Set in Nathan Phillips Square, Cavalcade of Lights is an annual free event that transforms City Hall and and the Square into a dazzling wonderland.
This year there is lots of lights, art installations and, of course, free skating:
Art Installation: “Lux Array” An interactive light and sound installation by Luxonous Collective. Its assembly of rotating squares become photo frames, inviting you to enter and become part of the artwork yourself.Art Installation: “Luminescence” An immersive experience in an illuminated dome, east of the main stageArt Installation: “We Change Each Other” A thought-provoking light installation that explores themes of unity and the amalgamation of cultures by Shilpa Gupta, near the TORONTO sign.Art Installation: “Echo” An interactive installation that allows you to explore the hidden power of your unique voice
This season the tradition of the Christmas Flower Show continues at the Palm House in the Allan Gardens Conservatory. The entire conservatory is decorated and filled with thousands of flowering plants, over 30 varieties of poinsettia and seasonal topiary masterpieces made entirely of plant material.
In previous years the Conservatory had an event called “Christmas by Candlelight”, but I couldn’t find any confirmation of that happening this year. I have never been to one of those, but apparently it is quite beautiful with the lighted displays sprinkled throughout the conservatory.
I usually pay a visit every Christmas to the Conservatory to take in the Flower Show. The displays were quite sparse this year and I didn’t sense the same care and attention to detail displayed in previous years. Regardless, it’s always restful and calming in the Palm House:
Although the Hudson’s Bay store is now long gone from what was their flagship store at Yonge and Queen, the Christmas windows have been resuscitated. Yes! “The Bay Christmas windows” are back for 2025, courtesy of Cadillac Fairview, and I (along with many, many others) am very happy about this!
Background
On a frigid Sunday evening, December 14, crowds gathered along Yonge Street as Cadillac Fairview officially unveiled the return of Toronto’s iconic holiday windows at the former Hudson’s Bay flagship at Queen and Yonge. For the first time since Hudson’s Bay shuttered its Canadian department stores earlier this year, the illuminated display bays once again glowed with festive scenes, drawing families, tourists, and longtime downtown residents back to a ritual that has defined Toronto’s holiday streetscape for more than a century.
This year’s windows mark both a revival and a reinvention. With the department store behind the glass now closed, Cadillac Fairview has repositioned the historic facade as a leased experiential platform, beginning with a holiday activation by Mars Wrigley Canada. The confectionery giant has taken over seven prominent windows along the Yonge Street side of the building between Queen and Richmond, transforming them into animated tableaux designed to restore a sense of wonder to the corner while signalling a new future for one of the city’s most storied retail landmarks.
Cadillac Fairview, which owns the former Hudson’s Bay and Saks Fifth Avenue complex connected to CF Toronto Eaton Centre, has made clear that the holiday windows are no longer tied to a single department store tenant. Instead, the landlord is treating the building’s extensive street-facing windows along Yonge, Bay, and Richmond streets as a stand-alone experiential and media asset.
Publicly, Cadillac Fairview has framed the initiative as an effort to honour and preserve a cherished Toronto tradition, even as it explores new commercial and cultural uses for the space. Internally, the move also reflects a pragmatic response to the closure of Hudson’s Bay, which left a massive downtown anchor vacant after the retailer filed for creditor protection with more than a billion dollars in debt and failed to secure a buyer.
By reviving the windows, Cadillac Fairview is extracting value from the building’s most visible asset while longer-term redevelopment and re-tenanting plans are evaluated. The Queen Street frontage remains partially blocked due to Ontario Line construction at the intersection, but the Yonge Street run is fully active for the holidays, with additional bays on Bay and Richmond streets being marketed to future partners.
Workers putting finishing touches on one of the display windows.
Although the windows are not as elaborate or intriguing as those in past years, it is wonderful to see that an effort has been made to revive a Christmas tradition at Yonge and Queen Street.
The Fairmont Royal York’s hotel lobby has taken on what hotel staff label a winter wonderland appearance, decorated with reminders of reindeer and other items synonymous with Christmas.
Guests now arriving at the Fairmont Royal York are greeted by pathways lined with Victorian-style lampposts and snow-covered evergreens, creating scenes straight out of a winter fairy tale, along with the Christmas tree framed by elegant drapery and towering nutcrackers. Guests continue their journey through a serene winter garden gazebo or stop for champagne or tea at the hotel’s bustling lobby lounge, “Clockwork“, its white ironwork gates evoking the entrance to a palace. Every vignette is dressed in frosted whites, icy crystals, lush greenery, and glistening snow.
Well, it’s that time again… love it or hate it, we’re on the countdown to Christmas.
