With the forthcoming Thanksgiving meal, we’ve assembled a list of 16 things to check out in Montreal today, October 6, to get you wasting as much energy as you can before we all stuff our faces with delicious food.
Gardens of Light
Espace pour la vie
September brought the magical Gardens of Light Festival back and October brings the beauty.
The lantern festival includes a lighted path through the Botanical Garden’s three cultural gardens, the Chinese, Japanese and First Nations Gardens, all looking at nature from a different perspective.
When:Â Every day in October
Time: 6 pm – 9 pm (until 10 pm on Fridays and Saturdays)
Where: Montreal’s Botanical Gardens
Price: $10.25 – $20.50
Wind Instrument
Six 28-foot-high steel ventilation tubes, positioned vertically, produce melodies and soothing sounds by reacting to different variations in ambient sound and the contributions made to the public.
When:Â From now until October 8
Time: 11 am – 9 pm (to 11 pm from Thursday to Sunday)
Where:Â Metro Saint-Laurent
Price:Â Free
L’Off Jazz
The 19th edition of L’Off Jazz presents over 22 events taking place in 10 of the city’s most renowned venues.
The program offers a variety of seasoned jazz veterans, as well as the young, local jazz musicians from the Montreal scene.
When:Â From now until October 13
Time:Â Varies per selected show
Where:Â Varies per selected show
Price:Â $99 for an all-access pass, varies per individual show
Pumpkinferno
Pumpkinferno/Ottawa Tourism
Pumpkinferno (besides having a great name) showcases over 7,000 handcrafted pumpkins which are lit up at night along a one-kilometre path set against a 19th-century backdrop. Some are individual pumpkins and some are fused together to make some outstanding art.
When: From now until October 14 ( and October 18 – 21 and 25 – 28 afterwards)
Time: 7 pm – 10 pm
Where: Upper Canada Village – County Road 2
Price: $12 – $16
My Space: An Exhibition
Local artists Sarah Bean and James Lynch are channelling early-2000s pop culture art with an exhibition from the days of Motorola Razr, The OC and Myspace’s Tom.
When:Â From now until October 7
Time:Â 6 pm – 10 pm
Where:Â Gallery Parfois #1 – 4064 Boulevard St-Laurent
Price:Â Free
La Ronde’s Fright Fest
rubenslimamoraes/Instagram
As if La Ronde’s wild rides aren’t scary enough, they’ve added some ghouls, zombies and witches to the park all month to give thrill-seekers some added jolts at Quebec’s biggest amusement park.
Fright Fest returns for select days in October, this weekend being the first. It’s a spooky time as costumed monsters take over the park at night.
The park will offer a wide variety of places to get your scare on including new haunted houses, scare zones, frightening mazes and themed rides.
When:Â October 6-8, 13, 14, 20,21, 27 and 28
Time: 11 am – 10 pm
Where: La Ronde – 22 Chemin Macdonald
Price:Â Visit the website for pricing
MAPP_MTL Map Festival
MAPP_MTL is a non-profit organization with the mission of promoting and developing the boundless potential of projection mapping.
In collaboration with Moment Factory (known for illuminating the Jacques Cartier Bridge), the festival features music, visual arts and tons of you guess it, mapping.
When: October 6 – 19
Time:Â Various times
Where:Â Various neighbourhoods around Montreal
Price:Â Free
The Canadian International Organ Competition
Every October, the Canadian International Organ Competition (CIOC) presents the world’s finest organs and organists. The festival promotes increasing awareness and interest in organ music.
When:Â October 6 and 7
Time:Â Various times
Where:Â Various venues
Price:Â Free
Tonga Lumina
Tonga Lumina/Moment Factory
Mont-Tremblant trail will be illuminated with light projections and mythical storytelling as giant-seekers must trek through a 1.5 km nocturnal hike to find the slumbering giant.
The adventure starts at the base of Mont-Tremblant. The chairlift transports its investigators to the “Twilight Portal” where a colourful lit path weaves its way through the woods to a series of mysterious checkpoints in pursuit of the giant.
