The holiday season, in one paragraph
Toronto's holiday season by limo runs from the Santa Claus Parade (a mid-November Sunday, the route from Bloor and Christie down Bloor, Avenue Road, Queen's Park, University and Queen to the St. Lawrence Market — closing them for the afternoon) through the Toronto Christmas Market at the Distillery (mid-November to the Sunday before Christmas — free on weekdays, ticketed at the weekend peaks, Mill Street's curb closed at those peaks and the pickups moved to Parliament and Cherry), the Cavalcade of Lights at Nathan Phillips Square (the late-November Saturday's tree lighting and the square's skating through the season), Casa Loma's Christmas programme (the Casa Loma article), the Nutcracker at the Four Seasons Centre (the National Ballet's December run — the University Avenue and Queen doors), the Christmas concerts at Massey Hall and Roy Thomson Hall, the Bloor-Yorkville Holiday Magic lights, Yorkdale's and the Eaton Centre's December weekends (the shopping day article), the company parties (the corporate holiday party article), and the family's Christmas-light drive through the neighbourhoods; the December fleet is committed three weeks ahead and the season's cars are booked with the tickets.
December is the black car trade's busiest month in Toronto — the company parties, the airport's holiday peaks, the shopping weekends, the family visits — and its events are the city's most-attended: the Christmas Market's six weeks draw the crowds the Distillery was built for, the Santa Claus Parade closes University Avenue for an afternoon, the Cavalcade of Lights fills Nathan Phillips Square, and the theatres, the halls and the castle run their holiday programmes to full houses every night. A chauffeur who works the season knows each event's door, its closure and its pickup — the Distillery's Parliament and Cherry corners when Mill Street is shut, the parade's route and its edges, the square's Bay and Queen corners — and the season's arithmetic: everything booked three weeks ahead. This guide covers the Santa Claus Parade, the Christmas Market, the Cavalcade of Lights, Casa Loma, the Nutcracker and the concerts, the lights, the shopping weekends, the parties, the family's light drive, the season's calendar, and a worked December Saturday.
The Santa Claus Parade
The Original Santa Claus Parade — the third Sunday of November (sometimes the second), from 12:30 to about 3 p.m. — runs from Bloor and Christie east along Bloor to Avenue Road, south on Avenue Road and Queen's Park Crescent, University Avenue and Queen Street to the St. Lawrence Market's Front and Jarvis, closing the whole route and its cross streets from 11 a.m. to 4; a family's parade day is a drop at a corner a block from the route (Bloor and Bathurst for the start, Bay and Bloor for Yorkville's stretch, Richmond and York for the finish) and a pickup at the same corner after the last float — the marathon road closures article's discipline for a Sunday closure, the child seats article's SUV, and the hospital row article's reminder that the hospitals' Elizabeth and Murray entrances stay open while University is the parade. The parade's site has the year's date and route.
The Toronto Christmas Market
The Distillery's Christmas Market runs from mid-November to the Sunday before Christmas — free on weekdays and weekday evenings, ticketed (a few dollars) from Friday evening to Sunday for the crowds' management — with the tree, the lights, the stalls, the beer garden and the choirs filling the district's lanes; the Distillery District guide covers the district's gates and the market's rules: Mill Street's curb closed at the weekend peaks with the police managing the crossings, the pickups at Parliament's east curb south of Front or at Cherry and Distillery Lane, the Canary District's Front Street curb for the overflow, the Cherry gate for the shortest walk in the December wind. A weekday evening (the market's best hours — the lights on, the crowd thin, the Mill Street curb open) is the chauffeur's suggestion to a visitor with a choice.
The Cavalcade of Lights and the square
The Cavalcade of Lights — the late-November Saturday evening when the City lights Nathan Phillips Square's tree and opens the season with a concert and fireworks — closes Bay and Queen around the square for the evening, and the square's skating rink runs from then to March; a family's Cavalcade evening is a drop at Dundas and Bay or Richmond and York (the Financial District hotels guide's corners) and a pickup at the same after the fireworks, and a December skating evening at the square is a Bay Street drop at the square's north edge with the skates in the trunk. The City's Cavalcade page has the date.
