10 Ideas to Celebrate Father’s Day in Toronto
Celebrate this special day with Dad: gift him a memorable weekend of togetherness and enjoy some of the events taking place in and around Toronto.
We have listed events for the whole weekend so you can find something to do on whichever day suits you best.
For more ideas, see Things to Do this weekend in Toronto
I. Father’s Day Brunch/Dinner/BBQ
Plenty of restaurants around Toronto are offering dine-in options, some specifically crafting a Father’s Day menu for the special day. See the list for a selection of restaurants ranging from classic steaks, and hearty comfort food, to amazing, unique brunch options to celebrate Father’s Day with quality dine-in food.
If you like to plan a picnic in the park, companies across GTA offer elevated experiences with tables, cushions and delicious food.
Toronto Harbour Father’s Day Cruise: Enjoy a brunch or dinner cruise — stunning skyline views, inspired cuisine and an experience unlike any other all make for the perfect celebration.
Father’s Day BBQ & Craft Beer Experience: This Father’s Day, Pingle’s Farm is hosting the ultimate beer & bbq experience. Your experience starts when you receive your ‘passport’ at admissions, and from there it’s nothing but pilsners, lagers, ipas, smoked meat, saucy sides & more. The whole family can experience farm fun attractions and u-pick strawberries and asparagus.
II. Food, Craft Beer, Wine & More
Celebrate Father’s Day and the start of summer by enjoying these great food festivals taking place in Toronto:
1. Taco Fest
Taste Toronto’s three-day fiesta’s electric atmosphere showcases some of Toronto’s best and most celebrated chefs with an authentic Mexican twist. Join for tacos, guacamole, churros, tequila, hot sauce and everything Mexican!
June 16 to 18, 2023 @ The Grounds at Hotel X, 109 Princes’ Blvd, Toronto
2. Taste of Little Italy
All weekend you’ll have a chance to taste classic italian food, fuzion restaurants, wine and cocktails on extended patios, authentic Spiducci and more while taking in performances from international and local artists as you explore the authentic culture of Italy on College Street. An event for foodies and music lovers.
June 16 to 18, 2023 @ College St between Bathhurst and Shaw, Toronto | Free admission
3. Father’s Day Food Tour
What’s a better gift for this Father’s Day than taking Dad out on the ultimate food adventure! Explore Kensington Market to experience all of the fantastic flavours that make this neighbourhood so unique. Come hungry, and you will not be leaving with an empty stomach!
June 18, 2023 @ Kensington Market, 30 St Andrew St, Toronto
4. Toronto Beaches Rib & Beer Festival
Visit Woodbine Park for a family-filled weekend of excitement and delicious food. Experience Country Night, Rock the Park, Music Mash-Up, and Ribs on Sunday. Indulge in mouthwatering dishes like pork ribs, beef brisket, pulled pork, BBQ chicken, and more.
June 16 to 18 @ Woodbine Park, 1675 Lakeshore Boulevard East, Toronto
5. Mississauga Halal Food Festival
A celebration of halal food connecting a diverse variety of halal cuisines with fun and entertainment.
Jun 16 to 17, 2023 @ Mississauga Celebration Square, 300 City Centre Dr, Mississauga
6. Halal Food Tour
Working alongside favourite food truck vendors, Night Market Toronto is bringing together 15-17 local food and beverage artisans.
June 17 to 18 @ Harbourfront Centre, 235 Queens Quay W, Toronto
7. For the Love of Fathers and Food Trucks
Celebrate the special fathers in your lives, with FOOD TRUCKS, beverage vendors, marketplace goodies, music, axe throwing and fun for the whole family.
Sunday June 18, 2023 | 11 am – 5 pm @ Milton Fair Grounds , 136 Robert Street, Milton
8. Multicultural Fine Food Festival
Enjoy a celebration of global flavors, culinary creativity, and cultural diversity that will delight your taste buds and captivate your senses.
June 16 to 18, 2023 @ The International Centre, 6900 Airport Road, Mississauga
9. Mississauga Creative Craft Beer Festival
June 16 to 17, 2023 @ Small Arms Inspection Building (SAIB), Lakeshore Road East, Mississauga
10. Wingsanity
Indulge in ‘all you can eat’ wings at St. Louis locations nationwide. . Guests can indulge in the popular annual all-you-can-eat chicken wing event for just $23.99.
