There is no better place to explore summer in the city than in neighbourhood parks like Weston’s Little Avenue Memorial Park. The Summer in the Park program presented by Crossroads Theatre offers family-friendly performances spread over the summer months.
It’s the first year for the arts event series, part of the Toronto Arts Council’s Animating Toronto Parks initiative, and available to experience free of charge. Crossroads Theatre (formerly Shakespeare in Action), has collaborated with other local organizations to create a diverse series to fill the park with the joy of performance.
Summer in the Park Performances
Weston Silver Band
July 25 and August 1 at 7 p.m.
The Weston Silver Band has been bringing British-style brass band music to the city since 1921. Originally created as the Weston Boys’ Band, it now draws a roster of talented brass musicians from across the GTA and region.
The ensemble has won the North American Brass Band Championships three times in its history, as well as a Hannaford Cup at the Toronto Festival of Brass. They’ve appeared at the Luminato Festival in the Dora Award winning production of En avant, marche!, and toured to Yorkshire UK as the first Canadian band to compete in the venerable Whit Friday Brass Band Contest in 2019.
WSB’s repertoire includes traditional classics for brass band, along with the work of contemporary composers and arrangers.
- More information here.
Art Ambulance
Dates: August 23 and 24 at 7 p.m., August 25 at 2 p.m.
Clay and Paper Theatre is known for its original community-focused theatre projects, involving large scale puppetry in public spaces. They’ve been producing plays, parades and other events in the community since 1994, with rehearsals and set building that also takes place in public, and invites anyone to be part of the process. Art is part of daily life — that’s the message. They’ve been active in the Dufferin Grove Park for almost three decades.
Art Ambulance is an all ages show, where puppets pop out of custom bike trailers to offer short plays with masks, original live music, and lots of storytelling fun. Art Ambulance takes a satirical approach to the often harsh world we live in, with a positive message about what we can fight for.
The bike trailers themselves are painted, traveling works of art built by co-artistic director David Anderson, with artwork by muralist Erin McCluskey. Illustrator Kathryn Durst painted the stunning Mother Earth puppet, Gaia, inspired by folkloric designs.
- More information available here.
All of the performances are free to attend at the Little Avenue Memorial Park in Weston, ON on a bring-your-own-seat basis.
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