Stratford Festival’s Early Booking Discount ends Wednesday night (Jan. 31, 2018)

MEDIA RELEASE

05/18

Also: Last chance to buy discounted Forum bundles

January 29, 2018… The Stratford Festival’s Early Booking Discount is available for only two more days, ending Wednesday, January 31, at 11:59 p.m. This is the only discount all season long that is available for tickets in all seating zones.

To take advantage of the discount, visit www.stratfordfestival.ca, call the box office at 1.800.567.1600, or stop by the Festival Theatre at 55 Queen Street in Stratford between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. this Tuesday or Wednesday. Discounts are already included in the pricing you’ll see. Prices increase on February 1.

The early-bird price lets you save as much as 25% on tickets for all productions in the 2018 season, which runs from April to November. Starting the season, with previews beginning April 17, is Meredith Willson’s The Music Man, followed on April 27 by Richard O’Brien’s The Rocky Horror Show. Both shows are directed and choreographed by Donna Feore.

Deerhurst Resort welcomes the comedic wit of the Debaters Live! to Muskoka

(News Release)
 

HUNTSVILLE, ON – This winter, The Debaters Live! will be heading to Deerhurst Resort for a hilarious live show featuring comics going toe-to-toe in a battle of laughs and logic where the audience gets to pick the winner!

 

On February 3 (2018), Steve Patterson and two top Canadian comics, Arthur Simeon and Erica Sigurdson, will put on a special night of stand-up comedy complete with a debate specially created for the Deerhurst audience.

Steve Patterson Debaters Firing line

“Hosting a live comedy show in February has become a tradition at Deerhurst and we’re very excited to host The Debaters Live this year,” explains Jesse Hamilton, general manager of this landmark Muskoka resort near Huntsville. “It’s that time of winter when we all need a laugh, and also the perfect opportunity for couples to take a break just for themselves before the busy Family Day weekend. ” 

Multi-bill concert blitz in celebration of Willie P. Bennett: 5 venues. Over 20 artists. A different line-up each night

NEWS RELEASE

 Guelph’s Silence February 3, 2018

Stratford, ON (January 24, 2018) – A five-day concert event commemorating the life of Willie P. Bennett, nearly 10 years to the date of his death, is being presented by String Bone Presents!

Rick Taylor

Singer-songwriter and finger-style roots guitarist extraordinaire Rick Taylor, as well as two-time Juno Award winner Jenny Whiteley, and BC Music Hall of Fame recipient Linda McRae, are among the performers who will come together on the Silence stage on February 3, 2018 to celebrate the life of this legendary folk hero. The concert starts at 8:00 pm.

 This multi-bill concert blitz is a co-production by Rick Taylor, who played on Bennett's 1977 Hobo's Taunt recording, and Barry James Payne from String Bone and Rant Maggie Rant. Two-time Juno Award winner Jenny Whiteley will be joining Taylor and Payne as co-hosts.

Jenny Whiteley

Wee Wiarton Willie is the latest groundhog weather prognosticator

   One-Tank Trip for Jan. 27/18

 

   (c) By Jim Fox

   Wee Wiarton Willie has his work cut out for him this year.

   The “wee” two-year-old albino groundhog has been job shadowing the previous weather prognosticator preparing for his big debut.

   That takes place next Friday (Feb. 2) when the wee one, also known as Wiarton Willie IV, succeeds Willie III who died last September at age 13 (not bad for groundhogs).

Willie’s weather predictions are made with much fanfare.

  They mourned the marmot with a memorial service beside the white limestone statue called “Willie Emerging” in Bluewater Park.

   Ironically, he was predeceased a month earlier by Mac McKenzie, 90, called the “founding father of the Wiarton Willie legend” in 1956.

   The pressure will be on Wee Willie and his “Shadow Cabinet” to make some sense out of this crazy winter weather.

   It has produced prolonged Arctic cold followed by the current unseasonably warm spell.

   South Bruce Peninsula of which Wiarton is a part calls Willie the “the most famous groundhog in Canada and the only albino weather prognosticator in the world.”