Until July 2, 2023 @ St. Louis Bar and Grill – All Locations, Ontario
III. Go Fishing for Free
Go fishing with Dad for free! OFFE is a province-wide opportunity for Canadian residents to fish Ontario licence-free.
June 17 – 18, 2023 (12:01 a.m. Saturday to 11:59 p.m. Sunday)
Ontario Waters
Free
IV. Celebrate Pride
With Pride Parade and major events scheduled for June 23-24 weekend, Pride celebrations will be kicking into high gear! There are live music, comedy, and food events to celebrate families of all colours.
- Night at the Aqueerium: Kick off your Pride celebration under the sea with drag performances by Tiffany Boxx and DJ sets with John Caffery and Pleasure. June 16 @ Ripley’s Aquarium
- BACKYARD @ stackt: Join for an epic PRIDE party, featuring a small business vendor market, music series, DJs, food stations, workshops + drag performances. All celebrating the city’s best 2SLGBTQ+ artists + creatives. June 17 @ stackt market, 28 Bathurst Street, Toronto
- Comedy On The D: Celebrating Pride Month with some of Toronto’s best LGBTQ+ comedians! June 17th @ Mandy’s Bistro, 123 Danforth Avenue, Toronto
V. Horses, Races & Vintage Cars
Experience the thrill of a car race, a rodeo or check out the meanest machines this weekend with Dad!
- Yorkville Exotic Car Show: Walk along the red carpet to get up close with some of the best examples of automotive design from around the world. Join us on Father’s Day 2023 to see over 120 classic and exotic cars, including SuperCars, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Porsche and more. June 18th@ Bloor St. W. from Avenue Rd. to Bay St. in Yorkville
- VARAC Vintage Grand Prix: Give Dad a special treat this Father’s Day weekend – a trip to CTMP to see beautifully restored cars from the past 50-plus years of motorsports, racing on our world-famous Grand Prix circuit. June 16 to 18 @ Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, 3233 Concession Rd 10, Bowmanville
- Pepsi North America Cup: Gear up for an action-packed night and witness the best of standardbred racing at the 2023 Pepsi North America Cup. Canada’s richest standardbred race features a thrilling card of live racing with more than $2 million in purses, live music, interactive activities and food and drink specials. June 17th @ Woodbine Mohawk Park, 9430 Guelph Line, Campbellville
- Dragon Boat Race Festival: Head to Toronto Islands for a day in the sun! The Festival includes competitive heritage dragon boat races for all ages and physical abilities, entertainment, cultural and heritage, and other fun things to see and do! June 17 & 18 @ Centre Island, Toronto Islands
- Headwaters RAM Rodeo: Bring your dad and the whole family to watch the live action sport of rodeo! Saddle up because Orangeville is going to get wild and western during the rodeo weekend! What better way to show your dad how much he means to you than by bringing him to a live action-packed rodeo, just like the Calgary Stampede! June 17 & 18 @ Orangeville Fairgrounds, 47090 5 Sideroad, Orangeville
- Toronto Argonauts: Take Dad for a Father’s Day game as Toronto Argonauts take on Hamilton Tiger-Cats. June 18 @ BMO Field, Toronto
- Scarborough Shooting Stars: If Dad prefers basketball, enjoy a game of Canadian Elite Basketball League vs Brampton Honey Badgers. June 18 @ Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre, 875 Morningside Ave, Toronto
VI. Farm Fun, Midways and more! For the Family
- Indigenous Arts Festival & Na-Me-Res Traditional Pow Wow: Celebrate with traditional and contemporary music, dance, theatre, storytelling, literature, crafts, and food created by indigenous artists. Native Men’s Residence Traditional Pow Wow features traditional dancing, drumming, feast, giveaway, kids’ area, craft vendors, and information tables. More than one hundred traditional dancers are expected to participate. June 17 & 18 @ Fort York
- Wild West Train: Come celebrate with YDHR at the Wild West Frontier. Go back in time as we blaze a new trail surrounded by, sheriffs, and cowboys. Your journey will begin at our Uxbridge station where you will embark on a 1 Hour Train Ride that is transporting Gold for the Bank of Canada, but becareful because you never know when bandits are going to board the train. @ York-Durham Heritage Railway, 19 Railway Street, Uxbridge
- Sound of Music Festival: This is one of the biggest free music festivals in GTA and features a grand parade, Midway and free concerts for four days on Father’s Day Weekend. Until June 18th @ Spencer Smith Park, Burlington.
