November 20th-23rd Regent Park Film Festival @ various locations. Toronto’s longest running free community film festival, the Regent Park Film Festival is dedicated to showcasing local and international independent works relevant to people from all walks of life, with a focus on inviting those of us from low income and public housing communities. Full schedule here.

November 20th-23rd TAP:EX Augmented Opera @ Sidewalk Labs, 307 Lakeshore Blvd. E. Tapestry Opera’s TAP:EX Augmented Opera is a take on a Silicon Valley product launch that invites the audience to be the first guests to learn about Elyisum, a new cloud-based technology that reimagines the afterlife as a perfect curation of your best memories. TAP:EX pushes the boundaries and intersections of opera, combining genres such as punk rock, film, Persian classical music, physical theatre, turntablism and hip-hop. $40 tickets available online.

November 20th-December 22nd Toronto Christmas Market @ The Distillery District. Rediscover the magic and romance of the holidays at the Toronto Christmas Market. There will be vendors selling locally handcrafted products, entertainment, Santa and his elves, light canopies, heated mulled wine, and lots more. Admission is free on weekdays until Friday at 5 pm, after which tickets cost $6. 

November 21st-23rd Toronto Reference Library Book Sale @ Toronto Reference Library (Beeton Hall), 789 Yonge St. Shop used cookbooks, fiction, non-fiction, magazines, and children’s books + previously viewed DVDs and previously played classical CDs. Cash only; bring your own bags. All proceeds benefit library programs. Runs 9:30-7 pm Thursday, 9-7 pm Friday, and 9-4 pm Saturday.

November 21st-24th Gourmet Food & Wine Expo @ Metro Toronto Convention Centre, 255 Front St. W. Canada’s largest food and drink expo is back for its 25th year. Sip and savour your way through international gourmet cuisine, exotic delicacies, wines, cutting-edge cocktails, craft beers, and more. 

November 21nd-26th Blood in the Snow Canadian Film Festival @ The Royal Cinema, 608 College St. Six days of screenings of premieres of Canadian genre (horror, sci-fi, action, and thriller) features, shorts, and web series.

November 21st-December 1st One Of A Kind Winter Show @ Enercare Centre (Exhibition Place), 100 Princes’ Blvd. Experience the power of craft and its ability to bring people together at the One Of A Kind Winter Show! Discover items from 25+ product categories over the 11 days of the show. 

November 22nd-December 31st WinterFest @ Canada’s Wonderland, 1 Canada’s Wonderland Drive (Vaughan). Canada’s Wonderland will be magically transformed into a winter wonderland full of enchantment and holiday cheer! Become immersed in the season’s spirit with spectacular holiday lights and décor, world-class live entertainment, savory treats, and fanciful experiences.

November 22nd-January 5th Toronto Aurora Winter Festival @ Ontario Place (West Island), 955 Lakeshore Blvd. W. Experience Canada’s largest winter festival this holiday season. Ontario Place will be transformed into a magical winter wonderland with a beautiful skating rink, tube park, massive light displays, a Christmas Market, amusement rides, food gardens, magical characters, and plenty of other exciting activities. 

WEDNESDAY

7 pm Music Bingo @ The Gladstone Hotel, 1214 Queen St. W. Music Bingo is a FREE weekly event combining the love of music with the traditional bingo format. Host Kaleb Robertson plays a song, and if it’s on your bingo card, you get to hit it with the dabber. It tests your musical knowledge too – you’ve got to know what the song is to be able to cross it off the card. 

8 pm Drake Trivia @ The Drake Hotel, 1150 Queen St. W. Teams of four or less put their random knowledge to the test as the hosts fire off questions ranging from sporting records and celebrity scandals to geographic discoveries and culinary lingo. $2 to participate. Email host@thedrakehotel.ca or show up early to reserve a spot.

THURSDAY

6:30 pm Decades: The Toronto Sound of the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s @ Phoenix Concert Theatre, 410 Sherbourne Ave. Presented by the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame, Decades is a concert showcase featuring the induction of six influential songs from the Toronto music scenes of the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s. Songs included are “Let Your Backbone Slide” by Maestro Fresh Wes, “Rise Up” by Parachute Club, “(Make Me Do) Anything You Want” by A Foot in Coldwater, “Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft” by Klaatu, “Opportunity” by Mandala, and “I Would Be the One” by Kensington Market. $26.35 tickets available online.

