Roll, bike, and glide on this former airport in Toronto for an entire weekend

Flights? No way! Toronto’s YZD is bringing back its Play on the Runway experience this August for a weekend of biking, skating, or dancing down its runway for free. The former Downsview Airport is transforming into a massive, car-free playground for two full days. Mark your calendars for Aug. 9 and 10, 2025.

What to expect

“Play On The Runway invites the people of Toronto to create the city’s largest and most unencumbered open-air playground for one weekend,” says Mitchell Marcus, executive director of site activation and programming at YZD.

“Long-term, the reimagined Runway will be the beating heart of a future community – a collective backyard for tens of thousands of people who will live, work and visit YZD. Today, we can collectively imagine and inform that future by gathering at this historic and iconic place and bringing together imaginative and creative forms of play that couldn’t happen anywhere else in the city.”

Thousands of Torontonians are invited to walk, roll, bike, and glide across the wide-open tarmac.

Bring your own wheels or rent them. Scooty will be offering electric scooter rentals, or try out the eight-seater Indybike with your crew.

But the fun doesn’t end there. This year’s programming also includes roller dancing with SUSO Skate, hoop dance workshops, live circus acts from North Fire Circus, kite flying with the Toronto Kite Fliers Club, and pop-up sets from the Bangerz Brass Band.

Check out the city’s most unique playground! Tickets are 100 per cent free.

Play on the Runway

When: Aug. 9 and 10, 2025
Time: Noon to 5 p.m.
Where: YZD Runway — 10 Hanover Rd.
Cost: Free

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