I continue to be astonished at the sheer volume of festivals and happenings in Toronto on any given summer weekend. A few weekends ago there was the Downtown Toronto Jazz Festival (not a very good jazz fest, mind you), fireworks at the lakeshore, the annual Pride Weekend including the Pride Parade, and more. This weekend the Frings festival is on, plus the Molson Indy Champ Car race and something called the "Celebrate Toronto Festival," in which they close down certain intersections on Yonge Street for food, games and cultural events — kind of a family thing. Add to all these special events: the European Cup of soccer, which gripped several Toronto neighbourhoods and resulted in impromptu street parties right up to the finish; a parade of bands coming through town; and Torontonians' dedication to patio-ing, and it's a wonder people make it out of town on weekends to go to the cottage (an experience I have yet to... experience).

In Vancouver there are some great festivals (I was sad to have missed the jazz festival this year), but each one is the event of that week or weekend, and everyone knows about it. Here it can get a little overwhelming, and it's almost more acceptable to just miss everything because, hey, you're gonna miss some stuff anyway!