- Magic Dads: Magic Dads is full of high energy magic, laughs and amazing illusions. This super interactive show is sure to have the entire family laughing, gasping and screaming the entire way through. June 18 @ The Rec Room, 100 City Centre Drive Mississauga
- Highland Creek Heritage Festival: Highland Creek Heritage Festival celebrates one of the earliest settlements in the Scarborough community with a fun-filled day of music, food and entertainment for the whole family! Saturday, June 17, 2023 @ Highland Creek Community Park, 3500 Ellesmere Rd, Scarborough
- American Crown Circus & Circo Osorio: This unique circus was designed with the family audience in mind. Children and adults will be captivated as aerial artistry unfolds, motorcycles madness, acrobats defying the law of gravity inches from their seats. @ Lawrence Allen Centre, 700 Lawrence Ave W, Toronto
- African Safari: Enjoy 9 kms of drive through Game Reserves that takes approximately one hour to complete and see lions, giraffe, cheetah, rhinos and over 1,000 other exotic birds and animals up close.
- Pick Your Own Strawberries: Visit GTA & Hamilton Strawberry Farms for a fun outing and pick your own strawberries! Whether you’re craving some fresh fruits or just want to support your local farmer, there is a wide variety of U-pick berry farms!
- Celebrating Parents: Forsythe Family Farms is treating parents and Grandparents to a free day on the farm when they are accompanied by their kids on June 19th. Enjoy a day meeting our barnyard animal friends, a family-themed scavenger hunt, our Forest Trail, Barnyard Adventure playground, and more.
- Kooza – Cirque du Soleil: KOOZA is a return to the origins of Cirque du Soleil that combines two circus traditions—acrobatic performance and the art of clowning. The show highlights the physical demands of human performance in all its splendor and fragility, presented in a colorful mélange that emphasizes bold slapstick humor.
VII. Shop For Last Minute Gifts
Were you not able to shop for Dad? Here are some markets and shows taking place this weekend:
- Filipino Night Market: Celebrate the rich heritage of the Philippines at the Filipino Night Market themed “7000 Islands” through its food and culture. June 16 to 17, 2023 @ Scarborough Town Centre, 500 Progress Ave, Scarborough
- Lucky Lion Night Market: This 4-day event will feature 40 food vendors and trucks cooking innovative and exclusive food items on-site. Look forward to countless exciting eats such as grilled oysters and lamb/squid skewers, Korean corn dogs, sculptural cotton candy and stinky tofu! June 15 to 18, 2023 @ CF Markville Mall, Markham
- Nostalgic Market (Vintage Clothing & More): A weekend of all things vintage clothing and nostalgic collectibles and more that will bring you back to the glory days. June 17 & 18 @ Woolfits, 1153 Queen St. W, Toronto
- Kreative Market June Craft Show: If you are looking for unique gifts for Dad or even just a treat for yourself, join our market! June 17 @ Brick Box, 1233 Rear Queen Street W , Toronto
VIII. Enjoy a concert!
Take Dad to see some of his favourite artists!
- The Pink Floyd Exhibition: Their Mortal Remains: Embark on a journey through Pink Floyd’s epic history, exploring their unique fusion of music, art and design, groundbreaking sound technology, and unforgettable live performances. @ Better Living Centre, 195 Princes’ Blvd, Toronto
- NXNE: Canada’s most important festival of emerging music features over 300 of the world’s best new bands in more than 20 of Toronto’s top live music venues.
- Markham Village Music Festival: Markham Village Music Festival will have over 50 artists lined up for some awesome performances, Kidz Zone, a vendor village, a beatbox battle and much more.
