14 events you won’t want to miss this weekend in Ottawa

Posted bycardensal20Posted incanada, canadians, events, fall, immigrants, newcomers, ottawa, tourismTags:, , , , , , ,

Fall is at its peak so are the many events and fall activities that Ottawa has for you! Don’t miss the chance to enjoy the outdoors and participate in fall themed events!

Let’s have a look at what we have this weekend!

News!

If you want to receive information about events in Ottawa directly to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletter of events (orange square below).

1. Poutinefest on Sparks Street

Ten food trucks and 6 restaurants will delight customers with their tasty creations of poutine. Live music during the 4 days of the event from Oct 13 to 16. Thursday to Saturday from 11am to 10pm, and Sunday until 7pm. FREE. Check out: sparkslive.com.

2. Byward Oktoberfest

Dance, music, food, and crafted beers from Ottawa’s breweries. Tickets from 13.13 dollars. Oct 14 and 15 at York Street. Check out: bywardoktoberfest.com

3. Canadian Museum of Nature Open House.

Less than 1% of all the museum’s collection is exhibited at the museum in Ottawa. Watch the other 99% housed in an area that is the equivalent to 5 hockey rinks! Oct 15 from 10am to 4pm at 1740 Pink Road, Gatineau (Aylmer sector), Quebec. Reserve your free ticket in advance. Details here: nature.ca

Picture: nature.ca

4. Fresh Meat Festival

Independent Theater Festival. Shows will run from Oct 13 to Oct 22 at Arts Court Studio. Tickets cost 25 dollars but Thursday 13 and 20 is “pay what you can.” Address: 2 Daly Ave. Floor 2. Check out: freshmeatfest.com

5. 613 Flea

Shop from 140 vendors at Lansdowne Aberdeen Pavilion on Oct 15 from 10am to 4pm. FREE admission.

6. Latin American Festival at UOttawa

Feel Latin American culture, and enjoy its food, music, dance and products. Where: At the university square, 136 University Private. Oct 16 from 11am to 3pm. FREE.

7. Indigenous Arts Marketplace

Over 70 first nations vendors will showcase their art, handmade products, and performances such as throat singing. Where: At Saint Laurent Shopping Centre. 1200 St Laurent Boulevard. Oct 15-16 from 10am. FREE. Details: stlaurentshoppingcentre.com

8. One World Bazaar

An old barn has been converted into an international marketplace with goods from all over the globe. It runs every weekend until November 11th. Where: 6110 Mitch Owens Rd. Manotick. Oct 13-16. FREE. Check out: oneworldbazaar.ca

9. The Sawmill 2 Haunted experience.

An underground haunted experience. October 7 to 31. At Lansdowne park. Tickets from 28 dollars. Not recommended for children under 12.

10. Ottawa Redblacks vs Montreal Alouettes.

Football game at TD Place on Oct 14. Join the Oktoberfest party at 7pm.

11. A Musical Harvest

A scholarship fundraising gala concert in support of music education in Ottawa. Oct 15 at 7:30pm. Tickets from 16.93 dollars. At Woodroffe United Church, 207 Woodroffe Avenue.

12. The 2022 Fall Colours trail run/hike

Come for some outdoor fun at Gatineau Park and celebrate fall with an easy paced 21K run/hike. All ages, all paces. Where: At P17 Rte Principale E, Les Collines-de-l’Outaouais Regional County Municipality, Quebec. Oct 16 at 9am. FREE. Details: eventbrite.com

13. Ottawa 67’s vs Guelph Storm

Game of the Canadian Hockey League. Oct 16 at 2pm. Tickets from 25 dollars. Where: TD Place Arena.

14. Rendez-vous Ikebana

Enjoy beautiful Japanese flower arrangements at the Japanese Embassy on Oct 15 (10:30am-4pm) and 16 (10:30am-3pm). Where: 255 Sussex Drive. FREE.

More fall activities

Apple picking

During this time of the year one very popular activity is going apple picking at the orchards near or around Ottawa. This is something very cool that I experienced for the first time when I moved to Ottawa.

The idea is to go with your family or friends to an orchard and pick the apples right from the trees. Then you pay for the total weight of apples you picked. It’s so fun! These orchards usually have other attractions like corn mazes, wagon rides, and petting farms.

Some of the most well known apple orchards are:

  • Log Cabin Orchard: 6121 Cabin Rd. Osgoode, ON.
  • Mountain Orchards: 10175 Clark Rd. Kemptville, ON
  • Cannamore Orchard: 1480 County Road 32, Embrun, ON.

Pumpkin patches and Halloween attractions

Going to pick up pumpkins is also one of those fall activities you shouldn’t miss. Moreover, there is usually some kind of Halloween-related entertainment.

You can visit:

Saunders Farm featuring its Pumpkin Days and FrightFest with lots of haunted attractions. Address: 7893 Bleeks Road, Ottawa. From 48 dollars (FrightFest) and 27 dollars (Pumpkin days).

Upper Canada Village “Pumpkinferno”. An amazing outdoor show of thousands of glowing pumpkins. Address: 13740 County Rd 2 Morrisburg ON. $20.

Haunted walks

One traditional activity during fall and close to Halloween is to go on haunted walks. There are some of these tours in Ottawa and in the nearby towns.

The Haunted Walk: the most popular one in the capital. They have various haunted tours in the city and beyond. Adult ticket from 24.99 CAD. Check out @hauntedwalk on Instagram.

