Mississauga Celebration Square Amphitheatre, Mississauga, Guida per visitatori e cosa fare nei dintorni

Mississauga Celebration Square Amphitheatre is the open-air performance space at the heart of Celebration Square, the public plaza in front of Mississauga City Hall in downtown Mississauga, Ontario. It is the city's main outdoor gathering place, where concerts, festivals and national holiday celebrations bring people into the civic centre.

The story behind it

Mississauga grew quickly from a collection of suburbs into one of Canada's largest cities, and it needed a central place where residents could meet. The answer was the square beside City Hall, which was redeveloped and reopened as Celebration Square in 2011. It was designed as a year-round public space rather than a simple forecourt, with an outdoor stage at its centre.

The square sits next to the City Hall building, which dates from the 1980s and is known for its clock tower and its position at the edge of the city centre. Around it are the central library, the Living Arts Centre and the Square One shopping district, so the plaza works as the meeting point of the civic, cultural and shopping life of the area. Large community events, including Canada Day celebrations, are among the occasions the square is known for.

What to look for

• The stage and amphitheatre-style seating area, which turn the open plaza into a performance space when an event is on.
• The large outdoor screen, which is used for event broadcasts and community programming.
• The façade and clock tower of Mississauga City Hall, which frame the square on one side.
• The mix of buildings around the plaza, from the library to the arts centre, which shows how a modern city centre was planned around a shared public space.

Tips for your visit

• Allow 20 to 30 minutes to walk the square and take photos, longer if there is an event or you want to sit and watch the crowd.
• It is an outdoor public space, so you can wander through without going inside anything. Check current event listings before you go to see whether something is on.
• Late afternoon and early evening are pleasant for photographs, and the square is at its liveliest on event days.
• The library, the Living Arts Centre and Square One are all a short walk away, which makes it easy to combine the square with a coffee or a meal.

See it on a quest

The square is one stop on The Oz Escape in Mississauga, a Wizard of Oz themed walk. You reach the square on foot as part of a longer route through the city centre, the app tells you about each place as you arrive, and you solve a puzzle on the spot. One ticket covers the whole group.

Murder Mystery: Death in the Shadows in Mississauga also passes here. It suits anyone who likes a mystery, because the plaza becomes part of a walk where you look at the surroundings more closely than you normally would. One ticket covers the whole group.

If you prefer a detective story, try Mississauga Detective Mystery: Infiltrate a Secret Society.. You start whenever you like, with no guide and no group to join, and the app leads you from the square to the next place along the route. One ticket covers the whole group.