Things to Do in St. Thomas

G-force pulls faces taught as feet floor accelerator pedals. The smell of burning rubber fills nostrils. A halo of stadium lights illuminates a quarter-mile of pavement as it passes by in seconds. With help from the experienced instructors and drivers at Ontario Racing Source, anyone can zoom into drag races at the historic St. Thomas Raceway. Before each race, staff give racing skill and safety instruction, and show each new driver how to control their fully prepped cars using nothing more than the console and a few self-esteem-boosting words on how shiny they’re looking today. At regular intervals, visitors can also strap in behind the wheel of high-speed vehicles at the Grand Bend Motorplex and Toronto Motorsports Park.

For 25 years, the talented staff of Creative Art & Frame has encased art, posters, and objects in handmade and custom fitted frames. Bespoke squares team up with acid-free mats, acid-free foam backing, and high-quality glass. Customers can exhibit multiple pictures at once thanks to the shop's computerized mat cutter, which crafts custom picture holes. Specialty frame services easily enshrine three-dimensional display-worthy items, including all manner of sports memorabilia and collectibles such as the elusive albino Rubik's cube. Empty frames find embraceable images by perusing the shop's art canvases and prints.

Since 2002, the Women's Lifestyle Show has gathered exhibitors, chefs, and entertainers from across the country to delight audiences with two days of female-focused activities. Television personalities and acclaimed authors pair with other popular hosts at the main stage to dazzle onlookers with home solutions and beauty tips throughout each day. Rows of colourful exhibitor booths lavish wanderers with products and demonstrations by local spas and fashion boutiques, and the cooking stage grants glimpses of guest chefs sizzling and searing flavourful recipes to spark ideas for upcoming dinner dates, family meals, and tricks to teach robot maids.

THEMUSEUM’s vision—“To awe, inspire and enlighten”—is evident to its visitors as soon as they traverse the adult- and child-sized doorways. Once inside, they begin their journey through the exhibition halls in front of the vibrant plants protruding from the Living Wall, whose purpose is to clean the air and cool the interior of the multilevel facility. Along with permanent exhibitions, THEMUSEUM also hosts temporary exhibits; past installations have explored the pop art innovations of Andy Warhol's Factory, the interplay between art and electronics, and the experimental brushstrokes of painter Tom Thomson. In addition, THEMUSEUM is also a destination for global travelling exhibits, having played host to travelling international blockbusters like Our Body: The Universe Within and Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition.

Dickson Bowl spices up the traditional sport of bowling with five-pin lanes designed to test the accuracy and finger-counting abilities of players of all ages. During late-night and weekend cosmic-bowling sessions, an incandescent glow radiates throughout the facility, creating a surreal experience not only for bowlers, but also for visitors to the on-site arcade and diner, which crafts house-made pizzas in addition to several breakfast and lunch options. 

Outside of cosmic and open-bowling times, the alley offers league opportunities for women, children, and men of all ages and abilities. It also hosts theme nights each month, inviting guests to bowl in hockey jerseys, pajamas, or camouflage suits that hopefully go unnoticed by the pins.