See all the art on Queen Street without leaving your couch

If you’ve always wanted to see all of the stunning public art along Toronto’s Queen Street but haven’t been able to make it out there — especially with the current Stay-at-Home order — a new virtual walking tour launching this week will let you view all the sights from the comfort of your home.

The Queen Street West Business Improvement Area (BIA) and the Riverside BIA have teamed up to create the virtual walking tour, which they say will showcase all of the local public art from a variety of Canadian artists.

The tour, which will be available on the BIAs’ websites and is free to access, lets users view some of the city’s coolest public art pieces and learn the stories behind them. Everything from the Graffiti Alley’s “Paint the City Black” murals — a stunning tribute to George Floyd and the anti-racism movement — to the metal art atop the Queen Street Viaduct will be viewable.

The first weekend in May is typically when Jane’s Walk, a weekend of free, community-led walking tours, takes place in Toronto. So in celebration of that, the virtual tour will launch on Friday May 7.

• See also:
  • A new pedestrian bridge in Toronto just got an electrifying public art piece
  • Toronto artist paints rainbow-inspired mural to shine light in dark times
  • 33 Toronto murals are being taken down to make way for transit construction

And if Toronto architecture piques your interest, the Queen Street West BIA and Riverside BIA are launching a second virtual tour that will go over the history of some of Queen Street’s most iconic buildings, from Osgoode Hall to the 1930’s Teck Theatre. This tour will also launch May 7.

So if you’re looking for something entertaining to do this weekend that doesn’t require you to leave the house (and just might teach you a thing or two) these tours are a great way to spend an afternoon.