Promise Cherry Beach
Cherry Beach, Sundays from June 15-Aug. 31 | Day passes from $32.30 / Season pass $244.76
After 25 years, Promise Cherry Beach remains just under the radar enough to be considered underground. The combination of electronic beats with the idyllic/industrial aesthetic of Toronto’s Port Lands make the most of the city’s too-short beach season.
— Sarah Chodos
Tone Festival
TRANZAC and Collective Arts, June 20-21 | Day passes only: $20 adv. /$25 door
Before transitioning into a monthly series, TONE delivers a June double-dipper, presenting MESTIZX (Netherlands) and Farida Amadou (Belgium) at the TRANZAC and Collective Arts.
— Tom Beedham
Whitby Music Fest
Whitby, June 26-29 | FREE / June 28 at Celebration Square $35
Just an hour’s ride outside the city on the GO train, Town Brewery brings a venue-hopping festival concept “loosely based on Toronto’s legendary NXNE festival” to the Durham Region. Local legends CHASTITY are set to perform, along with Born Ruffians, rapper Fresh Kils, Heaven For Real, and more to be announced.
— Michael Rancic
R4A Fest
Baby G, July 10-12 | Day passes $31.50 / Weekend passes $61.50
Ready4Anything Records’ festival crashes the Baby G this summer, featuring noise quartet Burner, queer country artist Donny Croswell, Michael-Imperioli-approved punks Roach and many other local faves.
— Michael Rancic
Flowers In Concrete
The Great Hall and Longboat Hall, July 12 | Single stage $49.79 / Both stages $85.03
Not Dead Yet and Static Shock Records’ mindmeld brings two floors of hardcore, punk and crossover heavyweights to Queen and Dovercourt. Choose your own adventure.
— Tom Beedham
Kultrun World Music Festival
Waterloo Park, July 11-13 | FREE
With GO transit access to and from Toronto, this free event in Waterloo Park was founded on the notion of community connection.
— Sarah Chodos
Mixto
Trillium Park, July 12-13 | FREE
Curated by Uma Nota Culture, every summer, Mixto brings Toronto a wide-reaching blend of global rhythms, upending the idea that world music is static or exotic. We’re still waiting on this year’s lineup to land, but anticipate a free, all-ages celebration of music, dance, community, and local spirit.
— Tom Beedham
Big on Bloor
Bloordale, July 19-20 | FREE
Bloor Street West goes car-free from Dufferin to Lansdowne for this annual community-based fest celebrating local artists (this year including veterans Sook-Yin Lee and John Kameel Farah) and small businesses.
— Tabassum Siddiqui
Hillside Festival
Guelph Lake Island, July 20-22 | Day passes from $79 / Weekend passes from $129
From a solar-powered mainstage to the reusable dishes and locavore fare in the food tent, this utopian ideal of a summer festival remains resolutely community based and sustainability minded. As usual, this year’s lineup includes a mix of buzzy indie acts (Lucius, Hurray for the Riff Raff) and international veterans (Vieux Farka Touré, Femi Kuti).
— Tabassum Siddiqui
Sojourn
McCormack Compound, July 25-27 | Day Passes from $59 / Weekend passes from $151.45
The three-day electronic festival returns this July, featuring 50+ local and international artists, curated by the promoters behind Format, Last Planet, and Pep Rally. Motor City’s sonic engineer Juan Atkins headlines, along with underground club fixture Aurora Halal, and Hyperdub founder Kode9.
— Michael Rancic
New Friends Fest
Lithuanian House, August 1-3 | Weekend passes $167.95
Once again, the Toronto post-hardcore event brings the community- and grassroots-focused nature of European punk festivals to Canada. Bands from all over the world will perform alongside Mississauga/Toronto’s very own Animal Faces who have recently reformed after a decade-long hiatus.
— Daniel G. Wilson
Electric Eclectics
Meaford, Aug. 1-3 | Day passes from $41 / Weekend passes from $118
It’s a banner year for Electric Eclectics. Flying a freak flag for two decades on Meaford’s “Funny Farm,” 2025’s fest promises returning experimentalists and new noisemakers. Highlights include Austrian thereminist Dorit Chrysler, White Mountain Apache violinist Laura Ortman, Toronto’s pioneering plunderphonics pirate John Oswald, forest raves, camping, and more.
— Tom Beedham
Peterborough Folk Festival
Peterborough, Aug. 14-17 | FREE
The lineup is still TBA, but the Peterborough Folk Festival has been a gathering place for some of Canada’s most interesting folk, blues, and country acts for 35 years.
— Daniel G. Wilson
Riverfest
Elora, Aug. 15-17 | Day passes from $94.71 / Weekend passes from $199.98
Fourteen years after its beginnings as a backyard music festival, Riverfest’s lineup now shows off some of Canada’s finest indie rock, folk, and pop musicians, including City and Colour, Rich Aucoin, plus Americans like Marcy Playground. Set in Bissell Park by the banks of the Grand River, it’s a wonderful summer day trip or camping weekend.
— Sarah Chodos
Crooked Festival
Lindsay, Aug. 15-17 | Day passes $50 (optional $20 camping fee) / Weekend passes $150 (includes camping fee)
The inaugural edition of this no-frills festival of noise and psychedelia at the Gamiing Nature Centre boasts bands, filmmakers and art vendors from across the GTA. Hang off the hayloft rafters taking in sets from Sacred Wound, 027, Drofnosura, Animatist, Not a Band, and more, then fall asleep under the stars.
— Tom Beedham
Four Winds Music Fest
Durham, Aug. 15-16 | Day passes from $80 / Weekend passes from $199
Located on a farmstead near the Bruce Peninsula, some of the country’s best roots rock will be featured here, including the Sadies and the Strumbellas.
— Sarah Chodos
Guelph Jazz Festival
Guelph, Sept. 12-14 | Passes not yet released at time of publication
Forget whatever “jazz” festival the banks are selling. Guelph’s is the real deal — abundant, often free programming of creative improvised music, complemented by workshop programming.
— Tom Beedham
Supercrawl
Hamilton, September 12-14 | FREE
Festival season doesn’t end when summer does — and one of the best fall options is only a short GO train ride away. Hamilton’s Supercrawl has become an annual mainstay — adding art installations, literature, theatre, and fashion to the typical music-fest format. While this year’s lineup is yet to be announced, expect several local faves alongside the bigger headliners.
— Tabassum Siddiqui
Geary Art Crawl
Geary Avenue, Sept. 20-21 | FREE
A recent star in Toronto’s constellation of summer events is the Geary Art Crawl. Now in its fourth year, the all-ages event decks out Geary Avenue with installations, exhibitions, food stalls, games, crafts, and local music performances.
— Daniel G. Wilson
Project Nowhere
Multiple venues in Little Portugal, Oct. 2-4 | Passes not yet released at time of publication
Offering a nomadic curatorial vision and entering its third year, psych, hardcore, synth-pop, and noise are all game at this unconventional venue-hopper along Dundas West.
— Tom Beedham
This article appeared in the 2025 Summer issue.
