From light festivals illuminating long dark winter nights to theatre festivals, food festivals and parades, here is a list of 2025-26 festivals (December 20, 2025 to March 21, 2026 ) held during the winter season in and around Toronto.
Credit: DesignTO Festival
Christmas Light Festivals
From drive-through lights at Ajax to Burlington’s Spencer Smith Park, there are many Christmas/Winter-Themed Light Festivals in Toronto & GTA. Details
Until January 5, 2025
Various
Free & Ticketed
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Kensington Market Winter Solstice Festival
This event beckons the return to light on the eve of the winter solstice, every December 21st. On this longest night, thousands of decorated revellers take part, with hand-made emblematic lanterns, encountering on the route, tented-theatrical scenarios of shadow play, rooftop masking antics, roving giant puppets and stilted dancers with eclectic musical accompaniment. Details
December 21, 2025, at 6:00 PM-9:30 PM
Kensington Market, Toronto
Free
DesignTO
DesignTO, formerly the Toronto Design Offsite Festival, brings you 10 days filled with immersive installations, fantastic exhibitions, engaging talks, and more design and art than ever before. With this much to do, you’ll want to make sure it all makes it into your calendar. Details
January 23—February 1, 2026
Various Venues, Toronto
Free
Markham Jazzlicious WinterFest
Markham Jazzlicious WinterFest will bring together food lovers and music enthusiasts for a night of culinary delights and live jazz performances. Guests will enjoy a gourmet dinner, prepared by some of Markham’s top chefs, followed by an intimate performance by award-winning Canadian jazz artists. Details
January 14 to March, 2026
Various venues, Markham
Varies
New Music Festival
U of T’s New Music Festival shines a spotlight on new creations, featuring great Canadian and international composers, renowned guest artists. Details
January 23 – February 3, 2026
Various Venues – U of T
Varies
Winterlicious
January 30 to February 12, 2026
Various Venues, Toronto
$20 & up
The Toronto Tea Festival
World-renowned experts from the world of tea will be there at the festival to tantalize your senses. Tea sommeliers, published authors, cultural fashion specialists, musicians, a tasting competition & exhibitors abound will engage the enquiring, novice & enthusiast in tea legend, tradition & trends. The Toronto Tea Festival presents courtesy tea tastings, raffles, delectable tea-food offerings, tea ceremonies, seminars, & volunteers to assist in your tea journey. Details
January 31 & February 1, 2026
Toronto Reference Library
Appel Salon, 2nd floor, 789 Yonge Street, Toronto
$25 & up
Fire & Ice Winter Festival
Fire & Ice Winter Festival
Rediscover the joys of the winter season and great Canadian outdoors with friends and family at the historic Alton Mill Arts Centre in rural Caledon! Pond hockey, food & drink, ice sculptures, a super snow slide, skating, art workshops … and more fun for the whole family. Details
January 31, 2026 & February 1, 2026
Alton Mill Arts Centre, Amelia Street, Alton
By Donation
Kuumba
February 1–28, 2026
Harbourfront Centre, Toronto
Free & Ticketed
I Heart Beer & Taco Festival
Enjoy fun-filled day or night of beer, cider and spirits sampling, games, dancing and tacos! Details
Saturday, January 31st, 2026
Enercare Centre, 100 Princes’ Blvd #1, Toronto
$10 to $24.99
Roundhouse Winter Craft Beer Festival
Come enjoy the ultimate outdoor festival for craft beer & food truck lovers. The Roundhouse Winter Craft Beer Festival will showcase only beers from Ontario Craft Brewers, based on their passion to re-kindle and keep alive the spirit of traditional brewing: independent ownership, smaller batches, artisanal styles, quality ingredients, all-natural and undiluted. Details
Saturday February 21, 2026
Roundhouse Park, 255 Bremner Blvd., Toronto
$39.95 to $54.95
Toronto Black Film Festival
Cool, international, independent, politically incorrect and eye-opening, the Toronto Black Film Festival (TBFF) is about discovery. TBFF will showcase the most outstanding and most powerful Black films while creating a space to debate major cultural, social and socio-economic issues. Details
February 11 – 16, 2026
Various venues, Toronto
Varies with events.