FRIDAY

7 pm Friday Night Live: Wild @ Royal Ontario Museum, 100 Queen’s Park.     Take a walk on the wild side at #FNLROM! Dance and devour savoury food and drinks while roaming through the ROM’s galleries. $22.60 tickets available online, limited amount available at the door.

7 pm Long Winter @ Tranzac Club, 292 Brunswick Ave. Long Winter is back to help get you through the cold months with a night of live music and art! This edition features performances by R. Flex, Pretty Matty, Raf Reza, ZOE, Lucrocuta, and more + Long Night with Vish Khanna and art by Memory Palace Project, Trevor Dunseith, Dequan Clarke, sonny bean, and Deus Sex Machina All ages. PWYC online and at the door ($12 suggested).

8 pm Astronomy on Tap @ The Great Hall, 1087 Queen St. W. Quench your thirst for astronomy! A fun evening of pints, astronomy news, mind-expanding talks, games, and prizes. Following the talks, you’ll have all your cosmic questions answered by astronomers from the Dunlap Institute and the University of Toronto. Doors at 7 pm.

9 pm Knockout @ Handlebar, 159 Augusta Ave. 100% rare soul, vintage reggae, and a special ’60s R&B set with DJ Chico. 

10 pm Saddle Up! @ Owl’s Club, 847 Dovercourt Rd. Stomp your boots to Dolly, Willie, Loretta, Waylon, and the rest of your honky tonk favourites! You’ll hear all the good tunes and the best of the bad ones (no bro country). Live set by Bobby Love at 10:30 pm. $5 before 11 pm, $10 after (bar is cash only).

10 pm Bangs & Blush Turns 10: Shake, Rattle & Roll @ Clinton’s, 693 Bloor St. W. It’s been a decade since Bangs & Blush arrived on the scene, so to celebrate, they’re throwing one massive party and bringing back Shake, Rattle & Roll! Prepare to drink, dance, and get messy with your girls because they’ll be playing all the ’60s rock, pop, and soul you can handle. $10 in advance and at the door (advance tickets guarantee entry and line bypass all night).

10 pm DJ Crunch Bandicut @ Swan Dive, 1631 Dundas St. W. A night of rock ‘n’ roll and tomfoolery with DJ Crunch Bandicut.

10 pm Eighties + Nineties @ Stones Place, 1255 Queen St. W. ’80s and ’90s rock, pop, and alternative with DJ Blush. $5. 

10 pm Get Buck @ The Ossington, 61 Ossington Ave. DJ Nino Brown spins hip-hop, soca, RnB, and dancehall. Deep grooves that transcend.

10 pm Wax Candy Disco Party @ The Piston, 937 Bloor St. W. DJ Efsharp and Cyclist serve up platters of the sweetest soulful, refreshing, and uplifting disco in one of the best sounding rooms in the city. $10.

11 pm Get Good @ The Drake Underground, 1150 Queen St. W. Diggy The DJ spins alongside notable special guests with the main intention of rocking the party and keeping the crowd moving. Expect an eclectic mix of dance floor heaters, party anthems, throwbacks, rap, R&B, trap, and dancehall. $10.

SATURDAY

5 pm Bloor-Yorkville Holiday Magic @ Village of Yorkville Park, 115 Cumberland St. The Bloor-Yorkville BIA and Canadian pop-star Ruth B. celebrate the festive season with Holiday Magic, a free public concert and lighting ceremony. Until 7 pm. 

8 pm Homegrown @ 163 Sterling Rd., Unit 2. With Toronto’s rich and diverse range of talent, Homegrown aims to create a space where artists of all disciplines can truly shine. Each event will feature vendor tables with goods for sale and artistic performances followed by a dance party featuring Toronto’s hottest up and coming DJs. This edition features vendors Basic Art Hoe and Aadhe Clothing, with performances by Mike Carrozza, Saviour Blue, TCSpades, and Durreyl. $15 in advance, $20 at the door. 

