Activities, parties, points of interest, art exhibitions, you name it: These are the weekend events you don't want to miss.

Thursday

• @fiertemontreal is back and it's bigger than ever: From now 'til August 11th, it will feature over 240 artists and over 130 events, the vast majority of which are free and include major outdoor shows. 🏳️‍🌈☀️
• @frikiton makes landfall at Esplanade Louvain for an @airecommune dance party that'll also feature drinks by @fouginqc, snacks, games, some (non-permanent) tattoos, and other surprises.
• The 38th edition of L’International des Feux Loto-Québec at @larondesixflags is coming to an end with a Tribute to Coldplay.
• An evening of music and merriment, poetry and playfulness, by (or inspired by) Shakespeare: @repercussiontheatre's Shakespeare-in-the-Park will be performed in Verdun's West Vancouver Park at 7pm.
• Filmmaker Nicolas Paquet will be at the free screening of Malarctic, a documentary on an open-pit gold mine, at the Biosphère in @parcjeandrapeau at 8:45 pm.

Friday

• @harlemofthenorth is celebrating 50 years of hip-hop culture on August 3 & 4 in Little Burgundy's Vinet Park, and will include performances by artists like @ghostfacekillah, @djwhookid, @fauxcuss, @djtokyomamii, and more.
• @lemonastere's hosting Le Cabaret de la Fierté from August 2nd to 10, a circus show diving into the work of ten artists from the 2SLGBTQI+ community and its allies every night, both from Montreal and beyond.
• One of the biggest and best outdoor music festivals in Montreal, @osheaga, is back with just as many hall of famers as there are up-and-coming artists at @parcjeandrapeau.
• Italian Week, aka @italfestmtl, kicks off its 31st celebration of Italian creativity, culture and heritage not only in Little Italy, but all across the city.
• How kawaii: Montreal's largest anime convention @otakuthonmontreal will be taking over Palais des congrès all weekend long.

Saturday

• This year, @heritagemtl invites you to come and discover remarkable public buildings that have helped shape our city, starting with Little Italy: Jean-Talon Market and its environs.
• @montrealmakersmarket is bringing together more than 75 vendors selling local and handmade products on August 3 and 4 at 5945 rue Cartier from 11 am to 5 pm.
• @mattholubowski will be playing an open-air concert at @espacepourlavie's Montreal Botanical Gardens from 2 to 3 pm.
• @lasalarossa's downstairs venue La Sotterenea is hosting the @freaky_muthafucka party for Pride, featuring folx like @sanc2rafa, @cosmic_cafe_ and @manclaudy.
• @promenade_masson is hosting an open-air cinema BYOB session at Parc du Pélican, screening the boy & dog adventure flick Belle et Sébastien at 8:45 pm.

Sunday

• Head to Esplanade Tranquille in the @quartierdesspectacles_mtl for the fourth Lesbian BBQ, organised by the Réseau des Lesbiennes du Québec that's part of the Pride Festival.
• Because it's the first Sunday of August, @mhospitalieres is letting everyone discover their temporary exhibition 'Notre montagne. Mémoires du mont Royal' and the former Hospitalières chapel-church free of charge.
• If you've got energy to burn on Sunday night, go to either @vinodiscobar to see @alldayjam, @chien.champion and Brandonbythebeach ($10 entry before midnight); you can catch  @wehbba at @newspeakmtl too.

Discovering the undiscovered

As a small, younger, and arguably underexplored neighbourhood of the city, 70% of the 15,000 families that call Saint-Léonard home are immigrants coming from Algeria, Haiti, Morocco, Vietnam, and Italy—and a new, month-long food festival aims to explore everything they have to offer. (The Main)

Fringale: A month-long exploration of Saint-Léonard through food

The first edition of the SDC Jean-Talon Est’s new food festival Fringale explores the migratory cultures that make up 70% of Saint-Léonard’s communities over five weekends.

J.P. Karwacki

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WHAT TO EAT & DRINK IN AND AROUND MONTREAL

Scope the latest restaurant openings, recommendations on where to eat, plus new menus, old classics, and everything in between.

• @lespremiersvendredis isn't just claiming to be the biggest street food event in Canada: It's also happening this weekend from August 2 to 4 with a Fiesta Latina edition at the Quai De L'horloge in @vieuxportmtl.
• Chef @simonmathys from @restaurantmastard will with @alma.mtl chef @juanlopezluna for the latter's 9th taco omakase that pairs ancestral corn tortillas and summer produce from Quebec on August 4.
• The Milanese bar moebiusmilano will be popping up at Little Italy's @barbellomtl—perfect for Italfest that's starting this week.
• Local chef @harrisonfred is cooking up a takeover at @pumpuimontreal with @henny__t featuring a mostly French, seven-course meal paired with wines on August 5. Book via email to harrison@pumpui.com.
• @sataybrothers's Sataypalooza, a series of street food pop-ups celebrating Montreal’s vibrant gastronomy scene, continues on August 1 with chef @theothespartan from @tuckshopmtl.
• From Friday to Sunday, from noon until there's no more, @laboucheriedemamie is cooking up doner kebab sandwiches.
• August 3 & 4 will see the arrival of the @festival_de_la_gastronomie at @vieuxportmtl’s Grand Quay, putting the cuisines of more than 50 countries on display.
• Also on August 3 & 4, sommelier @kikico.ca will host educational workshops at the @marcheatwater on local wines and ciders; you can stock up there, too.
• The South Asian food festival Kothu Vizha is taking place on August 3rd at @la_tohu with vendors, entertainment, games for the kids, performances, and more.
• Consider @restaurantbivouac's Sunday BBQ sessions that start at 4 pm, with grilled meats (plus vegetarian and vegan options), local Quebec cocktails, and special DJ invites.
• Local pop-up shop @disco__mayo is heading to @domomontreal on August 2 and 3 to explore the flavours of Iran.

