2015 is drawing to a close, and it’s been a pretty great year for this city! We were in the news for all the right reasons, from our city councillors blowing up Twitter to hometown rappers owning the world stage. Here are a few standout moments we were happy to cheer on from the sidelines:
1. Blue Jays & The Bat Flip
Okay, we didn’t make it all the way this year, but we came pretty close, and rallied the whole city in the process! Blue Jays mania brought out the bandwagoner in all of us (it’s okay, you can admit it), and united us like only local sports teams ever seem to do. The icing on the cake, of course, is the Jose Bautista bat flip. Did Toronto just get a new spirit animal? We think yes.
2. PanAm Games
As a city, we can err a little on the side of Not In My Backyard-dom, which is why the lead-up to the Pan Am Games had almost everyone on Twitter complaining about traffic, out-of-towners and alspending scandals. Obviously we also err on the side of a selective memory, because once the games were underway we certainly made the most of Panamania’s outdoor concert series, following the Games in bars and patios across the city, and of course, Instagramming the heck out of that sign. After all, the HOV lanes have faded, but a new landmark is forever(ish).
3. Drake & The Weeknd
It’s been posited that we’re in the second golden age of Canadian music, but this year our thriving indie scene was truly eclipsed by two hometown exports: Drake and The Weeknd. Hailing from Forest Hill and Scarborough respectively, their origins and styles are vastly different, but both topped the charts this year with songs we’ll be keepng on repeat well into 2016. We’re already queued up for tickets to the next Drake Night at the ACC – think we’ll see a Weeknd night at a Leafs game anytime soon?
4. Fashion Santa
Late in the game, Toronto’s own #FashionSanta has been dominating the headlines in 2015! What started as a charity drive at Yorkdale mall has become an international news story. Yep, we do just about everything better in The 6!
