A busy street in downtown Toronto is banning cars all summer long
Visitors and locals heading to one of Toronto’s most popular attractions in the coming weeks will find the area around it far easier and safer to navigate on foot thanks to some seasonal pedestrianization efforts that have just kicked off.
For the duration of the summer and part of the fall, the segment of Market Street adjacent to the St. Lawrence Market — between Front Street and the Esplanade — will be completely blocked off to cars as part of the annual I Heart Market Street initiative.
Pop-up vendors, live entertainment, patios, seating installations and more will occupy the brick roadway instead, with regular programming through to late October.
Along with various events to be announced, local musicians will perform every Tuesday and Wednesday from 11:30 am to 1:30 pm and 5 to 7 pm, while buskers will perform on designated “family days” on select Thursdays from noon to 3 pm. There will also be salsa days, a Sunday opera, Pride celebrations and more.
This is not the first year of the urban park-ification of Market Street for the warmer months, a move that has built off the ethos of CafeTO and ActiveTO to great success.
Along with being next to the perpetually pedestrian-packed market, the road is already a flexible street with removable bollards and gradual curbs, making the transition to car-free easy and natural for a festival-like feel all summer.