The greatest of the latest ⭐

From local institutions in the making to arriving franchises from afar, this is where you can track where you should be eating right now, taking stock of what’s worth eating and drinking in the city, and who’s bringing something new to Montreal’s collective table. (The Main)

The Best New Restaurants in Montreal [August 2024]

The best new restaurants in Montreal right now number in at 26 spots, featuring the city’s freshest spring season openings as well as those shaking up this summer’s offerings.

J.P. Karwacki

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The virtues of an endless night

Here's what happened when author Heather O'Neill decides to stay up for the entire annual Nuit Blanche festival with her daughter Arizona to explore scores of galleries, restaurants, and concert venues open all night, taking in culture like Anne Rice vampires until the sun rises. (Canadian Geographic)

Creatures of the night: a Montreal all-nighter

It’s all Cirque, no Soleil as Canadian author Heather O’Neill and her daughter Arizona take in the Nuit Blanche festival and extol the virtues of an endless night

Canadian GeographicHeather O’Neill

Some good juice

Few people have a good word for Prohibition these days, but America’s 1920s and ’30s experiment with a nationwide booze ban did help make Montreal great. Ever since, the combination of French influence and buying power has meant competitive prices and a great choice of bottles. (Food & Wine)

How Montreal Became Paradise for Wine Lovers

Exceptional historical circumstances have made Montreal, Canada a hot spot for wine lovers.

Food & WineFood & Wine’s Editorial Guidelines

Go team 📣

Team Canada will be sending 337 of their top athletes but plenty of Montrealers returning or competing at their first Olympics: Leylah Fernandez, Lu Dort and Félix Auger-Aliassime are among those repping our city in a wide range of sports in Paris this summer. (Cult MTL)

Montreal athletes to cheer for at the 2024 Olympics

Montreal is well represented at the 2024 Olympics in parents, with local athletes competing in tennis, basketball, diving, judo and more.

Cult MTLCindy Lopez

Inside Andrea Ricci’s elegant Montreal wedding

While almost all the weddings in fairytales end at the elegant castle on the hill, their beginnings differ wildly from how fairytales would be told today. For content creator and fashion marketer Andrea Ricci and Jarred Reed-Stewart, their love led to a wedding at a historic Chateau on the South Shore of Montréal. (Vogue)

No other nonna like her

During an Italian cooking class, Patrick Lagacé spoke with Elena Faita, mother of chef and restaurateur Stefano Faita, “mother” of several Montreal chefs like Martin Picard, to whom she taught how to make potted tomatoes and whom she helped financially to launch Au Pied de Cochon. (La Presse)

Out of sight, top of mind 🌱

The green roof at IGA Extra Famille Duchemin St-Laurent, billed as Canada’s only vegetable garden on a supermarket rooftop, has kicked off its eighth season. Today, the garden now occupies more than 29,000 square feet, up from 25,000 square feet with 40 varieties of rganic vegetables and herbs. (Montreal Gazette)

Canada’s only supermarket rooftop vegetable garden grows in St-Laurent

IGA Extra Famille Duchemin St-Laurent has partnered with a team including CEGEP students and newcomers to Montreal for its new season.

Montreal GazetteSusan Schwartz

Designing pipes for five generations

The company Blatter & Blatter, founded in 1907, is one of the few to still practice this art: With around a hundred employees, a factory on rue Saint-Hubert, and up to four boutiques on rue Sainte-Catherine, the Blatter & Blatter company began in 1907, almost 120 years ago. (Journal de Montréal)

It ain't a wash

There was a time when people went to the Morgan baths to wash. Today, it is an indoor swimming pool, in a building originally designed in the spirit of Roman thermal baths and the Beaux-Arts style that's just regained its former glory. (La Presse)

Oh good, things got worse

Tenants' rights advocates say landlords openly using records from Quebec's housing tribunal against prospective renters is cause for concern. CBC News has reviewed dozens of postings specifically spelling out that having any record with the TAL will influence your shot at getting the place. (CBC Montreal)

Fake guides, or no guides?

The summer season in Montreal sees approximately 11 million visitors each year. Alongside them, illegal guides are increasing, so the Plante administration plans to change the regulations governing the practice of the profession, but does not rule out the possibility of removing the requirement altogether. (Le Devoir)

Vers la fin du permis pour les guides touristiques à Montréal?

L’administration Plante a entamé une réflexion sur son règlement encadrant le métier.

Le DevoirAnnabelle Caillou

And that wraps yet another weekly bulletin. We’ll be back with more curiosities, local stories, and events to discover next week.

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