The Bulletin: Halloween Part 2, a high-speed train, and killing daylight savings time đŸ”Ș⏰ [Issue #101]

The Bulletin is a collection of what's happened, what’s happening, and what’s to come in and around Montreal.

The Main

The Main

October 31, 2024- Read time: 6 min
The Bulletin: Halloween Part 2, a high-speed train, and killing daylight savings time đŸ”Ș⏰ [Issue #101]A CN Turbo set 129 enters Montreal Central Station train shed for a late-afternoon departure for Toronto on August 19, 1970. | Photograph: Roger Lalonde

It's not every year that the city gets to essentially experience not one, but two Halloween weekends: Folks who didn't want to party on a Thursday (and wanted to be a sexy fireman or frog instead of giving out candy on the 31st) were taking to bars and clubs last weekend.

But here we are again: People are definitely throwing on their costumes—some for a second time, even—to go out with a bang tonight and in the coming days.

But as Halloween takes over most of our weekend to-do list and restaurant & bar events, there are a couple of other gems kicking around (a table d'hĂŽte festival returns! Mozart performances! A visual Tintin experience imported from France!) for those of you who consider the spooky stuff a one-and-done after last week.

👏 Let's 👏 get 👏 to 👏 it.


Activities, parties, points of interest, art exhibitions, you name it: These are the weekend events you don't want to miss.

Thursday

đŸ‘» Do a Halloween crawl up Saint-Laurent Boulevard with this handy-dandy list of every single freakin' place that has a party going on.

🎃 Black Lagoon's last big party for Halloween is taking place at its host bar at 132 Bar Vintage—it's gonna be a screamer.

đŸŽ¶ The social club Pavillon's sessions at the SAT continue with Cristobal Urbina (aka DJ Poontz), co-founder of Montreal techno label Fur Trade Recordings.

đŸŽ€ North Star Pinball is hosting a karaoke party at 8 pm with a costume contest, prizes, candy, and—of course—pinball.

🩊 Join Bar Renard for a bewitching evening. Bring in your best Halloween costumes and dance to a playlist of their classics plus mysterious hits.

đŸŽȘ Dance it up at Abreuvoir's 'Carnevil', a Halloween party themed after a spooky big top celebration.

Friday

đŸ§›đŸ»â€â™‚ïž Le Fou Fou is hosting a Vampire Ball, "a night of mystery, seduction, and of course, lots of dancing"—go dressed in your most elegant vampire attire.

💀 Mictlán's an event celebrating Día de Muertos with Mexican rituals, legends, music and gastronomy at the Pavillon Jacques Cartier in the Old Port.

đŸȘ© Verre Bouteille is celebrating its 5th anniversary with the Halloween-appropriate groove and funk artist Voodoo Shango ExpĂ©rience.

đŸ›Œ The Montreal Roller Derby is hosting a Global Championship Roller Derby Watch Party at Champs Bar all weekend.

Saturday

🆒 JJJJound is celebrating the last 10 years with “Entrepot,” a special two-week event that brings together rare items from their archives.

đŸ‘» Y'all ready for a hot, sexy and fab time at another Carni’Cule? Let's hit the dance floor all night long again at this Halloween party from Complexe Sky.

đŸ•ș Disco is back in the spotlight: DJs will spin obscure and unknown disco, house, funk, jazz, soul, boogie, rare groove & gospel at La Sotterenea.

đŸ˜”â€đŸ’« All DnB / techno / trance / hardtek music lovers are invited once more to come dance at a pop-up rave below the Rosemont Bridge.

🎧 International electronic producer, DJ and songwriter out of northern Virginia ALLEYCVT will be at Le Studio TD with Sharlitz Web.

đŸŽŒ 200 artists of the SociĂ©tĂ© Philharmonique du Nouveau Monde will perform Mozart's Requiem in the nave of the Notre-Dame Basilica.

Sunday

đŸƒđŸŒâ€â™‚ïž Arsenal Contemporary Art is hosting "Tintin, The Immersive Adventure", a tribute to HergĂ© and his famous Belgian reporter with custom 360° projections.

🚱 Titanique, an award-winning off-Broadway hit turns "one of the greatest love stories of all time into a hysterical musical fantasia" at the Segal Centre.


Get a batch of groceries for free 🛒

We’ve partnered with the urban greenhouses of Lufa to offer readers free $40+ baskets of fresh, local, and responsible groceries.

All you need to do is cover a small $6 delivery fee, exclusive to readers of The Main, for delivery straight to your door—no strings attached!