- Pickering Village Jam: There will be amazing music. There will be delicious food and most importantly, there will be fun for the whole family! – June 16 to 18, 2023 @ Pickering Village, 109 Old Kinston Rd, Ajax
- Music on the River: Take a scenic paddle with Dad and then watch Toronto artists on the dock from your canoe or kayak. June 16 @ Humber River Paddling Centre, 9 Old Mill Rd, Toronto
- Opera Revue Father’s Day Show: What better way to celebrate your dad than to bring him to a bar that serves whiskey and opera? Listen to opera favourites while sampling the delicious menu and extensive whiskey collection! June 18 @ The Emmet Ray, 924 College St, Toronto
- Luminato Music Weekend: Celebrate the incredible community of musicians from across the world and around the block who will make Toronto sing and dance! June 17 & 18 @ David Pecaut Square, 215 King St W, Toronto
- Yuja Wang’s Rachmaninoff: Prepare for an extraordinary concert experience when megastar Yuja Wang tackles the staggering virtuosity of Rachmaninoff’s lush and legendary Third Piano Concerto, a piece so difficult it’s often described as the Mt. Everest of concertos. @ Roy Thomson Hall, 60 Simcoe Street, Toronto
- Heritage Sounds Music Festival: Don’t miss the Annual Heritage Sounds Music Festival, a 3-day extravaganza featuring over 50 artists and a diverse lineup of music genres. @ Various Venues, Brampton
IX. Theatre, and Cultural Festivals!
Check out Toronto’s premier cultural festival or attend a theatre show with Dad!
- Romeo and Juliet: Alexei Ratmansky created his stunning adaptation of Romeo and Juliet for The National Ballet of Canada in 2011. The production is true to the colour and character of 16th century Verona and the choreography includes fast footwork, expressive pas de deux and inspired ensemble work that drives the story. @ The Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, 145 Queen Street West, Toronto
- Japanese Film Festival: The Toronto Japanese Film festival showcases the finest Japanese films that have been recognized for excellence by Japanese audiences and critics, international film festival audiences and the Japanese Film Academy.
- Perceptual Archaeology: The play reveals unexpected relationships with time, geography, and meaning. It asks us to question how we perceive and make meaning of the spaces around us and recounts a story that is playful, unpredictable, and revelatory. @ Streetcar Crowsnest, 345 Carlaw Ave, Toronto
X. For the Gardener Dad!
- Enjoy a stroll at the gardens: Gorgeous gardens span across the Greater Toronto Area, and range from flowers that come in all colours of the spectrum to shrubs and bushes that make up a visually beautiful green backdrop for a stroll.
- Seeing the Invisible: Set amid the landscape of Royal Botanical Gardens, Seeing the Invisible features augmented reality (AR) works by more than a dozen international artists including Ai Weiwei, Refik Anadol, El Anatsui, Mohammed Kazem, Sigalit Landau, Sarah Meyohas, Pamela Rosenkranz, and Timur Si-Qin—including several artists’ firsts works in AR.
- Sculpture Gardens: Enjoy a walk through outdoor sculpture gardens. Sculpture gardens are the perfect blend between nature and art, featuring art installations from local and international artists and concerning multiple different themes. As you stroll or bike through these outdoor galleries, you’ll find yourself experiencing a unique story at each location.
- Garden Centres: Shop for plants and spend some time creating a garden with Dad.
More Fun: Go on an adventure
There are many fun outdoor activities to do this weekend. For more activities, see Ontario adventures!
- Go Lazy River Tubing: Round up the family and go tubing. Ontario has many slow-flowing rivers that are safe and surrounded by some of the province’s best examples of nature.
- Test Your Monkey Skills at Treetop Trekking: Treetop Trekking is a place where you and your family can safely and responsibly enjoy an amazing and unforgettable day of outdoor fun! Surround yourself in nature while exploring the forest during one of the park’s many unforgettable adventure activities.
- Hiking: There are plenty of opportunities across the GTA to enjoy nature. Enjoy a leisurely walk with Dad at any of these locations:
For more things to do this Father’s Day weekend, see Weekend Activities in Toronto