The Bentway presents A Lake Story, a new public art project by artist Melissa McGill, featuring over 100+ canoes paddling in unison across Toronto’s waterfront. Presented on Lake Ontario itself, this dynamic processional unites nature, art, and community in a celebration of water and place.

A Lake Story marks The Bentway’s first-ever water-based commission. Performances will begin at the city’s newly opened Biidaasige Park, journeying through the renaturalized Don River, out to the lake past Sugar Beach, and beyond. Media, art lovers, and the public are invited to experience this event to watch painted silk banners, dyed with pigments made from lakebed materials flutter above the procession. The project is part of the new Water/Fall Festival, the largest coordinated waterfront celebration in Toronto’s history.