It's your final weekend to party at the 37th edition of outdoor snow party Fête de Neiges. Sixteen lanes for tubing (facing downtown Montreal for a very cool view) and the Superslide lanes allow you to zoom down mega fast! Skate the 300-metre long rink, climb aboard an ice ship, check out an ice sculpting show and enjoy the acrobats of Cirque Éloize putting on a alpine-themed show! Free for kids 2 and under, $8 for 3 to 13, $12 for 14 and up. Saturday and Sunday, 10am to 6pm, weekends until February 9.
And it's also the last weekend to strap on your best vintage snowsuit and penguin shuffle to the Old Port, where warmer temperatures this weekend might actually make Igloofest bearable for its second weekend. Warm up by moving your feet, and distract yourself with moving images programmed by hand-picked VJs. Zeds Dead headlines Friday, while Charlotte De Witte closes out the Saturday. Music blares from 7:30pm 12:30am.
While you're in Old Montreal, and likely hungry from dancing, check out Happening Gourmand. Restaurants like Maggie Oakes, Modavie, Verses and more are offering table d'hôte menus at $25, brunch at $17 and 5-à-7 drink and snack at $12. (If you eat, you get 15 per cent off Igloofest tickets!) Until February 9.
Friday is your last chance to indulge in La Poutine Week: grab oka cheese and foie gras poutine at Deville Dinerbar, topped with our onion buttermilk gravy, and follow it up with their dessert poutine. Vegan mainstay Aux Vivres offers up a poutine with vegetables and tofu, and a delicious veggie gravy. And in Old Montreal, Beaver Tails has dared to the obvious but sinful: topping a beaver tail with fries, gravy and cheese curds.
Electronic British band Metronomy perform at MTelus Friday.
Celebrate Tu B'Shevat, the Jewish holiday that's kind of like a new year/party for trees and the environment, with a delicious wine tasting. The Wandering Chew's 4 Glasses: A Tu B'Shevat Wine Tasting is Saturday, 7pm at Fletchers Café in the Plateau.
The Montreal Science Centre celebrates the United Nations’ International Day of Women and Girls by inviting over 20 different organizations and institutions to talk about supporting girls and women to pursue their interests and careers in science and tech. Girls under 17 can attend Women and Girls of Science and the Centre's other activities for free on Sunday.
Thursday was Kate McGarrigle's birthday. The Montreal folk musician, who performed alongside her sister Anna for decades, will be remembered with a photo exhibit at her daughter Martha Wainwright's bar all weekend. Check out Kate, tu nous manques on February 7-9. Open from 11am, with snacks and drinks.
Geordie Theatre presents excellent programming for youngsters with their festival this weekend. Catch a play reading Friday of The Ugly Ones, about the children affected by the clearing of favelas before the World Cup and Olympics came to Brazil, followed by a discussion around the 30th anniversary of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. On Saturday and Sunday, check out two shows: The Water Chronicles (for kids 5+) and Fear of Missing Out (13+) Both written by Montrealers, Alexandria Haber and Michaela Di Cesare, the former tackles water management and the latter features a teen detective unraveling a neighbourhood mystery.
A night of love, wine and music: new company Theatre de l'ouest hosts new writing from established and up-and-coming writers and performers. Pay-what-you-can, 7:30pm at Westmount Park United Church.
Take a break from the snow with the sandy and entertaining new circus show, Halka. It's presented by a Moroccan troupe on its first visit to Canada. 14 acrobats and musicians use everyday objects like the djefna (a metal basin), sand and a belt for trainee acrobats called the facha, to create whimsical scenes and towering human pyramids. Until February 9 at La Tohu.
Imago Theatre presents Caridad Svich's The Tropic of X. It is about two Latinx children growing up in a poor country, looking for a bit of escapism. There is a pay what you can option if you need it. Until Sunday at The Centaur.
Explore over 1,000 strange and exotic objects of curiosity at Pointe-a-Callière Museum. Into the Wonder Room explores the phenomenon cabinets of curiosities, until January 10. There is also a new show at the Old Montreal museum: The Incas, Treasures of Peru explores the mysterious civilization's ancient rituals, art and achievements. Until April 13.
Nights, which brings to life unpublished stories about what happens when the sun goes down, by Montreal writers like Heather O'Neill. At the The Stewart Museum until March 7.