Recreation in Toronto facts for kids
Toronto is a super fun city with tons of activities and events happening all year round! It's known for its amazing theatre and arts, offers many public parks and sports facilities, and has exciting places to visit for both people who live there and tourists.
Art and Culture in Toronto
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Toronto has a huge and diverse art scene. It's a major spot for theatre and other performing arts like dance and music. More than 50 ballet and dance groups, six opera companies, and two symphony orchestras call Toronto home. Famous groups like the National Ballet of Canada and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra are based here.
You can visit many cool places to see shows, such as the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts or Roy Thomson Hall.
The Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) is a very important museum. It shows off amazing things from world culture and natural history. It's actually the biggest and most visited museum in Canada! The Art Gallery of Ontario has a huge collection of art from Canada, Europe, Africa, and modern artists. If you like pottery, the Gardiner Museum has over 2,900 ceramic pieces from all over the world. The Bata Shoe Museum also has many unique shoe exhibits.
Awesome Annual Events
One of the oldest annual fairs in the world, the Canadian National Exhibition (CNE), happens every year at Exhibition Place. It's Canada's biggest annual fair and one of the largest globally, with about 1.5 million visitors!
Toronto's Caribana festival is one of North America's biggest street parties! It takes place every summer from mid-July to early August. The first Caribana was in 1967. Now, it attracts a million people to Toronto's Lake Shore Boulevard each year. Many tourists come just for this festival, and it brings in a lot of money for the city.
Pride Week happens in mid-June. It's one of the largest festivals celebrating diversity in the world. Over a million people from everywhere come to enjoy it. It's one of the biggest events in the city.
The Toronto Santa Claus Parade is the world's longest-running children's parade. It happens every year in mid-November. More than half a million people come to watch it. The parade is also shown on TV around the world!
Many other events happen in Toronto too. For example, the Toronto International Film Festival shows movies in many cinemas across Toronto. These events are supported by different levels of government, local businesses, and community groups.
Cool Places to Visit
Toronto's most famous building is the CN Tower. It's super tall, standing at 553.33 meters (1,815 feet, 5 inches)! It's a key spot for communications and a major tourist attraction. You can see it from almost anywhere in the city.
Doors Open Toronto is a free event held in the spring. It lets people explore many of the city's special and historic buildings that are usually closed to the public.
Sports in Toronto
Toronto has many professional sports teams. You can find teams in six major North American leagues here. With about 200 games played in the city, you can almost always catch a professional game! Toronto is famous for its hockey team, the Toronto Maple Leafs. It's also home to the Toronto Argonauts (football), Toronto Blue Jays (baseball), Toronto Raptors (basketball), Toronto Rock (lacrosse), and Toronto FC (soccer).
Watching amateur sports is also easy and affordable. There are many options all over the city. Lots of people in Toronto also play sports themselves, showing how active the city is.
Annual sports events include professional races like the Grand Prix of Toronto. The city has also hosted big international events, such as the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup.
