Down by the Lake

Lake Ontario beckons when the weather heats up around the Big Smoke. Toronto's new sandy park (or urban beach) was recently opened right beside Redpath Sugar at the base of Lower Jarvis Street. In honour of the sweet, smelly plant next door they have called the park Sugar Beach. It is very similar to the HTO Beach out west along Queens Quay with pink umbrellas in place of the yellow ones at HTO and the addition of big, granite, candy-striped rocks. Sugar Beach also has comfortable Muskoka chairs where you can watch the boats go by - just remember no swimming is allowed.

Further to the east Cherry Beach was the temporary set for the YTV television show The Next Star. Camera crews were set up as four musicians blasted out some tunes. I believe it was Brandon from Stoney Creek who was the lead singer. The Cherry Beach Baywatch lifeguards were on hand to help keep swimmers safe while the filming was going on.

At Lakeshore Blvd and Cherry Beach I found a rock that was drawn up to be Stewie from Family Guy.

I have looked for the new public automated pay toilet (costs 25 cents to use) built at Queens Quay but I never actually noticed where it was. This time I looked it up on the internet and armed with the knowledge that it was just south of Rogers Centre at the northwest corner of Queens Quay and Rees Street I managed to find the elusive $400,000 plumbing facilities. This thing really is a thing of beauty and you can even fit your bicycle inside which comes in handy, especially if you want to ride around after you use the facilities. when you leave (or after 20 minutes when the door opens, ready or not) the bathroom automatically cleans itself.

At the Exhibition grounds preperations are underway for the upcoming Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) or as it is commonly known, the EX which runs from August 20th to September 6th, 2010. The CNE Casino is already open ahead of the fair but some of the game booths are now in place. You can also check out the Horse show for free which is running from August 3 to the 19th (noon to 3pm) and until September 6th as part of the paid admission CNE.