London, Ontario's events calendar runs from the London Knights' opening night at Canada Life Place in September through the Western Fair, the Forest City Film Festival and the Christmas lights, into prom season and the convocations in June, and the summer festivals - Sunfest, Home County, Rock the Park, Pride London, Ribfest - in Victoria Park and Harris Park in July and August. Each closes streets, fills hotels and empties the parking, and LondonLimo.net's chauffeurs know the closures and the drop-off points for every one; the concerts, sports and events page prices the evening and the Tourism London calendar carries the exact dates each year. This page is the year as the chauffeurs plan it.
How to use this page
Dates move a little each year and the organisers' own sites are the authority; what does not move is the shape of the year - which weekends fill the city, which streets close, which venues empty their lots, and which nights a booked car with a fixed rate and a return moved by text is the difference between an evening and an ordeal. Each month below names the events, where they are, what they do to the streets, and how the chauffeurs handle them; the venues page has the venues in detail and the attractions page the city between them.
| Month | The events that fill London |
|---|---|
| January | Knights midseason at Canada Life Place; Grand Theatre season; Boler Mountain's ski season; the Western Fair's winter shows |
| February | Family Day weekend; Knights; the Home and Garden show at the Agriplex; Valentine's on Richmond Row |
| March | March break at Storybook, Boler and the Children's Museum; the Knights' playoff push; St. Patrick's on Richmond Row |
| April | OHL playoffs; Western's exams and the April exodus; the Swan Parade in Stratford; Ivey and Fanshawe formals |
| May | Prom season begins; Western convocation prep; RetroFest in Chatham; the market moves outdoors; Doors Open London |
| June | Western, Huron and King's convocations at Alumni Hall; Fanshawe convocation; prom Saturdays; Pride week; the London Fringe; Sunfest's setup |
| July | Sunfest in Victoria Park; Home County at Harris Park; Rock the Park; Pride London's parade; Canada Day fireworks; Ribfest |
| August | Ribfest and the Western Fair's lead-up; the Home County wrap; the Grand Bend and Port Stanley beach weekends; Western's move-in begins |
| September | Western and Fanshawe orientation; the Western Fair (ten days); the Knights' opening night; Labatt Park's playoffs |
| October | Western Homecoming; the Forest City Film Festival; Western's fall convocation; Halloween on Richmond Row |
| November | Santa Claus parade; Christmas markets open; the Grey Cup parties; Remembrance Day at the cenotaph |
| December | Victoria Park's Christmas lights; Fanshawe Pioneer Village's Christmas; the Nutcracker; New Year's Eve at the market and the Row |
January and February: the Knights, the Grand and the ski hill
Winter London is the Knights at Canada Life Place two or three nights a week, the Grand Theatre's season, the Home and Garden show at the Agriplex, Boler Mountain's night skiing and Family Day weekend's tubing. The core's parking is full on game nights and the streets are icy; a sedan from Byron to the Dundas Street door at 6:30 and a return moved by text at the final buzzer is the chauffeurs' commonest winter booking, at a planning figure of $50-70 each way. The venues page has the arena's doors.
March and April: March break, the playoffs and the exodus
March break fills Storybook Gardens, Boler's tubing park, the Children's Museum and the market's rink with families, and a day by the hour from a downtown hotel is the visiting family's answer; the Knights' playoff run in April fills the arena on nights that are announced a week ahead and sell out in an hour; and Western's April exams end in the exodus - thousands of students to Pearson, YXU and the 401 with a term's worth of luggage, the busiest airport week of the year for the chauffeurs after Christmas.
May and June: prom season and the convocations
Prom Saturdays at London's high schools cluster from mid-May to mid-June and the stretch and party-bus fleet books by March; the prom page has the rules. Western's spring convocation runs over a fortnight of June ceremonies at Alumni Hall, with Huron's and King's own, Fanshawe's at the Agriplex and Ivey's in the spring; families fly in, the hotels fill, campus parking vanishes, and an SUV by the hour for the ceremony, the photographs and the dinner is the family's booking. Pride week, the London Fringe's theatre festival and Doors Open London fill in the month.
July: Sunfest, Home County, Rock the Park, Pride and Canada Day
July is the festival month. Sunfest, the world-music and food festival, fills Victoria Park for four days early in the month and closes the surrounding blocks; Home County, the folk festival, follows at Harris Park by the forks; Rock the Park brings the arena-scale rock and country acts to Harris Park over four nights; Pride London's parade runs down Queens Avenue; Canada Day's fireworks light the forks. The chauffeur drops at the edge of each closure and collects from the same agreed corner; a festival evening is two fixed rates or a night by the hour, and the events transportation page prices it.
