Thanksgiving 2026: What to watch, read, hear and see over the long weekend
The Thanksgiving long weekend lands in the middle of a busy stretch for entertainment this year, with new television, films, albums and books arriving just before the holiday and major festivals running from coast to coast.
Netflix has a six-episode Newfoundland thriller ready to binge, a new Terry Fox documentary opens in theatres Friday, and Crave is releasing a series following Canada’s women’s rugby team through its 2025 World Cup campaign. Several musicians have new records arriving October 9, while readers have fresh releases hitting shelves earlier in the week.
Thanksgiving in Canada falls on Monday, October 12 this year. Here are some of the options available from October 8 through the long weekend.
Stay in with Below, rugby and CBC favourites
Netflix gets an early start on the weekend with Below, which arrives Thursday, October 8.
Created by Jesse McKeown, the six-part thriller is set in a small Newfoundland town where a sea creature begins terrorizing the community. Josh Hartnett stars as fisherman Calvin Penney alongside Mackenzie Davis and Charlie Heaton, with Willow Kean, Ruby Stokes, Rohan Campbell and Kaleb Horn also among the cast. The series was filmed in Newfoundland, and all six episodes arrive at once.
Crave follows Friday with All Heart: A Rugby Story, a four-part documentary series following Canada’s women’s rugby team through the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup. Produced by Boat Rocker Studios, all four half-hour episodes will be available October 9.
CBC’s fall schedule also offers several familiar options over the weekend. Heartland Season 20 airs Sundays at 7 p.m., followed by Season 10 of The Great Canadian Baking Show at 8 p.m., with Ann Pornel and Alan Shane Lewis returning as hosts and Bruno Feldeisen and Kyla Kennaley as judges. Murdoch Mysteries Season 20 airs Mondays at 8 p.m.
Run Terry Run opens in theatres
Sean Menard’s Run Terry Run reaches Canadian theatres Friday, October 9, with an extensive collection of archival material from Terry Fox’s 1980 Marathon of Hope.
The documentary draws on 96 reels of previously unseen footage and unheard audio interviews held by the Fox family, giving viewers another look at Fox and the people around him during the cross-country run. It opens in participating theatres across Canada, with individual screening schedules varying by city.
New music for the weekend
October 9 brings several new releases from Canadian musicians, including one album accompanied by a run of western shows that spans almost the entire holiday weekend.
Wayfinding releases A Nest of Wrens through Are You Giving Me the Hi-Hat on Friday. The trio — Cassia Hardy, Ryan Beattie and Marek Tyler — recorded and mixed the album at the Hive Recording Studio in Victoria with Colin Stewart.
The group plays the Palomino Smokehouse in Calgary on October 8, followed by an album-release show at the Aviary in Edmonton on October 9 and Green Auto in Vancouver on October 10. A Victoria date is also scheduled for October 11, although the venue had not yet been announced as of October 1.
Toronto band Zeus looks back to the period surrounding its debut with Lost & Found: The Say Us Archives, out October 9 through Arts & Crafts. The collection gathers songs written around the time of Say Us that did not appear on the original album.
Montreal ska-punk band K-Man & The 45s releases the 13-track Heed the Call through Stomp Records on October 9. Advance tracks include “We Won’t Stop” and “Demon Days.”
Thierry Larose also has a new record arriving that day. Le X du Y is a 10-track album recorded at several Quebec studios, including Le Pantoum, Mixart, Baby Blue and Studio Bravo. Alexandre Martel produced the album, with Lou-Adriane Cassidy among those credited on the arrangements.
New books to take into the weekend
Several books from Canadian writers arrive Tuesday, October 6, leaving a few days to pick up something before the holiday.
Kelley Armstrong’s Dive Bar at the End of the Road brings five strangers together after a multi-car pileup leaves them seeking shelter in a backwoods bar. The supernatural horror novel turns the apparent refuge into something considerably more dangerous.
Margo MacDonald’s A Curious Presence: An Exploration of Ghosts and the People Who Haunt Them, published by ECW Press, draws on two decades of MacDonald’s work with paranormal accounts and her experience as a storyteller and paranormal consultant with the Haunted Walk. The book looks at hauntings alongside the people who experience, investigate and study them.
Tyler Pennock’s Skin, published by Brick Books, completes the poetry trilogy that began with Bones and Blood. Pennock, a Two-Spirit writer from Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation, centres relationships to home, community and Treaty 8 territory in the collection.
Patrick Woodcock’s Farhang: Book Two also arrives October 6 through ECW Press. The collection incorporates material gathered across more than 40 countries, while Woodcock’s recent work has also taken him between Toronto and Nunavut through United for Literacy.
Kitchener-Waterloo Oktoberfest
Thanksgiving weekend falls during one of Kitchener-Waterloo Oktoberfest’s busiest stretches.
Willkommen Platz runs October 9 through 11 in downtown Kitchener with free live entertainment, food and vendors, while KIDtoberfest offers family programming over the same three days. This year’s entertainment schedule includes Walter Ostanek, Bif Naked, Lee Aaron, Robyn Ottolini and Bran Van 3000.
The annual Thanksgiving Day Parade begins at 9:30 a.m. Monday, October 12, at Weber Street East and Frederick Street in Kitchener before travelling toward Waterloo.
Celtic Colours opens in Cape Breton
The 30th Celtic Colours International Festival begins Friday, October 9, and continues through October 17 across Cape Breton Island.
Organizers have programmed 52 concerts in 36 communities, with performances taking place in theatres, churches, schools, community halls and other venues across the island. The opening concert is in Port Hawkesbury on October 9, putting the first weekend of the festival directly across the Thanksgiving break.
Film festivals on both coasts — and in Montreal
The Vancouver International Film Festival is entering its final days as the holiday weekend begins. VIFF runs October 1 through 11, with its current 2026 program comprising more than 160 films and 85 shorts, along with talks, live performances and special events. Its Northern Lights program includes Canadian and Indigenous cinema.
In Montreal, the Festival du nouveau cinéma is moving in the opposite direction. Its 55th edition opens October 8 and runs through October 18, with nearly 200 works from more than 30 countries. Screenings continue throughout the long weekend, including Monday, October 12.
Stratford stays busy through Sunday
The Stratford Festival also has a full slate across the weekend.
Friday, October 9 includes The Importance of Being Earnest, Something Rotten!, The Hobbit and The Tempest. Saturday brings Guys and Dolls, The Hobbit, The Importance of Being Earnest and Something Rotten!, while Something Rotten! and Death of a Salesman continue on Sunday.
