Sorry to deceive, but no, Montreal's not going to plan some grand Halloween event just yet—but bear with us, we'll get through this analogy.

Did you hear those emergency sirens go off yesterday? And then maybe you enjoyed a sunlit break in the week-long grey skies? Then you saw stories of protests in the streets, but then someone called you up to go out for a drink and catch up? University tuition is going to double at anglo institutions, but then St-Viateur Bagel's Morena family went on Family Feud?

It's all ups and downs this week, twists and turns, brief moments of calm before something or someone pops out at you. Montreal is, in fact, a great big haunted house right now (see what we did there?).

Sometimes we like getting spooked, but honestly, we're hoping for more cottage core vibes right now, so we're going to work on a list of things that feel like therapy in Montreal in the coming weeks. Stay tuned for that.

For now, here are the ups and downs—mostly ups, trust us—of the past and coming week.

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

Thursday

• Time's running out: The concerts, shows, installations and poetic, rebellious and unprecedented events of Festival Phenomena are on right now until Oct 21.
• It's the last week to check out in-person events from MOMENTA Biennale de l'image, a locally-driven contemporary art dissemination and mediation platform.
• Organized by the Buffalo AKG Art Museum, a major touring exhibition and the most comprehensive survey ever devoted to the groundbreaking artist Marisol (1930-2016) is now on at the MMFA.
• Chromeo's going to be playing M Telus as part of their worldwide Funk Yourself Tour.

Friday

• Storytellers from around the world will converge on Montréal for one of the biggest storytelling festivals in the world: The Montréal Intercultural Storytelling Festival.
• Local folk dreamboat Matt Holubowski is going to be playing Le National.
• Well, this rocks: The Montreal Gem Mineral & Fossil Show is going down at the Palais des Congrès all weekend (don't knock 'til you try it!).
• The MAC is at the Cinémathèque québécoise to host Cyprien Gaillard’s 3D film Nightlife (2015), a visual narrative of seemingly unconnected moments in time and space to create an immersive installation that takes the viewer from Cleveland to Berlin to Los Angeles.

Saturday

• Bar Le Ritz PDB is hosting The Black Parade!, celebrating the spooky season by spinning classic emo anthems all night long.
• Vintage & streetwear supplier @streetcvlture is bringing their show on the road to Montreal with an 'everything is $20' pop-up. (Yay inflation!)
• Speaking of shopping, there's gonna be a Méga Pop-Up Vintage & Self-Care with 60+ vintage and self-care boutiques selling their wares.
• Cinéma Public is putting on a Halloween classic, Ginger Snaps, where teenage girls battle it out against the Beast of Bailey Downs (hint: it's a werewolf).
• Turbo Haüs is hosting its very first Night Of The Witches dance party, dancing the night away to pop and alternative hits from the witchy and mystical girls of music.

Sunday

• The musical comedy The Addams Family is coming to Quebec for the very first time at Espace St-Denis, and boy is it ever Queb-ified.
• Canadian rock legends Anvil are going to be playing Petit Campus—you've seen the documentary, right?
• ELEKTRA internationally disseminates works by artists who combine art and new technologies, and Elektra Festival is having its last night at Phi Centre.

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.

• La Grande Dégustation is coming to town from Oct 19 to 21, and invites every lover of wine, spirits and cocktails to taste some 1,500 products from the four corners of the world.
• You might remember Pan Américan Pizza, a Detroit-style 'n' pan pizza concept from chef Danny Danny St Pierre? Well, he opened a brick and mortar spot for that concept.
• Nouveau Palais is celebrating its 13th anniversary with a retro menu, drink specials and, as always, an intensely charming atmosphere.
• Local izakaya Hanzo is serving up a $10 after 10pm menu with all kinds of fried chicken, yakitori, gyoza dumplings, and more.
• Fans of upscale Chinese cuisine can now eat at the new Parc Ex location of a Montreal classic, Le Piment Rouge.
• vinvinvin is going to host a "REAL OLD SCHOOL PROSECCO NIGHT" on Oct 25 where they'll serve prosecco from Casa Coste Piane, a small and legendary producer that still makes bubbly the ol' "frizzante naturalmente" way.
• Don't forget: Black Lagoon, a Halloween cocktail pop-up experience, is now at 132 Bar Vintage and will run until October 31st.
• As was hinted at last week, as of Oct 20 Montrealers get a-hollerin' 'yee-haw!' over at the new American-themed bar Spaghetti Western when it opens.
• Montreal's Plateau is now home to a new Southeast Asian restaurant in the spot that once housed Tampopo: Kra Pow, a takeout concept turned fully-fledged restaurant.

