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This Week in Canada: a Zoo Escape Experience, the Virtual Terry Fox Run, POP Montreal 2020

BizBash's new Canada-focused column covers the week's biggest event news.

Upper Canada Village’s Pumpkinferno display returns to Morrisburg, Ont., from Sept. 25 to Oct. 31 with more than 7,000 pumpkins lit up throughout the historic site.
Upper Canada Village’s Pumpkinferno display returns to Morrisburg, Ont., from Sept. 25 to Oct. 31 with more than 7,000 pumpkins lit up throughout the historic site.
Photo: Courtesy of Pumpkinferno

Welcome to BizBash's newest column, covering Canada’s biggest event news from coast to coast. Got a tip? Get in touch!

Provincial News
Alberta: “Locked Zoo: Finders Keepers” takes place at the Calgary Zoo from Sept. 16-17. Billed as “Calgary's Largest Escape Experience,” the after-hours event invites teams of two to six to test their zoology knowledge by following clues and solving a series of puzzles. In addition to visiting animals along the way, registrants can prepurchase dinner boxes with Asian take-out, pub-style fish and chips, traditional smokehouse, and South American cuisine options and order wine and beer throughout the evening.

British Columbia: After Okanagan’s Lake Country Artwalk, which annually attracts over 7,000 attendees, canceled its 2020 festival set for this week, organizers announced the launch of a new sit-down art experience. “ArtWalk” showcases 45 outdoor lounge chairs used as canvases for painted scenery and abstract designs—as well as sayings curated by each artist—spread out across 13 neighborhoods in the Okanagan Valley. Over the next two years, the community project invites visitors to take a seat and enjoy local views.

Newfoundland: SPAC St. John’s animal shelter’s Paw on the Pond fundraiser, which invites pets and their owners to walk around Quidi Vidi Lake and enjoy a park fair, is conducting a distanced version of the event from Sept. 26-27. To reach the $30,000 fundraising goal for animals in need, participants are encouraged to complete the walk in their neighborhoods or on trails.

Ontario: This week, the City of Toronto launched the ShowLoveTO program in an effort to safely boost tourism and revitalize the local economy. City-wide events and experiences this fall include a large-scale art installation project, guided walking tours through various neighborhoods and historical landmarks, a digital platform showcasing unique local culinary experiences, and extended outdoor restaurant and cafe seating. Many of the busiest fall events, including Nuit Blanche and Church Street’s annual Halloween street party, have been moved online or canceled.  

Quebec: The 19th annual POP Montreal indie music and multidisciplinary art festival runs from Sept. 23-27 with more than 60 livestreamed and in-person performances. Live concerts are taking place at Montreal’s Rialto Theatre—reduced from its 1,200 capacity to a limit of 200—as well as Ursa and Le Ministère, with secret shows at locations revealed to ticket holders on the day of the show. This year’s Art POP exhibition takes place at the Rialto complex, while Puces POP, an outdoor design and craft fair, opens at Parc Saint Viateur. Musician panels for POP Symposium are taking place virtually, and Film POP screenings are scheduled at Cinéma Moderne.

Coast-to-Coast
Celebrating the 40-year anniversary of the Marathon of Hope, the Terry Fox Foundation has provided an app powered by MoveSwing enabling virtual participation in the Canada-wide run on Sept. 20. Whether walking, running, or biking, the app allows users to set distance goals, monitor their progress, and connect with friends and family. Organizers also developed a “Train With Terry” feature for setting training goals and connecting with other runners in advance of the event. “Cancer isn’t waiting for the pandemic to end and neither can we,” said Ara Sahakian, interim executive director The Terry Fox Foundation. “Even with the additional challenges Canadians are facing, we need to remain committed to supporting cancer research this September.” More than $2.5 million has been raised for the virtual run to date.

Waddington's Auctioneers & Appraisers will conduct auctions over a number of digital platforms, enabling participants to view online catalogs, watch livestreamed events, and complete telephone, absentee, and online bidding. This fall’s Canadian Fine Art Auction features pieces from private collections by some of the country’s most celebrated artists from the 19th century to today, including William Kurelek, Jean Paul Riopelle, and Kent Monkman. Additional auctions this fall will include fine wine and spirits collections, Inuit and Indigenous art, and winning selections from SNAP’s annual photography collection.  

Overheard
"These are women innovating inside their large organizations and institutions and helping to make change inside of organizations. They are just quietly, humbly going about building their businesses all over Alberta and making a difference in our community and our economy. Given I was retired and I know that Alberta is such a can-do province, we started it here. The whole concept of recognizing them, especially for younger generations, is if you can see it, you can be it."

—Jennifer Koury, co-chair of SHEInnovates Alberta, speaking to CBC about the Women Leading Innovation virtual tech conference, which took place on Tuesday. 

On the Scene
TIFF opened last week with drive-in and outdoor socially distanced screenings throughout the city.

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