Big changes may be on the way for one of Toronto’s top seasonal events

One of Toronto’s most prominent seasonal events, which is regularly ranked one of the best of its kind in the world and draws nearly a million people to the city’s most historic neighbourhood each year, may look a whole lot different in 2025.

Any local looking to get into the holiday spirit come wintertime knows to hit up the Distillery Winter Village, which takes over the district’s cobblestone streets with festive food and drink, charming vendor stalls reminiscent of a European holiday market, a monumental Christmas tree, and all sorts of activations and photo ops.

While it has always taken place around the end of December, the event has greatly expanded both in scope and length in recent years, going from just 10 days in its inaugural iteration to more than seven weeks —  running seven days a week — by 2024.

Despite the event in many ways putting the unique pocket of the city on the public’s radar, Distillery locals aren’t too impressed with how hectic the crowds have become, and are now pushing for some amendments.

Last week, the Toronto and East York Community Council adopted a spate of new recommendations for both City and event staff to better take into account the interests of locals.

“One of the major concerns identified by the area residents is the length of the event and continuous traffic impacts, which affect the residents and their daily lives,” explains a deep dive report into the 2024 Winter Village.

“There are also concerns with extensive pedestrian queues outside of the event entrances along Cherry Street and Parliament Street, which can make it difficult for residents to get in and out of their buildings.”

The doc also noted complaints about “the length of time, frequency, and intensity of the music during the event period,” just another of the “variety of issues” that locals have to deal with each winter.

Looking ahead to 2025, council members are asking organizers to establish better communication and consultation with the community, to increase police presence and traffic enforcement on site, and to improve overall control and coordination of the event, from installing better signage for drivers to ticketing all days of the event (not just busy weekends) to manage crowds.

Also in the report are suggestions for how the City can better schedule roadwork projects to help mitigate traffic impacts during Winter Village time, and ways it can “support the Distillery District’s activation and local small businesses initiatives year-round” beyond just the holidays, among other things.

By blogTO