The Current - Go dancing and still get to bed early — the rise of daytime parties

Episode Date: June 20, 2025

If staying out dancing until 3 a.m. doesn’t appeal to you like it used to, you’re not alone. Across Canada, daytime dance parties are making space for people who want to move, socialize and still be in bed before midnight. We talk to two daytime party organizers about what it means to dance in the daytime and how it's reshaping nightlife.

Ten years ago, I asked my partner Kelsey if she would marry me. I did that, despite the fact that every living member of my family who had ever been married had also gotten divorced. Forever is a Long Time is a five-part series in which I talk to those relatives about why they got divorced and why they got married. You can listen to it now on CBC's Personally. This is a CBC Podcast. Hello, I'm Matt Galloway and this is The Current Podcast. It's Saturday at a recording studio and event space in Toronto's West End. There's a small dance floor and a DJ up front playing a house remix of Cypress Hills, Insane in the Brain, to a crowd of 20 and 30-somethings. The walls are concrete, there aren't any windows, kind of feels like a bunker, but a really fun one. ["Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy"]

It's hot and sweaty. There are light strips on the ceiling changing colors, but it's still dim. Could be two or three o'clock in the morning, but it's not. It's actually mid-afternoon. This event is called Tech Noon. It is a daytime party for people

who still want to dance and party, but without the hangover and the late night. Geraldine Inajosa is all in. Well, I don't want to sound like a grandma, but since I became 30 a few months ago and since I am trying to do more daytime activities because I feel partying at night is more like drunk people, drugs and kind of things that I don't feel aligned right now with. I feel this type of event inspires me more to really enjoy what I like, that is dancing and networking and you finish early. Luis Diaz is an aspiring DJ. A day party is a pretty cool idea because not everyone wants to be at night. The vibe inside is pretty cool.

All the people are nice and yeah, it's cool. Axel Espinosa owns this space. It's a recording studio on the weekdays. For him, a daytime event like this allows the focus to be on the music. This space, this whole space, it's that whole idea of you have the whole day to just enjoy music and pretty much like they have a good time you know like right it's not about money it's not about drugs it's not about alcohol it's about not about drugs, it's not about alcohol, it's about the music also.

And there's no alcohol for sale here. Instead... We have some croissants, some drinks, like sodas, water. We just want people to feel comfortable. It's 2pm, so people can get hungry. So might as well provide some food for them to be dancing, enjoying a good croissant, some soda, some water, and just vibe to the music. Events like these, daytime parties and parties that start early and end early, are growing

in popularity, popping up in Chicago, Brooklyn, Los Angeles, Toronto, Vancouver. They often sell out in minutes. And so we've got a couple of people here to talk about the joys of partying without losing sleep. Zohaib Aziz is one of the founders of a daytime event called Coffee Party in Toronto. Rachel Morris started an event in Vancouver called Home by Midnight. Good morning to you both.

Good morning. Rachel, we'll start with you. If somebody walks into your party, what are they going to see and what will they hear? They will see, well, if they're're first they will put the coat down, they will grab a drink and they will immediately go onto the dance floor. If they're more than a few minutes after 8 p.m. the dance floor will probably already be full and they will see a crowd of diverse individuals wearing whatever they want to wear, probably getting very sweaty and dancing out their week expressively and with

limited inhibitions as to what they look like and just freedom of expression. You said that they would pick up a drink. Do you serve alcohol at your events? We do, although it's not a focus of the events by any means. We certainly have a lot of people who don't partake in alcohol who still join us. It's certainly not a key element of what we're doing at all. The events are called Home by Midnight, which is like a title after my own heart. When does it start and when does it end?

We start at 8 p.m. and we end usually around 11.45, so local people can get home by midnight or there about ish. Although we do have people who come from as far away as about an hour, an hour and a half. What kind of people do you get? It is such a diverse crowd. We have really people from all walks of life. Age range, I would say we go from kind of late 20s to couples maybe in their 60s. It's an incredible combination of people and to be honest, somewhere that it produces an environment where I'm not sure I kind of see that gathering of people very regularly. It's incredible to see people joyful and interacting and finding community in that kind of space together.

Why did you start these events? My friends and I, we were new parents and we used to go out clubbing a lot in our 20s and then we found that we just couldn't do that anymore. We weren't able to start at 10, 11 p.m. and still be able to be functional at 5, 6 a.m. when we had children who were waking up. And we said, why is nobody doing something where we can have this same experience but still get home by midnight and be functional the next day?

And then we thought, well, if we want it, we're gonna have to make it ourselves. And so we did, and then it resonated with many, many more people than I think we could have ever imagined it would. Somebody dared you to start this, is that right? My friend Michael and I were talking about it and she said, oh, somebody should do it. And I said, go on then. And so then the two of us and a couple of other friends of ours put it together. Yeah. And what was it before you had kids? I mean, what was a big night out like for you?

Well, I mean, we'd usually kind of get together around 10, 11, go down to Granville Street in Vancouver and go into just a normal club environment. It was certainly a little bit more, perhaps a bit more toxic masculinity, but not necessarily the safest environment, but loud, fun, sweaty, lots of things that home by midnight still is, although it's a very welcoming and much safer space that kind of invites people into nightlife, allows them to kind of participate in nightlife that might feel like traditional nightlife is not catering to them. So yeah, we would get home maybe 3 a.m. Very, very quiet.

Which does not work if you have young kids, right? That's not going to be optimal for you or the child. It's not optimal and then you end up having a good time but then it's a sacrifice or you're having to pay for it the next day out of your exhaustion or whatever. And so, it's really great to be able to provide a space where you can still participate in that community, that dancing, the listening to music, the collective nature of that without kind of selling your soul at the same time or selling your exhaustion the next day, you know? So, Haib has been here listening in studio. Does that sound familiar? Yeah, 100%. Very similar to sort of why we started the coffee party and, you know, the movement and the idea behind it as well.

Tell me a little bit about that. I mean, there's a video that is out that shows one of your parties and there's people who are dancing outside in the daylight. It is not a typical club scene. Why would somebody come to something like this? And when they arrive, what do they see? Why? That's a great question. It's because people want connections. They want meaningful connections now, right? And the one thing we noticed is after COVID,

sort of that whole aspect of connection in the nightlife scene was gone. I was a big party guy. Like, I was a big nightlife guy. I would spend my weekends in the clubs. That was gone. I was a big party guy. I was a big nightlife guy. I would spend my weekends in the clubs. That was what I would do, travel the world, do all that. But I realized that there was a need for a space for people that don't want to drink, don't want to party no more. And there was nothing going on in that time frame from 11 to 3 p.m. And we just said why not give it a try and what

people could expect is think of like a like a farmers market mixed with a party as soon as you walk in there's coffee stations right there's artwork being done there's literally food shops, cookie stations, pastry stations, whatever you can imagine so what we want what we want for our audiences to walk in grab their drink then you head to the main floor where we curate an insane lineup of DJs, locally from Toronto, and you just party your day away. And the drink is what? Is there alcohol? I mean, it's called coffee party, so I assume there's coffee there. Yeah, so we have our own, it's actually funny, like we, from day one we started our own blend called house blend And so we use our coffee beans and create coffee drinks lattes, etc And yes, we do we have the option for people that want to indulge in espresso martinis

They can go indulge in espresso martinis, but we keep it centered around coffee Primarily, your website says no hangovers. No bad decisions. Just good coffee good beats and better mornings. You had an event this weekend. Yes. Tell me about the event. Oh, it was a dream come true. We had close to 4,000 people show up. 4,000 people? Yeah, 4,000 people at Stack Market and it was just mind-blowing. The weather was incredible. The energy of everyone was just insane to see everyone dancing with you know, with coffee and just it was the

most beautiful scene that you could imagine. And this is, I mean, Stack Market is a market that's not so far away from us, actually. It's an outdoor market. Yeah. And so all of these people, these 4,000 people are outside in the middle of the day. Yeah. It was from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. we did the event and it was at 10 a.m. you had probably over a couple thousand, I think over a thousand people.