August: Ribfest, the beaches and the move-in
Ribfest fills Victoria Park on the long weekend, the Western Fair's lead-up begins on Dundas Street East, the Grand Bend and Port Stanley beach weekends draw the city to the shore on the destinations pages, and the last week brings Western's first move-in days - the residence loading zones, the parents' vans and the YXU arrivals with two suitcases each that the universities page describes.
September: orientation, the Western Fair and the Knights' opening night
Orientation week at Western and Fanshawe, the Western Fair's ten days of midway, agriculture, concerts and food at the fairgrounds - the largest event in the city's year, with the Dundas Street East lots full and the LTC's shuttles running - and the Knights' opening night at Canada Life Place. A family's fair evening is an SUV dropped at the Dundas gate and collected at a time moved by text; the chauffeur knows the closures around the grounds.
October: Homecoming, the film festival and Halloween
Western Homecoming brings alumni from across the country to the Mustangs' game at Western Alumni Stadium and the parties before and after; the Forest City Film Festival fills the Wolf Performance Hall and the downtown cinemas for a week; Western's fall convocation repeats June's ceremonies on a smaller scale; and Halloween on Richmond Row is the year's biggest night out. The hotels fill for Homecoming; the party bus page has the Halloween version of a night on the Row.
November and December: the parade, the markets and the lights
The Santa Claus parade down Richmond Street, the Christmas markets at the Covent Garden Market and the Western Fair District, Victoria Park's Christmas lights from early December, Fanshawe Pioneer Village's Christmas weekends, the Nutcracker at the Grand, the office parties on the Row and at RBC Place, and New Year's Eve: the chauffeurs' December is company parties by Sprinter and limo bus, the Christmas lights tour through Old South and Byron with hot chocolate aboard, and the airport runs home for the holidays. The casino trips and party bus pages cover the office night out.
The Knights' season, in its own right
Thirty-four home games from September to March at Canada Life Place, and the playoffs into May in a good year, make the Knights the city's steady calendar: a game night closes nothing but fills the core's garages by 6:30, and the household that goes to ten games a season books a standing sedan from the door to Dundas Street and a return moved by text. The venues page has the arena's drop-offs; the Knights' site the schedule.
Western's and Fanshawe's calendar, in its own right
Orientation, Homecoming, the formals, the exam-week departures, the convocations, the summer conferences that fill the residences: the universities and colleges page walks through the academic year as the chauffeurs drive it, and the household and corporate accounts hold the standing bookings.
Conferences, galas and the business calendar
RBC Place London's conventions, the hospital foundations' galas, the chamber's awards, the Ivey and Western alumni dinners, the trade shows at the Agriplex: the venues page has the convention centre and the corporate chauffeur service page the gala table's transport.
Street closures, and how the chauffeurs handle them
Sunfest closes the blocks around Victoria Park; Home County and Rock the Park close Ridout and the forks' streets; the Pride parade closes Queens; the Santa Claus parade closes Richmond; the Western Fair fills Dundas East; Halloween and New Year's fill the Row. The chauffeur drops at the closure's edge, agrees a pickup corner, and moves the return by text; the City of London's site publishes the closures each week and the dispatcher reads it.
The nights the fixed rate matters most
New Year's Eve, Halloween on the Row, Homecoming Saturday, Sunfest's Saturday, the Knights' playoff nights and the fair's last weekend are the nights rideshare surges to three and four times its daytime price in London and the taxi ranks empty; a booked car at a rate fixed at lunchtime with a return the chauffeur waits for is the whole argument of this site, and the comparison guide makes it.
Booking an event evening
Two fixed-rate journeys on the reservation engine - the outbound and a return at a time you move by text - or an evening by the hour; groups, buses and gala tables are quoted by the desk. The rates page has the in-city figures.
Dates and closures. Event dates move each year and the organisers' and the City of London's sites are the authority; this page describes the shape of the year as the chauffeurs plan it. Event and venue names describe where we drive and imply no affiliation or ticket access; tickets are yours.
Three event evenings, as they actually ran
Sunfest Saturday, July. An executive SUV from a Byron household to the closure's edge at Richmond and Dufferin at 5:30, a pickup corner agreed at Wellington and Dufferin, and the return moved twice by text as the last set ran late. Two fixed rates; the household walked eight minutes each way.
The Knights' playoff game 5, April. A luxury sedan for two couples from Old North to the Dundas Street door at 6:40, the chauffeur waiting at the Talbot Street garage, and home nine minutes after the final horn - past the rideshare surge and the empty taxi rank.
Homecoming, October. A Sprinter for eleven alumni from a Richmond Row hotel to the stadium's coach drop at 11, a tailgate stop, the game, the Ceeps at 5, and the hotel at 1 a.m. By the hour, one card, one invoice.
Visitors coming for the events
The Western Fair, Sunfest and the Knights' playoffs bring visitors from across the region and beyond, and the YXU and Pearson pages describe the arrival; the hotels page the stay; and the attractions page what to do on the day between.