When:Â From now until October 14
Time:Â Departures at 9 pm, 10 pm and 10:30 pm
Where: Mont Tremblant
Price: $11.99 – $27.99, kids under 5 get in for free
Festival de Nouveau Cinema
The Festival presents daring, one-of-a-kind films from here and abroad, ensuring their success as well as introducing audiences to auteur filmmakers.
Past guests include Atom Egoyan, Marc-André Forcier, Souleymane Cissé, Zacharias Kunuk, Denis Villeneuve, Guy Maddin, Léa Pool, Jim Jarmusch, Jane Campion, Alfonso Cuaron, Wong Kar-wai, Wim Wenders, Mohsen Makhmalbaf and Raymond Depardon.
When:Â From now until October 14
Time:Â Varies per selection
Where:Â Various locations per selection
Price:Â $12 general admission, $10 students and seniors, $8 children
Malefycia’s Zone 4
Malefycia/Facebook
Returning during the Halloween season for its 4th edition, Malefycia is a fuse between the traditional haunted house and interactive theatre.
The event uses custom-built scenarios with professional actors, props and settings to bring their guests’ worst nightmares into reality.
This year’s theme is called Zone 4 and it focuses on military experiments gone wrong and the event’s antagonist, as per the Malefycia website, is “the most dangerous of all demons: the man.”
In order to stay completely secret, you have to follow them on social media to get times and locations.
When:Â October 6 and 7
Time:Â TBA
Where:Â TBA
Price: $35 – $55, available online
Queen Extravaganza
A tribute band will be covering Queen’s greatest hits at the gorgeous MTELUS Theatre on Saturday.
When:Â Saturday, October 6
Time:Â 8 pm – 11 pm
Where: MTELUS
Price:Â $54 – $66, available online
UFC 229 – Khabib vs McGregor
UFC/Twitter
Taverne 1909, next to the Bell Centre, will be showing the UFC 228 fight between Conor McGregor (21-3-0) and Khabib Nurmagonedov (26-0-0) on what the bar claims is the biggest screen in the country.
Testing out their claim would be long and expensive, or, you could take their word for it.
When:Â Saturday, October 6
Time: 9 pm – 12:30 am
Where:Â 1909 Taverne Moderne, 1280 avenue des canadiens de Montreal
Price:Â Free admission
Ben Howard
Benjamin John “Ben” Howard is an English singer-songwriter, musician and composer. He self-released his debut EP Games in the Dark followed by two more EPs, These Waters and Old Pine.
He’ll be performing a mix of his old tunes while promoting his newest album Noonday Dream at the Bell Centre tonight.
When:Â Saturday, October 6
Time: 8 pm – 11 pm
Where:Â Bell Centre
Price:Â $51.25, available online
Parc Safari Zoo
Get your animal fix by heading to Parc Safari, an easy 40-minute drive off the island. The park offers an optional Safari Adventure upon entering, you can drive up and see a variety of exotic animals from your car including zebras, ostriches, buffalo, llamas, and camels.
Inside the park, take a walk down the Forest Trail where you have an amazing vantage point view of monkeys, hyenas, and bears. Don’t forget the lions, but we didn’t have to tell you that.
With the park’s low season in full swing, take advantage of reduced ticket prices.
When:Â Weekends in October
Time: 10 am – 5 pm
Where:Â 280 Rang Roxham, Hemmingford
Price: Prices vary depending on age. Tickets available at the entrance or online
Voiles en Voiles
Voiles en Voiles/Facebook
Climb aboard life-size replicas of both royal and pirate ships from the 18th century in Montreal’s Old Port (how fitting), before the cold weather hits you. They are over 100 feet in length and range from two feet high for the young pirates to 35 feet for Peter Pan wannabes.
The obstacle course, heading into its final stretch run, features 61 different activities between the Royal Ship and the Pirate Ship. Activities include zip lining, rock climbing, and bouncy castles.
When: From now until October 26
Time: 10 am – 6 pm
Where:Â Place des Vestiges, Old Port
Price: Online Prices vary depending on selected activities, tickets
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