9 pm The Funhouse Goes Fabulon @ The Funhouse Toronto, 101 Lisgar St. The Funhouse, together with Planet Fabulon, invite you to an intergalactic evening of epic proportions featuring a DJ lineup of stellar local talent (Me Time, Karim Olen Ash, Melectric, and Biscotti), live LED performance by Livewire, UV face painting, costume bar, animated GIF photo booth, and lots more. Your mission, should you choose to accept it: traverse time, space, and a psychedelic art maze to interact with its inhabitants and uncover the clues needed to find your way to us on the other side of the universe… for a party that will be out of this world! Limited $28 tickets available at the door.

10 pm Soul Flower @ Swan Dive, 1631 Dundas St. W. DJ General Eclectic plays ’60s and ’70s psych, garage, soul, and rock ‘n’ roll. 

10 pm Saturday Night Studio 54 Dance Party @ Stones Place, 1255 Queen St. W. Attention Dancing Queens: you’re not gonna wanna miss this very special Studio 54 edition of Saturday Night Jukebox Dance Party! Disco, ’70s funk, and soul all night long with DJ Blush. $10.

10 pm Wedding Party @ The Boat, 152-A Augusta Ave. Everyone is the bride at Wedding Party! Playing the golden hits for any and all to groove to – soul, funk, new wave, and hip-hop.

10 pm Dirrty Circus: Britney & Christina Dance Party @ Sneaky Dee’s, 431 College St. Oops, Sneaky Dee’s did it again! This party is what a girl wants and what a girl needs, because they’ll be hitting you with all the Britney and Christina jams you can handle, plus a few other pop bangers you know and love. $5 early bird tickets available online.

10 pm Worst Behavior @ Clinton’s, 693 Bloor St. W. Saturdays are for getting loose and being on your Worst Behavior! Bangs & Blush roll out rap and hip-hop from now and then. $10.

10 pm Queer Nation @ The Piston, 937 Bloor St. W. This bash is for all the freaks, femmes, stone cold butches, baby dykes, bears, cubs, otters, pups, art fags, jocko homos, genderqueers, twinks, daddys, owls, and people who love to get down to house music! DJs John Caffery and Cozmic Cat on the decks. $10. 

10 pm Lost Plot @ Farside, 600 Gerrard St. E. Ben Dare plays eclectic electronic to get lost to.

10 pm Roll + Skank @ The Ossington, 61 Ossington Ave. DJ night with the hottest beats around. All the way from the UK, this is what you’ve been waiting for.

SUNDAY

10 am Leslieville Winter Market @ The Redwood Theatre, 1300 Gerrard St. E. The Leslieville Farmers’ Market is extending the season and bringing east end’s largest weekly celebration of local farmers, chefs, and community indoors. Enjoy music, kids activities, wellness programming, a full bar serving wine and local breweries, an array of Toronto’s diverse prepared food, and of course, the best produce from local farms. Until 2 pm.

11 am Toronto Art Crawl Christmas Market @ The Great Hall, 1087 Queen St. W. Celebrate the holiday season at Toronto Art Crawl’s fifth annual Christmas Market. Shop directly from the hands of 110 local artists and designers while enjoying interactive demos, a cash bar, food, and more. Free swag bags for the first 25 attendees! Until 6 pm. $8 in advance, $10 at the door (kids 10 and under are free).

11 am Veg Holiday Market @ Artscape Wychwood Barns, 601 Christie St. The Toronto Vegetarian Association hosts this fully vegan market with gifts that give back! Start the day by pursuing unique cruelty-free wares with your friends and family, attending a veg workshop or two, and staying into the evening to enjoy a delicious treat, fireside, with your favourite seasonal music playing in the background. Until 8 pm. $5 advance tickets available online.

1 pm The Deadstock Depot @ OnlyOneGallery, 5 Brock St. Toronto’s only vintage streetwear flea market is back! Over 30 local and international vendors come together to form Canada’s largest selection of handpicked garments catering to the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s street and sportswear aesthetic. Until 7 pm. $5.

7 pm Brass Facts Trivia @ The Ossington, 61 Ossington Ave. Test your knowledge and win prizes! Hosted by Famous Kirk Hero. Until 10 pm.

10 pm Sinful Sundays Burlesque @ Cherry Cola’s, 200 Bathurst St. Come be entertained at this weekly “temple of tease,” where you’ll find a fresh lineup of burlesque entertainers, drag, and variety acts. Free entry; tipping encouraged.

~ For event submissions, email Caitlyn Holroyd at caitlyn_holroyd@hotmail.com