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Rachel was talking a little bit about, um, what, you know what going into the club back in the day for her was like and why that didn't work for her anymore. Why did you want to start this? Why was a typical night in a club, which would not start at 10 o'clock in the morning, it probably wouldn't even start at 10 o'clock at night, why wasn't that working for you anymore? Because the need to take care of your body and the rise in wellness is so important. Before what I was doing was going out, partying until 3 a.m. and waking up at noon and not really

taking care of my health, focusing on fitness. I sort of went on this whole fitness journey, lost over 40 pounds. And with that, I realized that there was no space for people that just don't want to go out at night. I want to be up early in the morning, go to the gym, get my workout in, and be in bed by, you know, 9, 10 p.m. And I just seen that there was a lack of spaces for people that still want to go out and party and, you know, enjoy a sober day out. I was going to say, like, did you feel like,

without going out to those clubs, there was something that you would be missing? I mean, you're getting back your days and you're getting without going out to those clubs, there was something that you would be missing? I mean, you're getting back your days and you're getting back the opportunity to be fit, but was there something that you were missing, do you think? Connections, right? Meeting people, still socializing.

I think it's so important to still meet people, meet new people and just get yourself out there, talk to strangers, et cetera. And that was one thing I was noticing by not being in the club scene because that is where I met a lot of my friends, a lot of people I socialized with. And that was a big part to why we created the Coffee Party. And it's crazy because it turned into a global movement. We started this in November in 2024. And now it's been picked up by people across the world. And

it's insane to see what it's become. Rachel, does that sound familiar? That that, I mean, again, you get your life back by not being out until three, four o'clock in the morning, but that there's something that you were missing by not being in those clubs and that you had to try to figure out how to keep that there. Absolutely.

I think if you're a music fan, if you're a community fan, if you're a fan of friendship, the club spaces are important for that. It's important. And then when you feel like that's not available to you anymore for whatever reason, you've made different decisions about your health or your circumstances with parenting or shift work

or anything like that, when that's no longer working for you, it's a huge gap. The idea that that kind of connection over music wouldn't be available to me anymore as a parent or in this new phase of life. I mean, it's devastating if you're a fan of music and if you're a fan of collective experiences and bonding over something like that. I think that it is important that these spaces exist that can invite people into still having those times together and just making it look different. You know, we adapt and we change and we evolve and I think that that's what this, you know,

all of these movements are about is still making space for people no matter their circumstances and encouraging people that this connection over music does not need to just exist in that one particular format that we were used to. What do you love about dancing? Because it's not as though people come to these spaces, Rachel, and they're just standing around, right? The point of it is to be with other people,

but also the music is there, and you are meant to be out on the dance floor. What do you love about that? Well, I mean, I think that there's a lot to be said about somatic movement, moving to music naturally in a way that your body wants to express itself. I think that that's very therapeutic. I think it's very healing.

I think it's very bonding. I think it can be silly. It can be funny. It can be exciting. It can be, you know, you're sweating, you're exercising. I think really dancing is personal to whoever and I think if you can be in a space where there's less kind of pretentiousness or there's less kind of feeling that you're wanting to attract people or you're having to curate how you're moving your body or how you look

in a certain way. I think that that's really sad. I think it's important for us to be able to be expressive and just naturally exist with the music. And I think that at Home by Midnight we've created an environment where people feel incredibly at ease to express themselves as authentically as possible. Can you just talk a bit more about that in part because on your website you say we want to offer a hand particularly for populations who are excluded from the classic offerings of city-based nightlife. I mean this isn't just like you're not cool enough,

you don't get past the velvet rope. Who is excluded in a typical club do you think? I think if you're in a space where alcohol is kind of a huge contributing factor, a huge part of the culture of where you are, that can make it difficult if you're perhaps sober curious or if you are sober. I think even though we serve alcohol, the home by midnight culture is not entrenched

in being drunk, it's about being very aware of your environment and connected to who's around you. So I think it tackles that issue. I think there's also, we have a big queer community that participates in Home by Midnight and has done since the beginning seven years ago. I think that there's a lot of, there's some culture there that people feel they want to have more spaces that are not kind of just the traditional gay bars or gay clubs. And so that also answers a question there. And then also anybody who can't

be out late is excluded from traditional club nightlife, right? So it does apply to shift workers, parents, students, you know, anybody who is wanting to be more aware of where they need to be the next day. So, Haib, do you want to pick up on that just in terms of who's welcome at the events that you throw? Yeah, for our events, it's open to everyone, right? Like, we want to tap into the audience of people that just are over the VIP aspect of clubs. As I said, I come from that experience and I come from that background and I've seen how crazy it is where you divide the audience up based on who's spending more amount of money and right now with the economy

and what's going on financially, it doesn't just make sense for people to be spending two or three hundred dollars a night. So who's welcome at our parties is everyone. Our audience base is literally from 20 all the way up to their 50s and you see the crowd and it's just diverse. It's everyone that just wants to come out and have fun and over a nice cup of coffee and just listen to some insane DJs. Like for us, we focus a lot on the music aspect of it. And is that easier to do if it's in the middle of the day rather than late at night? Definitely. Like I think if you ask anyone, everyone loves day parties, right?

