Winter Stations festival transforming lifeguard towers into art installations marks 10 years

A public art festival that transforms lifeguard stands along Woodbine Beach into towering art installations is back for its 10th year.

From a larger-than-life kaleidoscope to a captured UFO, this year’s theme for the Winter Stations is all about celebrating and reimagining projects from the past decade.

For the first time ever, organizers are bringing Winter Stations beyond the Beaches.

Organizers have added three roadside installations along Queen Street E. to improve accessibility in the hopes of allowing more people to enjoy the annual tradition. The new installations are at Woodbine Park, Kew Gardens and Ivan Forrest Gardens.

CBC’s Shannon Martin, host of Our Toronto, spoke with several artists about the inspiration behind their pieces and heard from organizers about some of the challenges they face as a non-profit organization hosting the annual festival.

The Winter Stations is an international design and art competition that brings temporary art installations to Toronto’s east end beaches for the winter. This year, the event runs until the end of March.