Public walk – Corktown Common

Date: Sep 13, 2025 at 14:00
Meeting Location: Distillery District, Balzac’s Coffee Shop at 1 Trinity Street, beside “Still Dancing” sculpture

Join us on Saturday, September 13th at 2:00 pm for a 2.5-hour, 3 km circular nature and heritage walk.

This afternoon walk will take us from the cobblestones of the Distillery District east along Mill Street to Corktown Common; a compact city park painstakingly transformed from an industrial wasteland into a green urban gem planted entirely with native trees, shrubs and forbs. Think of Corktown Common as the little sister of the celebrated new Biidaasige Park at the Don’s Mouth; both were designed by the same landscape architects: Michael van Valkenburgh Associates. Corktown Common is typically ablaze with fall asters, golden rod and other autumn colours by September. The tiny marsh features cattails, pickerel weed and arrowhead. Fall migrant birds might drop by. Corktown Common’s main job is to function as a flood protection berm, designed to withstand a 500-year flood, but the park also offers wonderful natural habitats as well as children’s play areas and lawns for picnicking. We will double back to the Distillery District, with the option of a drink together at the Mill Street Brew Pub.

Leader: Ellen Schwartzel

Location: Corktown Common

Meeting Point: Meet at the Distillery District, outside Balzac’s Coffee Shop at 1 Trinity Street. Beside the very large abstract sculpture “Still Dancing”.

Details: A 2.5-hour, 3 km circular nature and heritage walk along mostly paved surfaces with some gentle slopes. No stairs.

Getting There: By TTC to Distillery District: Subway from the Bloor Line: Take Subway to Castle Frank station on the Bloor line. Connect to Bus 65A Parliament. Ride the bus straight down Parliament. Exit at Front St. and walk one block South to Mill St.  King Streetcar: Take 504 King East Streetcar. Exit at the Distillery Loop. Cross Cherry Street at the Mill Street intersection and enter via Tank House Lane or Distillery Lane.  From Union Station: Walk 7 minutes North on Bay Street to King Street; board the 504 King East Streetcar and ride it to the Distillery Loop. Cross Cherry Street at the Mill Street intersection and enter via Tank House Lane or Distillery Lane.

Washrooms: Along the way

What to Bring: Sun hat, water and a snack.

This walk is only one of more than 140 that TFN will host this year alone! TFN members enjoy a complete listing of walks in our newsletter. Not a member? Learn more about the benefits of membership now!

Please tag any photos you take on this walk with #TFNWalk so that we can all live vicariously through your lens.

Toronto Field Naturalists wishes to acknowledge this Land through which we walk. For thousands of years, the Land has been shared by the Wendat, the Haudenosaunee, and the Anishinaabe. Toronto is situated on the Land within the Toronto Purchase, Treaty 13, the traditional and treaty Lands of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation. This territory is also part of the Dish with One Spoon Wampum, a covenant agreement between Anishinaabeg, Haudenosaunee, Wendat peoples and allied nations to peaceably share the land and all its resources. Today, the Land is home to peoples of numerous nations. We are all grateful to have the opportunity to continue to care for and share the beauty of this Land.