Even if it's an alcohol day party, day parties are the vibe because the sun's out and you're just, your energies are a lot more, right? You're socializing with people, you're vibing out. And we made sure from day one, any venue that we do our parties at, it has to have a sunlight coming in because it's a big factor to just making you happy and dance. You did an event that was associated with the Center for Addiction and Mental Health.

Yes. What was that? Yeah. So, they have an event called, sorry, the sunrise challenge and it focuses on mental health. And us being five men as the founders of the coffee party, we all experienced mental health and we advocate, we talk about it a lot.

It's a big part of my life as well, just in terms of just getting out and talking to people. And we just wanted to curate a nice experience and focus on the sunrise challenge and mental health awareness. And it was beautiful. This fits into what you were saying earlier about, I mean, as we get older, other priorities come up

and you realize that maybe your body's taken a beating because you were out late at night and consuming all sorts of things and that now the focus is more on wellness. The focus is on trying to figure out how to be better for yourself. This is connected with all of that, it seems like. Yeah, like a crazy part of our parties is, so we have an earlier activation called morning movements where we do a Pilates class, a HIIT workout, a yoga. So say if our party starts at 10 a.m. from nine to 10 a.m.,

we actually do a workout, a wellness-related workout to tie that into our brand because it's such a big part of all of us, right? And we just encourage everyone to realize that, listen, no shots that anyone enjoys on that life scene go to it, but we just realized that there was no space available for people that, you know, want to maybe go out in the morning, party a little, listen to music and be home and go on with the rest of their day.

Rachel, just last point on this. One of the things that happens as you get older is those spaces seem less welcoming to you, but you still want, and you hinted at this, you still want to go out and hear music and maybe dance. What would you say to somebody who says, I mean, that's fine, but that's for younger people. This is not for you as you get older. This is for some people in their 20s. Why should we push that to the side and still want to go and hear music and dance? I think that music and moving your body to music is completely ageless. There's no age limit on that.

And I think also, I mean, we sell out in two minutes online. Our parties sell out in two minutes consistently every month. And the span of demographics, age groups, just who is in that room. I mean, it is a diverse group of people. You could not look at that crowd and pigeonhole dancing or enjoying music with a community to only being for people in their 20s. I mean, that we've already proven the point in terms of that, literally just in terms of who comes out. I mean, we see it physically in front of us that it is not just for young people and that this idea that it's only for young people has not inhibited our clientele in any way, shape or form. I mean, I would say that the largest population that we cater to currently in our parties are

late thirties, early forties, groups of friends, couples, people who've just gone, you know, they grab a bite to eat at one of the restaurants around, wander over and then dance until it's time to go home and trade out with the babysitter. It's, we've seen it, you know, it's time to go home and trade out with the babysitter. We've seen it. It's not just for young people. That sounds very civilized. 4,000 people at your last event. So who's gonna, how big,

Soheb, are you aiming for the next one? The next one's actually gonna be smaller. So the last event that we just did, we did the first ever coffee party festival. And that's why we went a little big, just to give everyone a great experience. And the next one's gonna be July 19th at Rendezvous. It's gonna be a lot smaller, 1,500 people. But still, like it's, our community's grown so big. We started off with literally 200 people, and that was end of November.

And now we're doing 4,000 people. And the demand is there. Like there's a lot of people we had to turn away just because we were hitting our capacity. But let's see, sky's the limit, how big we can take this. This is so interesting. It's good to talk to you both about this. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Thank you. So hey, Baziz in Toronto, co-founder of The Coffee Party, Rachel Morris in Vancouver is the co-founder and managing director of Home By Midnight. You've been listening to The Current Podcast. My name is Matt Galloway. Thanks for listening.

I'll talk to you soon. For more CBC podcasts, go to cbc.ca slash podcasts.