Updated November 17, 2020

After Mid-March, festivals and parades were cancelled because of COVID-19. Everything that would have taken place in summer 2020 was cancelled.

Some streets have been fully pedestrianized all summer, including Mont-Royal between Park and Fullum, the usual segment of Ste-Catherine through the Village, part of Wellington Street, and parts of Ste-Catherine West as well. These are not street fairs per se but there are terrasses. For the moment, the density of crowds brought by popular street fairs is probably off till next year.

As of the second week of August, gatherings of 250 people or less were permitted in Quebec, with pandemic measures in place. Some festivals were partly revived (see list). However, red zone restrictions were imposed September 29 and, as I write, are still in force. In any case, street fairs were never scheduled much past the second week of September.

Most dates below are still from 2019. Most seasons have followed a similar pattern with occasional novelties and changes from time to time, but it’s impossible to know how the pattern will change in future. I’m leaving this content here with hopes for 2021.

March

March 22, 2020: St Patrick’s parade, back on Ste-Catherine Street this year. Cancelled.
March 19-22, 2020: Cabane Panache et Bois rond on Wellington Street in Verdun, the first street fair of the year. Cancelled.
March 24: Greek independence parade along Jean-Talon in Park Extension

May

May 24 and 25: Closure of lower St-Denis to mark the opening of terrasse season. Quartier Latin
May 25, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.: Mile End en Fleurs on St-Viateur between de Gaspé and Henri-Julien
May 23-26: Promenade Masson in Rosemont
May 30-June 2: Mont-Royal street fair from St-Laurent east to d’Iberville
May 30-June 2: Ontario Street from Darling to Pie-IX: Le Branle-bas d’Hochelaga

June

June 1: A new entry this year, Jarry between St-Gérard and Châteaubriand (3 blocks, one day only)
June 6-16: Mural Festival on the Main from Sherbrooke to Mont-Royal
June 6-8: Westmount, Victoria Village sidewalk sale
June 12-14, 2020: Would have been Grand Prix weekend. In past years, this was the picture: Crescent Street and part of Peel Street are closed for festivals from Thursday to Sunday. Boulevard Saint-Laurent in Little Italy closes for a festival from Friday to Sunday. Like everything else, cancelled this year.
June 7-9: Promenade Wellington street fair
June 14: Roumeliotes Association feast at Liège and Querbes
June 21-28: The Marché des Possibles is atypical, taking place on the triangular green space at St‑Dominique and Bernard, near the Van Horne overpass, rather than on a commercial street

July

Sunday, July 7: San Marziale around Waverly and St-Viateur. The official saint’s day is June 30 according to the Italian Wikipedia and it’s usually celebrated here on a Sunday early in July, but seldom widely announced.
July 12-14: Ste-Catherine street sale, promoted as the biggest one in Canada.
July 19-21: Plaza St-Hubert, in a reprieve between bouts of road renovation, lists these dates as well as July 26‑28 and August 2‑4 as sidewalk sale days.

August

August 2-4: Plaza St-Hubert
August 10-11: La Grande fabrique, Ste-Catherine East between Aird and Bourbonnière.Artisanal products fair partly sponsored (?) by Etsy.
August 17-18: final weekend of Italian Week in Little Italy. Boulevard Saint-Laurent closed between Saint-Zotique and Jean-Talon.
August 22-25: Mont-Royal, street sale plus arty event called RU.
August 23-25: Promenade Wellington: street fair with a back-to-school theme
August 23-25: Westmount, Victoria Village sidewalk sale
August 24-25: 18th-century public market around Place Royale in Old Montreal
August 29-September 1: Boulevard piéton, Boulevard Saint-Laurent on the usual stretch from Sherbrooke to Mont-Royal.
August 29-September 1: Ontario between Darling and Pie-IX
August 30-September 1: Asian night market in Chinatown

September

September 5-8: Promenade Masson

November

November 23: Santa Claus parade along René-Lévesque

December

December 7: Christmas parade in the evening in the eastern Plateau