October is POPPIN'.

Lots to discover this weekend: Get amped up for dancing like summer never ended, or do the chicken dance while drinking your weight in fluid ounces of beer.

Or maybe you're more of a culture vulture that'll be into the art book sale, a new sonic culture festival, or stage plays. Or are you looking to get a head start on your cold weather hibernation and cosplay Fat Bear Week by diving into all the upcoming restaurant pop-ups?

And that's just this weekend. There's a lot more coming and it'll all come fast—don’t even get us started on how the city’s streets are going to explode with colour.

Start marking your calendars, grab your PSL lattes, throw on your flannel, and 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

💃🏾 The Vibe Benders are coming back to Aire Commune for their last party of the season.

🎺 MUZ festival takes fans of jazz, world music and contemporary rhythms on a journey through soundscapes from Oct 3 to 6 at Quartiers des Spectacles.

🎪 The 13th Phénomena festival and its theme of 'Dada Forever' brings with it 17 shows and more than a hundred artists featuring performance and dance shows, film screenings, cabarets, and more.

📷 The large-scale international exhibition Expo World Press Photo Montreal has returned to with work by photojournalists from all over the world.

Friday

🖼️ Two by Two, Together features recent additions to the MMFA’s collection; learn about their collecting practices and the variety of their new acquisitions.

🎭 Anton Chekhov's classic The Cherry Orchard gets a modern revamp in the form of Sakura at the Centaur; shows end on Oct 6.

🤑 Adding to the luxury of Royalmount: Zellers is having a grand opening?

Saturday

🛍️ Shop a selection of books, home goods, art and clothing at this pop-up within a pop-up: The Opium Den will be at Second Base Vintage.

🔊 Flux Festival is a new Montreal experimental music festival taking place from
October 4 to 10, 2024 with a unique mix of events around the sonic arts.

📚 Get some swag for your coffee table: Artexte is partnering with Volume MTL for their annual sale of art book duplicates.

Sunday

🏀 The Toronto Raptors play against the Washington Wizards at the Bell Centre.

❤️‍🩹 Montreal-based artist My-Van Dam’s work explores the impacts of trauma and societal pressures on the body with a solo exhibition at MAI.

👩🏾‍🎨 McCord Stewart Museum artist in residence Michaëlle Sergile shines a spotlight on the lives and contributions of Black women in Montreal from 1870 to 1910 with To All the Unnamed Women.

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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.

What's good, October?

We’ve got restaurants-within-restaurants combining Indo-French cuisine with comeback brunches, swanky spots in the West Island, a cocktail-tapas attaché on an Old Montreal pub, and more this month. Read more.

The Best New Restaurants in Montreal [October 2024]

The best new restaurants in Montreal right now clock in at a total of 33 names that include social clubs, French-Indo dining, cocktails and tapas, and more.

J.P. Karwacki

🍺 Es ist Oktoberfest! 🥨

Marché Jean-Talon hosts its 2nd Oktoberfest on Oct 5 and 6 with pretzels, microbrews, music and gourmet workshops.

Brasserie Silo hosts its annual block party on Oct 4 & 5 with a big menu of lagers, German-inspired ales, and sauerkraut with fresh pretzels.

Aux Quartiers Belle Gueule, the beer brand's own Plateau biergarten, hosts its own Oktoberfest festivities from Oct 1 to 5.

The Kahnawake Brewing Company is ready to raise its steins and celebrate Oktoberfest with pretzels, pints, and good times on Oct 5.

Pub Pit Caribou Montréal celebrates Oktoberfest from Oct 3 to 6 with pretzels, hotdogs, beer and more—reservations are possible for 8 people or more.

And more this weekend

Backyard Blowout: Boxermans has announced it's closing on Dec 21 with eyes on a new project, but not before they hold a BBQ Block Party on Oct 4.

A Perfect Pairing: Grab tickets for Oct 13 when Bistro La Franquette collaborates on a menu with their friends from Parapluie.

London's Calling: Gia Vin & Grill is hosting Café Cecilia to celebrate their new cookbook, and serve up classic dishes from their London restaurant on Oct 6.

Shaking Things Up: Snowbird Tiki Bar launches a menu of all-new cocktails on its menu on Oct 3.

Black Lagoon’s Haunted Cocktails: The Halloween pop-up Black Lagoon returns to 132 Bar Vintage for spooky cocktails throughout the month of October.

Annette bar à vin x Menu Extra Pop-Up: Annette bar à vin's announced an Oct 28 pop-up with Menu Extra, 5-course menus showcasing the autumn harvest.

Tea, Tarot & Palm Reading at Bar à beurre: Bar à beurre hosts Tea & Tarot & Palm Reading sessions on every first Sunday of the month from 10am to 5pm.

Latin American Street Food at Marché Streat: The Old Port's hosting a series of street food events every weekend this month, and the next one focuses on the food of Latin America.

Matty Matheson Live at The National: Tickets are on sale now for In Conversation with Matty Matheson on Nov 14 (each ticket includes a pre-signed copy of his new cookbook).

A hybrid fine grocer

Along Sherbrooke Street West in NDG, there’s a cow that’s been fishing since 2022: A storefront image combining the butchery and fishmongering of the fine grocer Épicerie Mange-Tout. Read more.

The fish, fowl, and finery of NDG’s Épicerie Mange-Tout

With a locally-minded line on fish & seafood, meat, booze and dry goods, this fine grocer has good reasons to get high on its own supply.

J.P. Karwacki

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

Everything's great when you're downtown: To experience a local’s perfect day in downtown Montreal, you gotta go straight to a local. Take Sandra Ferreira, for example. She takes the pulse of the city core, day and night. Read more.

Baby don't hertz me: A court ruling temporarily closed La Tulipe over noise complaints. Now, exemptions have been granted to concert venues, bars, restaurants, and cultural centres. Read more.

Tensions rise over Quebec’s protection of French as frustrations grow among francophone communities outside the province. Politicians’ controversial comments and a need for broader collaboration emerge as key issues. Read more.

Montreal is sinking and I don't wanna swim! Flood zone revisions now place 15,500 buildings, including 3,200 in high-risk areas, at risk in the Montreal region—twice as many as before. Read more.

The last Indigenous village on the island: Located near today’s Visitation Church, the village thrived until European settlers, particularly Sulpician missionaries, displaced the Indigenous people, sparking land disputes that lasted centuries, culminating in the 1990 Oka Crisis. Read more.

The theatre formerly known as the Cartier in Saint-Henri has been bought and renamed the Colas Theatre by the Fabienne Colas Foundation, with plans to adapt it for Montreal’s artistic community. Read more.

Planned budget: $2,500. Writer Stacy Brooks dreamed about going to Paris since the early days of their polyamorous relationship, so... they went to Montreal instead? Read more.

Montrealer Ben Clarkson and American cartoonist Matt Bors discuss their superhero satire Justice Warriors, set in a future where elites live in a bubble while swamp creatures police the city. Read more.

"It’s the Brooklyn of Montreal." Time Out released its list of the world’s coolest neighbourhoods on Wednesday, and St-Henri came in 13th overall. It was also the only Canadian neighbourhood to make the list. 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