Casa Loma's Christmas
The castle's Christmas programme (late November to early January — the decorated halls, the lit gardens, the evening hours to 9 or 10, the courtyard's market) is the Casa Loma article's December: the Austin Terrace gate at 6, the lot full by 5 on the weekends (the chauffeur waits on Walmer or Spadina), and a Yorkville or St. Clair West dinner after down the hill.
The Nutcracker and the Christmas concerts
The National Ballet's Nutcracker at the Four Seasons Centre (December's two-week run — the Queen Street door and the University Avenue lay-by, the theatre district article's timing, the matinees' families), the Toronto Symphony's Messiah and Christmas concerts at Roy Thomson Hall (the Simcoe lay-by), Massey Hall's December concerts (the Victoria curb — the concert article), the Mendelssohn Choir's, the Elgin's and the Ed Mirvish's holiday shows — the season's evenings are a drop at 7 and a pickup at 10 at the venue's corner, and the date night article makes the Nutcracker and a Yorkville dinner the December evening.
The lights: Bloor-Yorkville and the neighbourhoods
Bloor-Yorkville's Holiday Magic (the Mink Mile's lights and the district's windows from mid-November — the Yorkville guide's no-stopping rules on Bloor and the side streets for a walk), the Distillery's, Nathan Phillips Square's, the Eaton Centre's, and the neighbourhoods' — the houses of Kingston Road's Bluffs streets, Leslieville's and the Beaches' (the Beaches and Leslieville guide), Forest Hill's and Lawrence Park's, Mississauga's and Oakville's suburban displays — make the family's Christmas-light drive a December evening: a two-hour hourly SUV with the children in the back and the chauffeur's route through the year's best streets, cocoa in the cup holders (the in-car amenities article), and no one driving who wants to look.
The shopping weekends
Yorkdale's, Sherway's and the Eaton Centre's December Saturdays, Bloor's boutiques, Boxing Day's 7 a.m. — the shopping day article covers the season's side-door pickups (Yorkdale's north entrance, Bloor's St. Thomas, the Eaton Centre's Trinity Way) and the lots that fill by 11; a December shopping day is an hourly with the bags in the trunk and the luggage capacity article's numbers for the gifts.
The company parties
December's Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings are the corporate holiday party article's — the venues from the Royal York's ballrooms to the Distillery's Fermenting Cellar to the King West restaurants, the executives' cars and the guests' shuttles, the two-stage midnight departure, the safe ride home for every employee — and they commit the fleet's December evenings from the first week; the event limo page books a company's party and the corporate account billing article codes it.
The airport's December
The Pearson holiday travel peaks article covers the month's airport arithmetic — the December 20-to-24 departures, the 26-to-27 and January 2-to-4 returns, the 4 a.m. and 5 a.m. flights, the winter storm plan's cancellations — and a family's Christmas travel is booked with its Christmas Market evening, because the fleet's cars for both are the same cars.
The season's calendar and the booking horizon
Mid-November: the Santa Claus Parade, the Christmas Market's opening, the Cavalcade of Lights, Bloor's lights. Late November to mid-December: the parties' peak, the Nutcracker's run, the concerts, the shopping Saturdays, Casa Loma's evenings. The week before Christmas: the market's last weekend, the airport's departures, the family arrivals. Christmas week: Boxing Day's malls, the returns, New Year's Eve (the New Year's Eve article). Every event's cars are booked three weeks ahead — the how early to book article puts December with TIFF and PDAC among the year's peaks — and a booker who plans the season in early November has the fleet; one who calls on December 15th has the partner operators.
