Toronto
#1 Festival & Parade (up from #2)
Toronto hosted WorldPride in 2014, smashing previous attendance records of 1.2 million for the city’s usual uproarious Pride Week and welcoming revelers from all over the globe. The 10-day celebration of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and transsexual life included three parades (the Trans Pride March, the Dyke March, and the marquee event, the WorldPride parade), a street fair, and free concerts by Melissa Etheridge and Canadian duo Tegan and Sara. The WorldPride Human Rights Conference, which ran for three days during WorldPride, drew participants from more than 50 countries to discuss and learn about the activism, culture, and history of the global pride community. TD Bank was the event’s platinum partner, and Hilton Hotels & Resorts, Smart car, and the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation were among the gold-level sponsors. Next: June 2015
Calgary
#2 Festival & Parade
The stampede, sponsored by Bell, recorded its second-highest attendance in 2014 with more than 1.2 million visitors over 10 days. In addition to bull riding and chuckwagon races, the larger-than-life rodeo featured 340 musical performances on 15 stages, including shows by Shania Twain and Keith Urban. Next: July 3-12, 2015
Ottawa
#3 Festival & Parade
About 600,000 people participate in the capital’s winter festival every year, which was sponsored in 2014 by Enbridge and the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation, among others. Highlights included skating on the world’s largest naturally frozen ice rink and barreling down snow slides in North America’s biggest snow park. Next: January 30-February 16, 2015
Quebec City
#4 Festival & Parade
This year’s festival, sponsored by Loto-Québec, expanded throughout Quebec City. A curling tournament and lumberjack contest were held on the streets, and the Red Bull Crashed Ice downhill skating race drew passionate supporters to the 500-meter purpose-built downtown track. Next: January 30-February 15, 2015
Toronto
#5 Festival & Parade
More than one million people gather every summer for the three-week celebration of Caribbean music and culture, sponsored by Scotiabank and known locally as Caribana. The Grand Parade, on the last Saturday of the festival, features more than 10,000 brightly costumed singers, dancers, and musicians strutting along Toronto’s waterfront to thrill spectators from home and abroad. Next: Summer 2015
Ottawa
#6 Festival & Parade (up from #7)
Ottawa’s Parliament Hill is the heart of the national holiday, where 350,000 patriotic revelers come to celebrate. Afternoon and evening spectacles feature Canadian artists and performers, and fireworks over the Ottawa River cap off the night. Sponsors include Chicken Farmers of Canada and Manulife. Next: July 1, 2015
Halifax
#7 Festival & Parade
Discount store chain Giant Tiger is the new sponsor for the 11-day free, family-friendly festival of comedy, music, acrobatics, and visual arts that draws as many as 300,000 people a year. New this year: a midway put on by East Coast Amusements. Next: July 29-August 2, 2015
Vancouver
#8 Festival & Parade
The ever-growing international fireworks competition, sponsored by Honda, drew 1.2 million spectators over three nights in 2013, when Canada was the winning team. The 2014 contest, known as the world’s largest offshore fireworks competition, featured pyrotechnics from the United States, France, and Japan. Next: Summer 2015
Quebec City
#9 Festival & Parade (up from #10)
The skies over the St. Lawrence River, between Quebec City and Lévis, are filled with colorful pyrotechnics for six nights every August. Each evening’s show has a different theme, and land-based performers complement it with magic, music, and mime. RBC is the presenting sponsor. Next: August 2015
Victoria
#10 Festival & Parade (up from #11)
A crowd of more than 40,000 classical music aficionados attended the 25th annual free concert performed on a floating stage in Victoria’s Inner Harbour. Festivities started in the afternoon, in the Splash Family Zone, and ended with the Victoria Symphony’s evening performance of Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture,” accompanied by fireworks and cannons. Next: Summer 2015
Ottawa
#11 Festival & Parade (up from #13)
More than 500,000 flower fanatics take in the spring tulip display every year, commemorating Canada’s role in sheltering the Dutch royal family during World War II. New this year: three nights of fireworks and a special salute to Canada’s veterans from the Afghan war. Next: May 8-18, 2015
Vancouver
#12 Festival & Parade
A teachers’ strike meant significantly lower attendance at this year’s weeklong festival on Granville Island, sponsored by the federal and provincial governments. But those who attended experienced the indoor theater, an arts activity village, and bedtime stories. Next: May 26-31, 2015
