting there was easy as Streetcar 509 get me right to the entrance. The ground is spacious and I like the white tent like set up giving it an English Garden gallery vibe. I was expecting the worse since I attended the Saturday Evening Session but was pleasantly surprised that the event was well organized and it was not too crowded. Maximum wait for me was less than 10 minutes for anything. Most of the restaurant vendors did have good time management and kudos for all the kitchen staff working so hard keeping us all fed and wait time to the minimum. We ended up trying Little Sister's Pork Belly ($8), Morimoto Toronto's Uni Carbonara with a bottle of S.Pellegrino ($8) and THR's Lobster Grits ($10). Each dish was well presented with good flavours. There are also a lot of free sampling and tasting in various food vendors, For wine tasting, they are going for $1 each or so. Love the different demo. Getting into Master Cooking Classes were impossible with the limited first come first serve openings but watching the cooking class was just as fun. American Express Lounge was a nice touch from AMEX as it has free samples and free bottle water to keep you hydrated. I would come back next year on a nice day to spend a few hours to wander around and sample some food. The longest line being Richmond Station and Drake. I would suggest to skip those as it really was no point spending your time lining up for food.

Contrary to a lot of reviews below, I absolutely loved Taste of Toronto…read more Our group wanted to try a variety of options, so we pooled our money and loaded it on 1 card. Surprisingly, the wait time to try top restaurants were not bad at all. We pretty much got a taste of every dish at every place. By the end of the night, I was holding my magnum ice cream with a big smile on my face. My friends were all struggling to walk and wanting to roll home instead. The main dish that made my night was: Splendido - "True North Atlantic Salmon Sashimi from Atlantic Canada - Avocado, sesame, race cakes." This dish had the "Wow factor." After having a slice, I was in shock. I honestly could not stop talking about how delicious this dish was that night. I had to get a second order immediately. The sauce had the perfect amount of flavor without being too strong to cover the taste of the freshly sliced Salmon Sashimi. The texture from the avocado compliments the tenderness and chewiness of the Sashimi perfectly. Amazing! What I really like about this festival is that you get a taste of the food from top restaurants around Toronto. I will definitely be trying Splendido shortly in the future. I look forward to Taste of Toronto next year and I highly recommend others to join me as well!