Nothing marks the return of summer quite like the annual Luminato Festival! This mufti-faceted celebration includes food, music, art and so much more- even magic! The festival is here June 6- June 15th. Here are my top picks!

Taste of the Beach (June 7th, 2PM to 5PM)

The Festival Hub will host Taste of the Beach inside one of the largest temporary fully licensed outdoor spaces in downtown Toronto, serving up a diverse, barbecue themed menu–including both vegetarian and vegan options. These specially created foods will be available for $5 each. DJs Sound Culture (Chicago) and Richard Blair of Sidestepper (Bogotá) will add to the pulsating heat at the Festival Hub, creating a true culinary exhibition.

10 chefs will be paired with 10 Luminato musical artists to prepare delicious ‘things-on-sticks’ Don’t miss it!

If I Loved You: Gentlemen Prefer Broadway — An Evening of Love Duets

Rufus Wainwright teams with Grammy and Tony-winning music director Stephen Oremus to redefine dozens of the most beloved gems in the Great American Songbook, all love songs from Broadway musicals. Wainwright’s recontextualizations, performed exclusively by men and to men, fortify the songs’ universality as expressions of love. The groundbreaking evening will showcase Wainwright and an international spectrum of pop, jazz and musical theatre stars in unexpected, entirely enchanting pairs.

A Literary Picnic (June 15)

A Literary Picnic is the heart and soul and apogee of Luminato’s Day of Literary Activity. Forty-five of the city’s finest writers will be gathered in Trinity Bellwoods Park, where they will present their thoughts and views and read from their own and other authors’ work during the Luminato Festival’s daylong celebration of Toronto, the Unseen.

Key to the picnic experience will be the delicious food available onsite by Fidel Gastro’s, Localista, The Pop Stand and Greenhouse Juice Co.

Cardboard Beach

Designed by the dynamic, two-man Cuban collective Los Carpinteros to transform the Luminato Festival’s Hub, Cardboard Beach is, they explain, “an illusion, the essence of a beach in a dry, urban space, with umbrellas, deck chairs, change booths and breakwaters.”  Fully licensed, with food and beverage service, Cardboard Beach is an idyllic oasis—the perfect place to start and end each Festival day and also experience everything from reggae to the TSO at the Festival Hub’s nighttime and weekend concerts.

Luminato #ReadWomen2014 (June 11)

Twitter’s immensely popular #ReadWomen2014 has been busy affirming the contributions, gifts and unique perspectives of female novelists and the challenges they still face. Four of Canada’s bestselling favourites—Lisa Gabriele (writing as L. Marie Adeline), 2007 Canada Reads choice Heather O’Neill, 2007 Canada Reads choice Heather O’Neill, Governor-general’s Literary Award winner Miriam Toews and, new to the field, Globe and Mail columnist Liz Renzetti—unite to extend the discussion.

Of course, there are just a few picks from many events! Please visit www.luminatofestival.com for all of the details. Luminato takes place in Toronto from June 6- 15th.