Claim your free basket while supplies last.


Fugazzi's among the dozens of restaurants that are starting to serve up their table d'hîtes for the 12th edition of MTLàTABLE. | Photograph: Élizabeth Gartside

WHAT TO EAT & DRINK IN AND AROUND MONTREAL

Scope the latest restaurant openings, recommendations on where to eat, plus new menus, old classics, and everything in between.

Tourisme MontrĂ©al’s restaurant event, MTLĂ TABLE, returns for a 12th edition from October 31 to November 17. Read more.

Hot damn, Vino Disco got their license extendedon Nov 1 for Halloween-esque festivities. There's a bunch of other stuff happening this weekend too.

Cocktails, Halloween films, and snacks are on offer at Lili & Oli's Verdun location tonight, Oct 31, running from 2pm to 9pm.

Speaking of Lili & Oli, the mind behind the pop-up Castel Franco will be doing another soupy session starting at 11am on November 2.

Have you been to Tordu? Recently opened in the Plateau, this cafĂš and crĂšmerie has regular & specialty coffees & treats like knafeh waffles and tiramisu.

If you love Bruce Springsteen, you're going to want to go to the lookalike party being held at Double's Late Night tonight, Oct 31.

Got a cowboy costume lined up? Y'all should be headed on down to Tittle Tattle Bar for Oct 31: BBQ, DJ, LIVE MUSIC, WHISKY, BOOTS & HATS.

Have a very zero-proof Halloween with Apéro à zéro tonight, Oct 31, as they host a 5 Ă  7 for all you cats and kittens that wanna party without drinking.

How about Halloween with Latin vibes? Kwizinn's partying on November 2nd with a Halloween celebration of Brazilian Funk, Reggaeton, and Afrobeats.

Say ALOHAween at Snowbird Tiki Bar, which is celebrating the spooky season on Nov 1 & 2 with special cocktails and other festive trimmings.

Drink up some pumpkin beer and try to win the costume contest at Terrasse St-Ambroise's Halloween party on Oct 31.

Vancouver-based chef Mark Singson is taking over Buboy on Nov 3 with a Lunch Espesyal, 11am until sold out.

The swish Plateau bar Projet Pilote has announced that it's now hosting jazz sessions on Mondays and Wednesdays from 6:30pm onward.


Local lit at the Dep.

The Reeds by Arjun Basu is a novel that transports you to Montreal’s often-overlooked West End, where one family faces a summer of transformative change.

Set against the sweeping backdrops of 2017’s global shifts—from Brexit to climate anxieties—Basu crafts a deeply personal journey through disrupted careers, self-discovery, and family resilience.

Don’t miss this introspective story, now available on The DĂ©panneur. Don't forget: If you’re subscribed to The Main? Enjoy 10% off!


Here, you'll find a weekly round-up of the latest local news, from entertainment to current affairs and more.

Why doesn't Montreal have its own annual Halloween parade? We've got the festival know-how and the history to back it up, don't we? Read more.

Not your average café: Montreal's fake café Saturday is a casual hangout-turned-roaming-pop-up, and we've got the story behind the concept. Read more.

Make some noise! Following the fiasco with la Tulipe, Montreal is widening its soundproofing support program for live music venues. Read more.

How could a high-speed rail line linking Canada's two largest cities, Montreal and Toronto, change the face of the country? Read more.

Modern design on architectural revival styles: Canada's had an interesting streak of bridging the past and present, including Montreal. Read more.

More than a cliché. A recent study shows that nearly half of Quebec students have experienced food insecurity during the last year due to finances. Read more.

Behind Montreal's fine-dining scene is an urban farm and rooftop vineyard movement that could help shape the future of sustainable urban living. Read more.

Could this be the end of daylight savings time? The Quebec government wants to hear Quebecers' thoughts about scrapping the time change. Read more.

More weapons = more security? The union for special constables who patrol the Metro says it may be time to get outfitted with guns and stun guns. Read more.

Set in a forgotten side of Montreal, local author Arjun Basu's novel The Reeds looks at one West End family over a summer of seismic shifts. Read more.


And that wraps yet another weekly bulletin. We’ll be back with more curiosities, local stories, and events to discover next week.

If ever you catch something we should know, don't hesitate to reach out to us on Instagram.

👋 Masthead: Philip Tabah, Founder & Head of Creative / Jean-Philippe Lauzon, Co-Founder & Head of Tech / Daniel Bromberg, Co-Founder & Head of Operations / JP Karwacki, Managing Editor / Amber Spector, Social Media Manager

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