cityscape
Simcoe Day: Party Like It’s 1793
An annual Fort York commemoration event reminds us to honour our long weekend's namesake.
Photo by Bruce K from the Torontoist Flickr Pool.
Fort York Simcoe Day Celebration
Fort York (250 Fort York Blvd)
August 3, 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Free.
Most of Canada has a day off on Monday, but only our day off has the distinction of being named after an abolitionist city-builder who could also, if we may, really fill out a pair of neutral-toned breeches. In 1969, Toronto gave the hopelessly buttoned-up “Civic Holiday” a rebrand in honour of the first Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada, John Graves Simcoe, a man so unburdened by fucks that he dared to build a city on the edge of a swamp. While you could just spend the day sleeping off your Caribana hangover, why not pay tribute to the fiesty Brit who’s responsible for our being here? There will be muskets and fife, if that sweetens the deal.