You can dep(end) on these spots

The term ‘dépanneur’ means "to help out of difficulty" or "troubleshoot" in Québécois French, so it stands to reason that they’re going to be able to be restaurants, too. Even with all of our city’s places to eat, a dep can be as good a place as any—sometimes better. (The Main)

5 Montreal Dépanneurs Worth Eating At

These Montreal depanneurs go beyond beers, smokes and munchies with amazing (and sometimes improbable) kitchens.

The MainJP Karwacki

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

Sleepin' in cars for sneaker drops

Francesco Abbruzzo of the Old Montreal sneaker shop and espresso bar Felix's made his share of sacrifices to get his hands on a pair of shoes. Here's what's kept him driven throughout 16 years of buying, selling, and trading steez. (The Main)

Walking among Montreal’s sneakerhead kings at Felix Boutique

How passion and a pair of Jordan Spiz’ikes became brick and mortar reality for Francesco Abbruzzo at Old Montreal’s Felix Boutique.

The MainJP Karwacki

“It’s nothing against anglophones"

Headlines across the country have turned an eye to Quebec since the province announced it would be effectively doubling the tuition costs of English-speaking and international students doing to anglo-centric post-secondary institutions. (Montreal Gazette)

Tuition increase is not a move against anglophones, Legault insists

Meanwhile, PQ language critic Pascal Bérubé said he doesn’t buy the government’s claim that the plan will help reverse the decline of French.

Montreal GazettePhilip Authier

And now for something completely different

Called a "city once left for dead (that's now) bursting with entrepreneurial spirit, an early edge in AI and a pro-business government," (weird start, we know), Montreal gets a weird side-eye from the Financial Post because we could perceivably regain our spot as Canada's business capital. (Financial Post)

Montreal 2.0: Could it challenge Toronto for Canadian economic supremacy?

Montreal is full of entrepreneurial spirit and with a pro-business government it could regain its spot as Canada’s business capital. Read on.

Financial PostJoe O’Connor

Hopefully less depressing than a bus station

The Plante administration says it hopes to be able to present its project to transform the old bus station of downtown Montreal “very soon” in an effort to combat the area's devitalization. (La Presse)

🎵 Broke into the old apartment 🎵

Barenaked Ladies references aside, the city says there are about 800 derelict buildings in Montreal, including some of heritage value. That's spurred city council on to pass a bylaw update that aims to crack down on property owners who let buildings sit abandoned and unused for a year or more.  (CBC Montreal)

Montreal passes bylaw cracking down on owners who let empty buildings become derelict | CBC News

The bylaw modifications establish standards and measures for the maintenance and occupation of buildings in Montreal to prevent deterioration and protect them from the elements.

CBCRowan Kennedy

Well, buildings do need roofs, I guess

Premier François Legault believes it's time to stop seeing the Montreal Olympic Stadium as a negative symbol and wants to bring it back to its former glory, admitting that the damn thing's gonna need a new roof—among other touch-ups. (CTV News)

Legault wants to turn Montreal’s Olympic Stadium back into a ‘positive symbol’

Premier Francois Legault believes it’s time to stop seeing the Montreal Olympic Stadium as a negative symbol and wants to bring it back to its former glory, even though he knows the operation will be costly.

Montreal

A weird flex, but OK

Every year, the travel publication Time Out conducts a somewhat-worldwide survey of the coolest cities, neighbourhoods, and streets in the world. Montreal's downtown made the cut for the list overall, but just barely. (Time Out Montreal)

These are the coolest neighbourhoods in the world—Montreal didn’t make the top 20

Time Out polled more than 12,000 city-dwellers and grilled local experts to rank the greatest places for fun, food, culture and community

Time OutLaura Osborne

That's ONE way to spend 36 hours here

The NYT came out with a revised version of their '36 Hours in Montreal' guide and, well, it's weird. While it's got some redeeming spots, it reads like a guide someone would've wrote back in 2019 before the world stopped. (New York Times)

Realizing your ba-goals

We love a good pun. Anyway: Montreal bagel royalty, the Morena family, took on some Ontarians on Family Feud last night. Naturally, the family behind St-Viateur Bagel brough some of their bagels to the taping. We won't spoil the results. (Cult MTL)

St-Viateur Bagel’s Morena family was on Family Feud, brought predictable gifts

St-Viateur Bagel has announced that company owners the Morena family participated in an episode of Family Feud Canada.

Cult MTLLorraine Carpenter

Fun history facts!

In 1847, an epidemic struck Montreal, and while it wasn't the first time that typhus had claimed victims, it had never done so with such intensity before. Between the time the first ships arrived in May 1847 and the end of the epidemic in April 1848, more than 6,000 immigrants died. (Journal de Montréal)

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.