Sweet, icy wine country touring; Fire and Ice fest; Toronto lights up

   One-Tank Trip for Jan. 20/18

 

     (c) By Jim Fox

   “How sweet it is” – or as they say in Niagara Region: “When winter hands you ice and cold, make icewine.”

   Record-breaking cold and ice have been at the forefront this winter, so why not embrace the season with some icy-themed getaways?

Vidal grapes left to freeze on the vine are destined to become icewine. (Jim Fox photo)

   Step aside maple syrup, icewine is the hottest Ontario treasure savoured around the world.

   This month, they’re celebrating the chilly nectar of the vine in Niagara.

   In “cottage country,” there’s the Bracebridge Fire and Ice Festival with its take on a traditional winter carnival.

   And, in these cold, dark days of winter, city residents and visitors are being lured out to experience the Toronto Light Festival.

   The sweetest gift

   They’re toasting “one of Canada’s sweetest gifts of the season” at the Niagara Icewine Festival now through Jan. 28.

   The world-renowned wine region welcomes thousands of visitors for weekend parties and food-and-wine pairings at more than three dozen wineries.

Zoom, zoom soon, soon: North American International Auto Show in Detroit

   One-Tank Trip for Jan. 13/18

 

   (c) By Jim Fox

    Sun Media/Postmedia News

   All roads lead to Detroit as that “new car smell” permeates downtown Cobo Center.

   Some 800,000 people will make the trek to the “Motor City” for the 30th annual North American International Auto Show from Jan. 20 to 28.

   It launches with the “party of the year” for auto aficionados and the industry putting on the glitz at the lavish Charity Preview on Jan. 19.

Mugging for the camera beside a Bentley Continental GT worth $260,000 US. (Jim Fox photo)

   That’s when thousands of formally clad, would-be auto barons admire the latest models in a high-society event.

   For this sneak preview, some 15,000 people pay $400 US each to attend the three-hour, black-tie affair in support of children’s charities.

   They sip champagne, munch on hors d’oeuvres and will be entertained by the iconic Detroit Motown group, the Four Tops.

   While strutting their stuff, attendees slip behind the wheel of some of the world’s most exotic vehicles and pose for photos.

Monster Jam motors into Toronto

2018 Mega Line-Up Announced: Gas Monkey Garage, Xtreme Diesel, VP Racing Fuel’s Mad Scientist and Rammunition Make Toronto Debut!

TORONTO, ON – Feld Entertainment, the worldwide leader in live family entertainment, has announced the 2018 Driver/Truck lineup for the Toronto shows including four Monster Jam trucks making their Toronto debut: Gas Monkey Garage, Xtreme Diesel, VP Racing Fuel’s Mad Scientist, and Rammunition.

Monster Jam will be performing at Rogers Centre January 13-14/18 for two shows.

The new season will bring motorsport fans to the edge of their seats with adrenaline-charged, high-flying, four-wheel excitement that is fun for the entire family. This is the 25th consecutive year that Monster Jam has roared into Rogers Centre.

Escape winter at the Toronto boat show; Cambridge Butterfly Conservatory

   One-Tank Trip for Jan. 6-18

  

   (c) By Jim Fox

   Escape the cold, wintry weather with a trip to the “tropics” not far from home.

   Head for the Toronto International Boat Show that organizers say “marks the unofficial kick-off to summer.”

   Another option is the Cambridge Butterfly Conservatory where the heat and humidity are cranked up to suit the critters’ needs.

The Cambridge Butterfly Conservatory is a tranquil place with waterfalls, streams, flora and fauna. (Jim Fox photo)

   In fact, it’s being called a “cheap trip to the tropics” by the conservatory’s Doug Wilson.

   You can “get your feet wet” at the Toronto International Boat Show that marks its 60th year from Jan. 12 to 21 at the Enercare Centre, Exhibition Place, (100 Princes’ Blvd.).

   “This is North America’s largest indoor boat show, with recreational boating consistently ranking at the top of the list for Canadians as a favourite pastime,” said show publicist Tran Nguyen.

   Lots of toys

Boat show goers have fun on the “world’s largest indoor lake.”