A worked December Saturday
A family of four from Oakville, the second Saturday of December. 10:30 a.m.: the Oakville home to Yorkdale's north entrance via the QEW, the 427 and the 401 — dropped at 11:15; the SUV waits in the north lot. 1:30: collected with the bags; lunch on Bloor West Village's strip (the Bloor West and High Park guide). 3:00: the Distillery's Christmas Market — a weekend, so the Cherry and Distillery Lane drop, the tickets on the phone; the SUV waits on Cherry. 5:30: the text — "Cherry gate, ten minutes." 5:45: collected at Cherry; the Christmas-light drive home through the Beaches' streets and Kingston Road's Bluffs, cocoa in the cup holders, the QEW at 7. 7:45: Oakville, two children asleep, the gifts in the trunk. Nine hours on the hourly, four stops, one closed Mill Street avoided, and a family that booked the same Saturday in October.
Holiday season quick reference
| Event | When | Pickup / plan |
|---|---|---|
| Santa Claus Parade | Mid-November Sunday, 12:30–3 | A block from the route: Bloor & Bathurst; Bay & Bloor; Richmond & York — route closed 11–4 |
| Christmas Market (weekday) | Mid-Nov–Dec, free | Mill Street gate — the best hours |
| Christmas Market (weekend peak) | Fri eve–Sun, ticketed | Parliament south of Front; Cherry & Distillery Lane; Canary District's Front |
| Cavalcade of Lights | Late-November Saturday evening | Dundas & Bay; Richmond & York; square's skating all season |
| Casa Loma Christmas | Late Nov–early Jan, evenings | Austin Terrace gate; wait on Walmer / Spadina |
| Nutcracker (Four Seasons Centre) | December, two weeks | Queen door; University lay-by |
| Christmas concerts | December | Roy Thomson Hall's Simcoe; Massey Hall's Victoria |
| Bloor-Yorkville lights | Mid-Nov–Jan | Side streets — never Bloor |
| Family light drive | Any December evening | Two-hour hourly SUV through the neighbourhoods |
| Shopping Saturdays / Boxing Day | December; 26 Dec | Side doors; book a week ahead |
| Company parties | Thu–Sat evenings | Event limo page; two-stage departure |
| Booking horizon | — | Three weeks ahead; plan in early November |
Booking the season
The engine takes each event's corner and hour; the hourly chauffeur page books the family's Saturday or the light drive; the Distillery District guide covers the market's gates; the corporate holiday party article the parties. Plan December in early November.
Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Diwali and the season's other lights
December's black car calendar is not only Christmas: the Hanukkah menorah lightings at Mel Lastman Square and City Hall, the Jewish community's December dinners in Forest Hill and Thornhill (the midtown guide and the Vaughan page), Kwanzaa's community events, and — in October or November, depending on the year — Diwali's celebrations in Brampton, Mississauga and Scarborough (the Brampton page and the Scarborough guide's Agincourt and Malvern), whose evenings of fireworks, temples and family dinners are the season's first lights and the fleet's first December-scale weekend. The South Asian weddings article covers the halls the Diwali dinners share.
The family arrivals and the visiting grandparents
December's other transport is the family's — the grandparents from Vancouver or Mumbai met at Terminal 1 on the 20th with the meet and greet and an SUV for the gifts, the students home from Montreal and Kingston by VIA at Union (the Union Station pickup guide), the family to the Christmas Market on the 22nd in a Sprinter, the Boxing Day sales and the January 2nd departures — and a family's December is booked as one conversation with dispatch in November, the families with luggage article's trunk and the child seats article's seats set once for the fortnight.
Booking notes for the season
"Christmas Market, Saturday 3 p.m., Cherry and Distillery Lane drop, tickets on the phone, family of four, SUV; pickup Cherry gate about 5:30 on a text; then the light drive through the Beaches" — the event, the gate, the party and the evening's shape; the how to book online article shows the fields and the Distillery District guide the gate the December wind makes shortest.
