Things to Do in Vaughan

The rugged indoor playing field at Defcon Paintball’s Toronto location span more than 25,000 square feet and beckon sharpshooters to engage in multicoloured campaigns. For each session, players don their gear and load their guns before Defcon staffers helm a comprehensive safety course that outlines essentials such as equipment usage, the rules of the game, and how to ornament opponents’ backs with dramatic chiaroscuro. Participants bob and weave through a dirt-floored indoor course littered with concrete cylinders, ducking behind piles of sandbags as they fire 100 polychromatic slugs at their rivals.

Lou and Marianne Fenninger founded Art Source in 1978 in a 200-square-foot basement. When demand for the couple's poster prints exploded, they soon expanded their products and services. Within a few years they'd outgrown the basement, and moved into the 6,000-square-foot showroom they occupy today.

Nowadays, Art Source reaches every corner of the globe, distributing art for both retail and wholesale clients as far-flung as Europe, Japan, and New Zealand. The shop helps customers find perfect pieces for complementing their room decor and covering up unsightly fire extinguisher cases with 10,000 stock images of classic, modern, local, and international art, as well as an original art design service, all available for custom printing. Additionally, Art Source's staff help patrons preserve cherished pieces with custom framing services that can wrap works of any size in a carefully designed and assembled border.

A pirate ship sways back and forth, whisking youngsters away on virtual high-seas adventures. Elsewhere, inflatable jumping castles invite bouncers to defy gravity while contemplating future positions in parliament. In the free-for-all Fun Game Zone, carnival mirrors distort giggling guests’ reflections, and ping-pong and air hockey test competitors’ skills. These are just a few of the many activities that fill the days at Family Fun Fest, an annual family-friendly extravaganza that entertains and enchants its myriad visitors.

As youngsters and their parental units explore the various areas of the gargantuan indoor playground, they can make a pit stop for live entertainment. Helmed by the titular Trevor, The Trevor Show dazzles audiences with interactive song and dance numbers, followed by Doo Doo the clown, who had no choice but to become a clown, what with the name Doo Doo.

At Puck’s Farm, visitors can bond with 180 acres of the natural environment by learning about harvest-time chores and activities or scheduling weddings and events year-round on the open grounds. Guests of the farm can meet its animal residents, including emus, llamas, and a farm cat, which is much friendlier than a farm puma. For an even more interactive experience with fauna, Puck’s offers pony rides and the opportunity to milk cows and churn butter. Wooded trails traverse the expanse and present one of the many places on the farm where guests can delight in the changing of the seasons. Fall, for example, offers a variety of seasonal activities: visitors can get lost in corn mazes, pick ripened pumpkins, ride in horse-drawn wagons, and stroll through trails speckled with changing leaves. Autumn months also see pigs and goats building their nests for the winter ahead. An onsite snack bar serving hot dogs, hamburgers, and french fries enables guests to refuel for full days of farm activities.