Holiday
spirit and spirits go hand in hand during Toronto’s most extravagant
Christmas celebration. In 2010, the Lowe’s Toronto Christmas Market
began the annual tradition of turning the Distillery Historic District
into a centre for merriment and good cheer.
For the first two weeks of December, the holiday treatment is given
to the city’s beautiful, European-inspired commercial village that was
home to the world’s largest whisky manufacturer during the 19th century.
Carnival rides, artisan shops, musical performances, and tasty treats —
including roasted marshmallows and hot cider — create a festive
atmosphere centred around a spectacularly decorated 45-foot Christmas
tree.
- See more at:
http://www.seetorontonow.com/my-toronto/get-into-the-spirit-at-lowes-toronto-christmas-market-in-the-distillery-district/#sthash.yupFuxxr.dpuf
Holiday
spirit and spirits go hand in hand during Toronto’s most extravagant
Christmas celebration. In 2010, the Lowe’s Toronto Christmas Market
began the annual tradition of turning the Distillery Historic District
into a centre for merriment and good cheer.
For the first two weeks of December, the holiday treatment is given
to the city’s beautiful, European-inspired commercial village that was
home to the world’s largest whisky manufacturer during the 19th century.
Carnival rides, artisan shops, musical performances, and tasty treats —
including roasted marshmallows and hot cider — create a festive
atmosphere centred around a spectacularly decorated 45-foot Christmas
tree.
- See more at:
http://www.seetorontonow.com/my-toronto/get-into-the-spirit-at-lowes-toronto-christmas-market-in-the-distillery-district/#sthash.yupFuxxr.dpuf
Holiday
spirit and spirits go hand in hand during Toronto’s most extravagant
Christmas celebration. In 2010, the Lowe’s Toronto Christmas Market
began the annual tradition of turning the Distillery Historic District
into a centre for merriment and good cheer.
For the first two weeks of December, the holiday treatment is given
to the city’s beautiful, European-inspired commercial village that was
home to the world’s largest whisky manufacturer during the 19th century.
Carnival rides, artisan shops, musical performances, and tasty treats —
including roasted marshmallows and hot cider — create a festive
atmosphere centred around a spectacularly decorated 45-foot Christmas
tree.
- See more at:
http://www.seetorontonow.com/my-toronto/get-into-the-spirit-at-lowes-toronto-christmas-market-in-the-distillery-district/#sthash.yupFuxxr.dpuf
Holiday
spirit and spirits go hand in hand during Toronto’s most extravagant
Christmas celebration. In 2010, the Lowe’s Toronto Christmas Market
began the annual tradition of turning the Distillery Historic District
into a centre for merriment and good cheer.
For the first two weeks of December, the holiday treatment is given
to the city’s beautiful, European-inspired commercial village that was
home to the world’s largest whisky manufacturer during the 19th century.
Carnival rides, artisan shops, musical performances, and tasty treats —
including roasted marshmallows and hot cider — create a festive
atmosphere centred around a spectacularly decorated 45-foot Christmas
tree.
- See more at:
http://www.seetorontonow.com/my-toronto/get-into-the-spirit-at-lowes-toronto-christmas-market-in-the-distillery-district/#sthash.yupFuxxr.dpuf
Holiday
spirit and spirits go hand in hand during Toronto’s most extravagant
Christmas celebration. In 2010, the Lowe’s Toronto Christmas Market
began the annual tradition of turning the Distillery Historic District
into a centre for merriment and good cheer.
For the first two weeks of December, the holiday treatment is given
to the city’s beautiful, European-inspired commercial village that was
home to the world’s largest whisky manufacturer during the 19th century.
Carnival rides, artisan shops, musical performances, and tasty treats —
including roasted marshmallows and hot cider — create a festive
atmosphere centred around a spectacularly decorated 45-foot Christmas
tree.
- See more at:
http://www.seetorontonow.com/my-toronto/get-into-the-spirit-at-lowes-toronto-christmas-market-in-the-distillery-district/#sthash.yupFuxxr.dpuf
Holiday
spirit and spirits go hand in hand during Toronto’s most extravagant
Christmas celebration. In 2010, the Lowe’s Toronto Christmas Market
began the annual tradition of turning the Distillery Historic District
into a centre for merriment and good cheer. - See more at:
http://www.seetorontonow.com/my-toronto/get-into-the-spirit-at-lowes-toronto-christmas-market-in-the-distillery-district/#sthash.yupFuxxr.dpuf
This year Toronto once again celebrates the magic of the traditional Christmas at the Lowe's Toronto Christmas Market at the Distillery District at Parliament and Front Street.
If you've never been to a 'Christmas Market' it is worth a visit. Traditionally these street markets originated in Germany beginning in the early 1400's and now they are held all over the world.
It's a free annual event capturing Old World traditions with carolers, children's choirs and story telling. There are vendors showcasing hundreds of unique and local handcrafted products and crafts.
You can also try different samples of International beers or flavours in your coffee like Amarula, Frangelico, Calvados, Luksusowa, Innis & Gunn, Tullamore and Irish Mist! Personally I just love coffee as it is, so it's nice to try something different that you wouldn't normally do. The kids were lining up for little cups of hot chocolate and apple cider and to say hi to Santa of course... and the King?
The tree was donated by Trees Ontario who make it their mission to support the planting of 10 million trees a year! This of course ensures the health of future generations. This year's tree was 14m of a beautiful display of white pine, red and golden bulbs and gold ribbon.
From a photographer's point of view, this place is so gorgeous in the evenings and all the lights come up! But instead we decided to check out the Cavalcade of Lights this year.
The street market is open every day up until I think a few days before the 25th of December, so I don't have an excuse not to come back again. Oh and they also have a Ferris Wheel!
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...and...Remember this is still the Historic Distillery District...
...so there is plenty of history here on Mill Street as well. So in between the concerts, the food and drink samplings of the festivities, why not sneak away for a little while and explore some of the other buildings? Here is my favorite: The Stone Distillery.
The Distillery is the oldest and largest building here in the District in Toronto.
The building was designed and build out of limestone and double-timber beams and shipped from Kingston, Ontario. The double-timber beams make a 2x4 look like a twig! It cost around $150,000 which was a huge amount of money at the time.
You can walk from the base to the top in a short time with some effort. The building was big enough to house a grist mill, a power house and mashing and distilling functions. It was documented inside the building that a massive fire engulfed the building in 1869 damaging the wooden interior but leaving the stone and machinery largely undamaged (obviously). The interior was reconstructed a year later.
Well we know that there were two world wars in the 1900's and this distillery was used to produce explosive agents for the war efforts, but once the second war was over in 1945, it went back to doing what it was designed to do and that was distilling, and remained doing so for decades until the early 1990's when all distilling activity ended and the area no longer produced alcohol.
Since the area has beautiful Victorian-style buildings and cobblestone sidewalks, it brought in the attention of film production companies. It was used as a backdrop for movies such as Chicago and X-Men as well as a few hundred others.
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There are many ways to celebrate the spirit of the holidays, so even if you don't believe in Santa anymore, you can still find some joy in giving.
Later, I finally looked it up and discovered it was called the Gooderham Building, or as it is more commonly referred to, the 'Flatiron', and was built in 1892. 
The design and construction was made for the famed distiller George Gooderham (son of Gooderham and Worts
distillery founder William Gooderham). You may remember Gooderham and Worts from my blog posts, The Lowes Christmas Market and another post Historical Distillery District.
I worked just a few blocks away many years ago when this was once known as BCE Place. I didn't even recognize this place. Inside it looks like a crystal cathedral and outside it has these gorgeous purple pillars. It was designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava.
