September 30, 2023
Music News

The Juno Awards wanders back to Toronto for the 50th-anniversary event in 2021.

One of the cool things about our national music awards program is how it pops up in a different city every year. After touching down in London in 2019 and set for Saskatoon in 2020, the Junos will return to Toronto for 2021, the 50th-anniversary edition. Mark the date: March 28, 2021, at the Scotiabank Arena.

The Junos began in Toronto in 1970 with an extremely modest wine-and-cheese-affair (seriously!) at the St. Lawrence Market on February 23, 1971, attended by maybe 250 people. There wasn’t even a TV broadcast until 1975.

The 2021 event will mark the 26th time Toronto has hosted the Junos. There was a two-decade run of Toronto being the host city before the policy of moving it around each year was instituted. This has proven to be very popular given that a Juno visit means an average $10 million injection into the local economy.

Vancouver was the first non-Toronto location in 1991. For the bulk of the 90s, the Junos bounced between Toronto and Hamilton before really going on the road in 2002 with a move to St. John’s, Newfoundland.

The last time the Junos were in Toronto was 2011 when they were hosted by Drake at the Air Canada Centre.

Alan Cross

is an internationally known broadcaster, interviewer, writer, consultant, blogger and speaker. In his 40+ years in the music business, Alan has interviewed the biggest names in rock, from David Bowie and U2 to Pearl Jam and the Foo Fighters. He’s also known as a musicologist and documentarian through programs like The Ongoing History of New Music.

Alan Cross has 37122 posts and counting. See all posts by Alan Cross

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