Every Spring we get one: an abnormally warm day that brings us all out. When I recently came across this 1986 photo in the Toronto Public Library’s digital archive, I couldn’t help by want to look up the sort of slow-day lifestyle reporting that it accompanied.
March 29, 1986 was a warm day in Toronto. Reaching a high of 20.9℃, the city’s denizens emerged from their winter hibernation earlier than normal.1For what it’s worth, as a South Porcupine resident, the high for me was 10. The Toronto Star sent reporter Dale Brazao out to report on how people were enjoying the weather. The city, as is to be expected, was alive: “Park bench space was at a premium. The Beaches was alive with tourists from Etobicoke. Kites flew, dogs chased Frisbees, and everywhere faces turned skyward to accept the sun’s golden offerings.”2Dale Brazao. “City basks in near-record 21 degrees,” Toronto Star, March 30, 1986, A3.
Away from the lake, Yonge street “was overcrowded with shoppers, gawkers and hawkers. And in the Beaches, lip-smacking customers were lined up at Licks’ Restaurant ice cream counter most of the day.”3Ibid.
All in all, a wonderful day.