I’ve always liked the way Christmas comes together in the city, so this past weekend I took a little walk around a few downtown spots to see how things are ramping up for Christmas. The temperature was -15 with the wind chill so I tended not to linger overly long at any one stop on my wanderings.
Winter Glow 2025
I started my little jaunt at Yonge-Dundas Square (I refuse to call it by that incredibly asinine new name). From December 11th through 21st there is an event on here called Winter Glow 2025.
Winter Glow is in its third year at Yonge-Dundas Square. It’s basically a holiday festivity filled with lights, music, festive flavours, classic rides, and community cheer.
This year, Epilepsy Toronto is the sponsor and presenting partner of Winter Glow. The organization brings a Holiday Market to the Square, filling it with artisan stalls, photo ops, the Polar Point Bar, fire-pits, and photos with Santa. There is also a mini-midway with a carousel and a 45-foot high Ferris wheel:
The Eaton Centre
Directly across the street from the Square is the venerable Eaton Centre. I started on the north end of the mall, making my way south through the masses of shoppers milling about:
Passing through Simons I stopped to appreciate some beautiful music being performed by a trio there:
In the middle of the mall there were several giant reindeer:
Eaton Centre’s massive (114-foot) Christmas tree made a reappearance this year. The ever-enterprising Eaton Centre was offering shoppers to have their picture taken by a professional photographer with the holiday tree as the backdrop (portraits were $10 a pop).
With the giant tree for a backdrop, these two people were getting their selfies high on the walkway above the shoppersThe 114-foot high Eaton Centre Christmas tree. The tree changes colour every few minutes.
Once or twice an hour the tree launches its “Snow Show”, and it snows in the Eaton Centre, like this:
Trinity Square Park
Just out the west door of the mall is Trinity Square Park, home to the Church of the Holy Trinity. Given all the lights in the walkway and trees, I’m sure the area would look much prettier at night, but it was kind of interesting in the daylight, nonetheless:
Brookfield Place
I have shot Brookfield Place (181 Bay Street) many, many times but have never tired of it. The Allen Lambert Galleria is simply one of the most magnificent backdrops in downtown Toronto. That beautiful, arched, soaring ceiling is a photographer’s dream.
This year they have an installation entitled Snowfall: Frost, created by Studio F Minus. The work is inspired by the architectural motif of the Allen Lambert Galleria, the geometry of a single snowflake, and the allure of a freshly frosted-over window pane.
Studio F Minus took the fractal pattern and applied the concept to the construction of snowflakes in nature. Beginning with a “Y” shape drawn from the Galleria, then repeating and rotating that shape to create a new crystalline structure. There was a sign for visitors to Brookfield Place, which encouraged them to touch Snowfall: Frost. When a hand is run along the sculpture it casts a shadow in the field of light, the same way you leave a trail when drawing on a frosted window:
Continuing eastward through Brookfield Place to the Yonge Street side, there was another impressive homage to Christmas:
Berczy Park
Moving on to the Front Street East-Church Street area, I paid a visit to Berczy Park. Someone had adorned the little dogs on the Berczy Park fountain with seasonal scarves. Very cute:
Across from the dog fountain, a Snoopy-like pup kept watch on the visitors:
I was quickly losing the light of the day so I wrapped it up and headed home, passing through Berczy’s seasonal arch on the way to Wellington Street East:
Stay tuned for more posts of Toronto at Christmastime!
Although an event like Remembrance Day is not really a cityscape per se, I feel it is extremely important to acknowledge the day.
Earlier today I attended the Remembrance Day ceremonies at Old City Hall. The sombre event was exceedingly well attended and the rain actually held off until later in the afternoon.
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old; Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning We will remember them.
They were young, as we are young, They served, giving freely of themselves. To them, we pledge, amid the winds of time, To carry their torch and never forget. We will remember them.
