Sunnyside Beach (Photo credit: Grant MacDonald)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Toronto, Ontario (August 30, 2011) – The long weekend is fast approaching, and with it comes something you can only do in Toronto: watch the Canadian International Air Show on Sunnyside beach.

Opened in the roaring 1920s, Sunnyside Beach was the place Torontonians came to play for decades. This waterfront icon played host to bathers, concerts, tightrope-walkers and even an amusement park.

The Palais Royale, still located on the beach, was one of Toronto’s most popular dance halls, featuring jazz greats like Duke Ellington and Count Basie. In 1954, sixteen-year old Marilyn Bell ended her historic first swim across Lake Ontario nearby. Not long after that, the Gardiner Expressway went up and the amusement park came down.

This Labour Day long weekend, you can be part of Sunnyside’s exciting history.

Air show not your thing? Toronto has 11 official municipal beaches where you can swim. Lake Ontario Waterkeeper recommends Bluffer’s Beach. This secluded park at the base of the Scarborough Bluffs has a long sandy beach, stunning views, and is far from the downtown core.

“After a 2006 study by Lake Ontario Waterkeeper and investment from the City of Toronto, the water quality improved dramatically at Bluffer’s,” says Lake Ontario Waterkeeper, Mark Mattson.

The most important question you’ll need to answer before you hit the beach: “Is it safe to swim?” Swim Guide has helped tens of thousands of people make beach memories this year alone by answering that very question. Download the app from www.theswimguide.org now. Go make some memories at Toronto’s best beaches, before the summer ends!

Here is a complete list of Toronto’s beaches with their water quality results so far this summer:

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Allie Kosela
Outreach Coordinator
allie@waterkeeper.ca
416-861-1237