RHUBARB FESTIVAL
Canada’s longest-running new works festival. For two weeks, Buddies is transformed into a hotbed of experimentation, with artists exploring new possibilities in theatre, dance, music, and performance art. Rhubarb is the place to see the most adventurous ideas in performance and to catch your favourite artists venture into uncharted territory. Details
February 4 to 14, 2026
Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, 12 Alexander St, Toronto
Varies
Winterfolk
The Annual Winterfolk Blues and Roots Festival. It’s an all-ages, mid-winter, weatherproof event, where you’ll find the best of urban, blues, rock, jazz, country, folk and roots music, emulating a multi-stage rural summer festival. Winterfolk is the ideal event for music-lovers seeking new and exciting things to do in the Toronto. Details
February 12 to 15, 2026
Tranzac Club, 292 Brunswick Avenue, Toronto
$30 & up
Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival
The Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival is Toronto’s comedy festival, highlighting the best live, scripted comedy in North America all in one place. Since 2005 the Festival has brought sketch comedy to wider audiences with ticketed and free performances showcasing hundreds of artists in acts such as Kate McKinnon, Kids in the Hall, Michael Ian Black, Gavin Crawford, Sassy Gay Friend, FrankenMatt, Picnicface, and The Irrelevant Show. Details
March 4-15, 2026
Various Venues – Toronto
Varies
Taste of Georgina
You’re invited to experience the Town’s prix fixe food event that will awaken your taste buds and allow you to explore a variety of local cuisines. Details
February 16 to March 15, 2026
Various Restaurants, Georgina
Prix-Fix Menu
Maple Syrup Festivals
Sugar Shack TO
Sugarbush Maple Syrup Festival, Purple Woods Maple Syrup Festival, Bronte Creek Maple Syrup Festival & more!
Maple Syrup Festivals & March Break Activities
Weekends in March & early April.
Across GTA
Free & ticketed events.
Geary Art Crawl
A two day, rain or shine celebration of art and culture on Geary Avenue from Ossington to west of Dufferin.
Watch the neighbourhood come alive with music, visual art installations, pop-ups, food and more.
March 7 & 8, 2026.
Geary Street between Ossington and west of Dufferin, Toronto
Free
Celebrate Toronto
Celebrate Toronto, the festival honouring Toronto’s 192nd Anniversary. Details
TBA
Nathan Phillips Square, 100 Queen St West, Toronto
Free
Puppet Festival Mississauga
Puppet Festival Mississauga is a puppetry festival filled with exciting shows engaging workshops, and an informative exhibition that discovers the art of puppetry from its origin to its advancement. Details
March 14-22, 2026
Multiple Venues, Mississauga
Varies
St Patrick’s Day Parade
A community celebration of Irish culture, history, and heritage. The parade has grown to include a number of diverse communities and non-profit groups and is recognized as the largest Irish-themed event held in Toronto. A fun-filled, affordable family day. Details
Sunday, March 15, 2026
Bloor St W & St George St to Nathan Phillips Square. Toronto
Free
Wavelength Music Festival + Conference
Featuring returning Wavelength staples and emerging underground talent, each night on this year’s lineup is stacked from head to toe, bringing together diverse underground music genres, from indie and punk to hip-hop and experimental. This year, we’ll be adding a conversation program to our weekend slate of curated concerts. Details
March 19-21, 2026
St. Anne’s Parish Hall, 651 Dufferin Street, Toronto
Varies
Toronto Comicon 2026
Toronto Comicon, a pop culture convention for fans of comics, sci-fi, horror, cosplay, anime and gaming, is returning to take over the city this March Break. The 3-day extravaganza is packed with exciting, family-friendly activities. Details
March 20 to 22, 2026
Metro Toronto Convention Centre, 255 Front St W, Toronto
Varies
The Banff Mountain Festival World Tour
The Banff Mountain Festival World Tour brings Banff to audiences around the globe. Immediately after the Festival ends in November, a selection of the best films go on tour across Canada, the United States, and internationally from Scotland to South Africa to China, Japan, New Zealand, Antarctica, and points in between. Each year, the films travel to 40 countries reaching more than 330,000 people at over 725 screenings. Details
March 21 to 22, 2026
TIFF Lightbox, 350 King St West, Toronto
$26.10 & up