7th Regimental Band, Royal Canadian Artillery Band, under the direction of Lieutenant Carina LamAretha Phillip, Chief of Protocol, City of TorontoA flypast by The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF). The flypasts were conducted during several Remembrance Day commemorations across Canada.Remarks from the City of Toronto, presented by Mayor Olivia ChowMayor Olivia Chow places a wreathBenediction, given by Rev. John Joseph Mastandrea, Chaplain, Toronto Police ServicesAretha Phillip, Chief of Protocol, City of TorontoMarching off at the end of the service
Laying poppies on the Cenotaph, end of services
Flowers and poppies on the Cenotaph, end of service
Pride Weekend in Toronto is soon upon us. In preparation, this month an explosion of rainbows and inclusion messages from local business and merchants have been appearing in the downtown core. Here’s some of what I’ve come across in the last few weeks:
Eaton Centre
Rogers Headquarters, 333 Bloor Street East
Manulife Head Office, 250 Bloor Street East
OrangeTheory Fitness, 160 Bloor Street East
160 Bloor Street East
175 Bloor Street East
Circle K, 121 Bloor Street East
The Chartered Professional Accountants of Ontario (CPA)
RBC, 2 Bloor Street East
Holt Renfrew, 50 Bloor Street West
TD Canada Trust
Bay & Bloor StreetsBay & Bloor StreetsChurch & Wellesley Streets
A Pride Chicken at Nandos, 832 Bay Street
Ontario Nurses’ Association, 85 Grenville Street
Pride Bicycle Lock, Church Street
LCBO
Underneath Hudson Bay Centre, 2 Bloor Street EastUnderneath Hudson Bay Centre, 2 Bloor Street EastYonge & Wellesley Streets
Rexall, Church & Wellesley Streets
Scotiabank, Yonge & Wellesley Streets
Shopper’s Drug Mart, Yonge & Charles Streets
Jack Astor’s, Yonge & Bloor Streets
Toronto Public Library, Yorkville Branch
The Wine Rack, Church & Wellesley Streets
Dudley’s Hardware, Church Street
And, of course, the epicentre of it all: the corner of Church & Wellesley Streets
Well, it is a black and rainy Christmas this year in Toronto. Regardless, I took a little photo-spin yesterday to see how the city is setting up for the season.
There are some much-loved (at least by me) Toronto traditions missing this year: unfortunately no festive windows at The Bay on Queen and Yonge (due to the massive construction of the new subway on Queen Street). The Flower Show at the Allan Gardens conservatory is extremely scaled back due to the renovation of the Palm House, and “Holiday Fair”, normally held at City Hall, was moved to Mel Lastman Square in North York (I suspect, again, due to the mess caused by the Queen Street subway project). Despite these, it is still Christmas in the city… a special time. Here is a bit of what I encountered yesterday:
Allan Gardens Christmas Flower Show
I wish I had more shots to post here, but the few below were the extent of the Flower Show this year:
“Winter Glow” at Yonge-Dundas Square
Yonge-Dundas Square had a mini-festival going on, although I only saw a couple of people there. There were carnival rides, a 45-foot-tall Ferris Wheel, the “Great Canadian Carousel” and a few midway games.
On the Yonge Street side there was a 40-foot “Remembrance Tree”, sponsored by the Rotary Club. Visitors make a donation to the cause, then receive a yellow ribbon on which to write a message to a loved one who has passed.
Eaton Centre
As usual, the Eaton Centre was abuzz with people, a massive Christmas tree (114-foot high, said to be the tallest in North America) and giant glittering reindeer:
Finding a few dry moments from the incessant rain of late, I took a little spin last night to see some of the Christmas lights in Rosedale and on Bloor Street East.
Rosedale
The owners of this Rosedale home went to some *serious* effort to recreate The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, along with a miniature Whoville:
Moving on to Bloor Street East:
Allegedly, there are 138 lit Christmas trees along Bloor Street this Christmas; I never stopped to count…
A sombre Remembrance Day ceremony took place today around the Cenotaph at Old City Hall, 60 Queen Street West.
The City focused this year’s events around the 70th anniversary of the Korean Armistice Agreement that brought about the end of the Korean War. Other milestones honoured today were the 75th anniversary of Canadian participation in peacekeeping missions for the United Nations and the centennials of the Naval Reserve of Canada and HMCS York, a Royal Canadian Navy Reserve Division in Toronto.
The ceremonies began at 10:45 AM, starting with the singing of our national anthem, a reading of In Flanders Fields, a two-minute silence at 11:00, and a trumpeteer playing The Last Post:
A fly-past by the Canadian Harvard Aircraft Association (CHAA)Mayor Chow delivered her Remembrance Day messageThe laying of wreaths on the CenotaphThe ceremony concluded with people leaving their poppies on the CenotaphA special “Toronto Remembers” presentation on Queen Street West, outside Old City Hall
Video of today’s ceremony at Old City Hall can be found here.
Other locations for today’s Remembrance Day ceremonies were:
Scarborough War Memorial: 2190 Kingston Road
East York Civic Centre – Memorial Gardens: 850 Coxwell Avenue
York Cemetery – Cenotaph: 160 Beecroft Road
York Civic Centre Cenotaph: 2700 Eglinton Avenue West
Etobicoke Civic Centre – Cenotaph: 399 The West Mall
Fort York National Historic Site: 100 Garrison Road
Thanks for these photos, looks like they did a nice job on the square this year. Best wishes to you…