It's not everyday that Torontonians are treated to the sight of two cops dancing a tango on McCaul, or a waddle of inflatable penguins congregating at a public pool.

But from 7:01 p.m. Saturday until 7 a.m. Sunday, the two exhibits were among the 130 on display as part of Toronto's first-ever Nuit Blanche -- an all-night art celebration that originated in Paris four years ago.

Far surpassing organizers' expectations, up to 425,000 people took in the sights, which varied from the absurd to the beautiful.

Mayor David Miller called it "an extraordinary night" for the city as he waded through a haunting fog installation -- titled "Fog In Toronto #71624" -- by Japanese artist Fujiko Nakaya on Philosopher's Walk near the U of T.

Chemical-free fog machines and high-beams in yellow and purple made people appear as ghostly figures moving through the trees along the walkway.

Nuit Blanche was a mix of established and up-and-coming artists with exhibits spanning east from Parliament Street to west past Dufferin, and from the south past Front Street to north past Bloor.

Outside the Ontario College of Art and Design (OCAD), a crowd lounged on pillows and watched people play with over-sized chess pieces, while the Bantam AAA Art Team took on any competitor for a marble tournament at Grange Park.

Multi-talented theatre artist Darren O'Donnell held an all-ages dance party helmed by a team of 10-year-old DJs at the University Settlement House on Grange Rd. Participants danced and threw some of the hundreds of multi-coloured rubber balls that filled the room at each other. For adults that needed a nap break, beds were provided.

At the nearby Harrison Baths and Swimming Pool, artists John Greyson and David Wall explored the lives of gay penguins in a video operetta called "Roy & Silo's Gay Divorce."

On Queen St. West, artist Nichola Feldman-Kiss held a public sleeping performance inside a glass case. Speedos were thankfully a rare sight, meanwhile, for the late-night swim at the nearby Trinity Community Recreation Centre which was transformed into a Roman bath and nightclub.

But there was serious subject matter as well mixed with the humorous and ridiculous.

A documentary about prostitutes and transvestites shot on a handheld recorder in Cuba was shown at the Royal Ontario Museum.

On Queen Street between Dufferin and Dovercourt, 300-pound blocks of ice inscribed with letters spelling out Stonechild gradually melted overnight. The exhibit was an elegy to Neil Stonechild, the Native teenager who was found frozen to death in Saskatoon after being in police custody.

Toronto's Director of Special Events Jaye Robinson said she has never experienced such an event in the city, while members the arts community not used to such exposure marveled at the number of people that turned out.

"I think it's the greatest thing ever to hit Toronto as far as the arts are concerned," 50-year old artist Alan Rutherford told The Globe and Mail.

While Robinson, who said the event took a year to plan, wouldn't commit to a repeat for 2007, Mayor Miller exclaimed: "There has to be another."

"We have to build on this."