Stittsville Haunted Heritage Tours: Fridays and Saturdays two tours per day until November 5th. From 22.04 CAD. https://www.facebook.com/HauntedToursOttawa

Pontiac Haunted Tour: Every Tuesday night from 6pm to 10pm. Pick up point in Ottawa and Gatineau. Includes pye, cider and unlimited snacks. 85 CAD. Check out @aventure_outaouais on Instagram.

Enjoy!!

Follow me on Instagram @ottawaisnotboring

Five years living in Ottawa and still finding new spots I've never heard about before! I wouldn't imagine that in the middle of the Vanier neighborhood there would be a park with a Sugar shack there and where Maple syrup is produced. Sugar Shacks are usually found on the outskirts of the city or in the countryside. So, they say that makes the Vanier Sugar Shack the only one in North America located in the middle of a city. So worth a visit! And this weekend is the perfect occasion because they are running their Sugar Festival with lots of activities for the visitors. First, they will be offering Sugar Shack meals, you know, the classic scrambled eggs, sausages, pancakes and maple beans, and Maple Taffy, (the sweet made right on the snow). There will be a First Nations area, axe throwing, a lumberjack competition, indoor playing for toddlers, inflatable games, a mini petting farm, pony rides, sled dogs, beer tasting and musical performances. Have an awesome weekend!! The spring vibe invites us to go out and enjoy the longer days. If you don't know what to do this weekend yet, check out this list of events and share it with your friends. If you know about other events happening this weekend, feel free to share them in comments. 😊 How refreshing it is to take a stroll around downtown and Parliament Hill! I don't know if it's just me but I love it!! 😍 I love the architecture of those amazing Parliament buildings. I love to see the Peace Tower framed against the blue sky on a sunny day!! And I love to see people, probably tourists, at the Centennial flame taking pictures or throwing coins into the fountain. I feel their enthusiasm and I feel like a tourist or a newcomer, even though I've been living in Ottawa for 5 years. 😄 If you are a newcomer to Ottawa, or to the eastern part of Canada, you may want to experience the spring tradition of the Sugar Shack. The Sugar Shack season happens usually between March and April when the Maple tree sap begins to rise. It's the start of Maple syrup production. The Maple farms open their doors to visitors and offer delicious meals where the star is the Maple syrup. These meals usually are pancakes, 🥞 scrambled eggs, sausage, potatoes wedges, and baked beans. Then you can enjoy Maple taffy on the snow, go on wagon rides, visit the petting farm, and of course visit the shacks where Maple syrup is made. My family and I went today to Stanley's Olde Maple Lane Farm, and we had a great time! We loved the food, and my daughters enjoyed watching the animals at the farm: cows and their newborns, horses, chickens, ducks, turkeys, peacocks, pigs, and goats - so many animals! The wagon ride around the farm was nice too. ☺️ We are in that part of the year where it's not winter but it doesn't look like spring yet, and we can even have some surprises like the snowfall that has been forecast for today. The winter sports season is almost over, the snow is melting, the brownish dead grass is visible, it's muddy, and it rains a lot. It's the ugly first part of spring. 😏 The bad news is that it usually lasts a whole month in Ottawa, from the end of March to the end of April. 🙄 The time passes very slowly this time of the year, or it seems to when one is impatient to see colours!! At least I saw a Robin yesterday. Canadians know that this bird appears in spring. That's the first signal, a sign of hope! But so far, that has been the only one for me. What spring signals have you got? Birds chirping? Tree buds? Wildflowers maybe? None? 🤔 If you're a newcomer, you might have heard that spending summer weekends in a cottage by a lake is for many people a big part of the Canadian lifestyle. My family and I tried that our second summer in Ottawa and it was amazing!! We loved it!! ❤ But what we hadn't tried before was going to a cottage in the winter until last weekend. Definitely it had a different vibe but was equally awesome and enjoyable!! ☺️ We have arrived at the last weekend of March and the first one of spring! 😃 Do you feel your moods are changing? Do you feel like going out? Check out this list of events and share it with your friends! EXPECTATIONS VS REALITY: We'll have to wait a bit longer for the spring colours to arrive in Canada. 🙁 But the worst has already passed! We're almost there, hold on! Did you really think that by the end of March winter was going to finally end? 😁 Tomorrow March 20, spring officially starts. Just the thought of this makes me so happy! 😃☺️ However, the reality is that it will be another month or so before we start seeing the spring colours, trees budding, and flowers start to bloom. What? Did you think that spring started at the end of March?? No way!! This is Canada, my friends! Canada's weather doesn't necessarily follow any official calendar. Sorry to disappoint you. 🙁 It's totally different here. So, if it follows what I have seen the last 5 years in Ottawa, we'll see one last snowfall in April. But you know, spring is in the air no matter what, even as we still see snow everywhere. Probably you are going to hear birds singing one of these mornings and your heart will feel joyous! 💗 That's the magic of spring! You feel it in the soul! I'd never experienced this in my country. It's a gift Canada has given me, and I love it! 😍 Welcome spring!! 🌸💐🏵🌺 We were waiting for you so badly!! If you are a newcomer and you have experienced your first winter in Ottawa or Canada, how are you feeling about spring? Are you impatient? Are you feeling the change in your moods?

Leave a Reply

%d bloggers like this: