Cavalcade of Lights Saturday

To kick-off the holiday season, we went to Nathan Phillips Square on Saturday night to witness the Cavalcade of Lights!

This tradition takes place in Nathan Phillips Square, in front of Toronto City Hall and has been going on for 50 years. The first events started at 7 pm, and activities went until 10:30 pm. We decided to pick the events we really wanted to see as unfortunately it was drizzly during this outdoor spectacle.

When we arrived, slightly after 8 pm, the giant tree had already been lit and Cris Derksen's Cavalcade Orchestra was serenading the audience with Christmas songs while people were skating in the first outdoor skate of the year.

A crowd gathered for the event - believe it or not, there's a skating rink in there somewhere!

The Cavalcade Orchestra finished off with an aboriginal hoop dance before Red Pepper Spectacle Arts lead a costumed procession close to City Hall. We may have been a bit too far away to see the procession, but we had a perfect view when it came to the FIREWORKS!

After the fireworks, we made our way through the crowd to get closer to the stage for the next performances while just about everyone else was trying to go the opposite way. It was slightly tricky to get through the crowd, but after a while we got close to the stage and enjoyed a performance by the duo, Whitehorse. We stayed for almost their entire set before the rain and drizzle got the best of us, ducking into a pub on the way home to warm ourselves up. 

The Christmas Spirit must have gotten to us on Saturday, because on Sunday afternoon Elizabeth decorated the apartment, a whole four days before December 1st! 

Here are a few more photos of the Cavaclade of Lights extravaganza:

(SLIDESHOW)

This time last year we were making use of our ROM memerships at their special Pompeii exhibition. Two years ago we were trying some fancy Newfoundland food, and in 2013 we visited a Admiralty House Museum and tried out a gluten free bakery.