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

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We have arrived at the last weekend of February and the spring vibes are getting closer every day! Are you looking forward to spring?? Or would you like to extend the ski season?? Have a look at what’s happening this weekend in Ottawa!

A special thanks!

Hey friends! Thanks to all of you Ottawa Is Not Boring won the Faces Magazine award for Best Blog!! It’s the best news I’ve received in a long time! Thanks so much for your votes and support! This recognition hugely inspires me to keep doing my best in offering you information about cool events and activities and all that makes Ottawa a great city to live in.

1. Art Battle Ottawa

Enjoy a night of live competitive painting and DJ music. This time it’s a special edition called Capital Collaboration! This consists of two artists sharing a canvas. The public chooses the winner and can bid in a silent auction to take the work home. Tickets: from $23
When: Friday Feb 24 at 8pm
Where: Arts Court, #240 2 Daly Ave.
Details: @artbattleottawa

2. Korean Contemporary Dance Performance

Featuring Velocity, a performance composed by 9 male dancers and 3 traditional musicians who interpret various motions and speeds with the human body. FREE but registration is required.
When: Friday Feb 24 at 7:30pm
Where: Babs Asper Theatre, National Arts Centre, 1 Elgin St.
Details: https://canada.korean-culture.org/en/1253/board/594/read/120393

3. African Day Gala

Enjoy traditional performances, music, poetry, authentic African cuisine, and a signature fashion show. Wear a traditional dress to represent your African heritage. Sponsored by Conseil des Ecole Catholiques du Centre-Est and organized by the African Canadian Association Ottawa. FREE but registration is required.
When: Saturday Feb 25 from 6pm to 10pm
Where: OCAC Multipurpose Hall, 18 Eccles St.
Details: @aca.ottawa

4. 67’s games

Cheer the Ottawa 67’s junior hockey team in their battle against the Windsor Spitfires: Friday Feb 24 at 7pm.
Mississauga Steelheads: Saturday Feb 25 at 7pm.
Where: At TD Place, 1015 Bank St.
Tickets from $15.

5. Wheelers pancake house, sugar camps and museum

Enjoy a meal, tour the Maple Heritage Museum and Forest & Farm Museum, stroll around the sugar camp, do some hiking/snowshoeing/cross country skiing on the nature trails, and buy delicious organic maple syrup. Walk-in but registration is recommended.
When: Saturday and Sunday from 9am to 3pm
Where: 1001 Highland Line, McDonalds Corners (Lanark Highlands).
Details: wheelersmaple.com or @wheelersmaple

6. 613 Flea

Shop handmade, antiques, vintage clothing, great foods and one-of-a-kinds! FREE. Saturday Feb 25 from 10am to 4pm. Where: Aberdeen Pavilion. Lansdowne.

7. Guided snowshoeing at Pinhey’s Point Historic Site

A magical snowshoeing tour under the stars. Learn about this historical place and how the Pinhey family and other early settlers experienced winters. Friday Feb 24 from 7pm to 9pm. At 270 Pinhey’s Point Road, Dunrobin. $15.25 per person.

8. 80s and 90s Dance Party at Lago on Dow’s Lake

An awesome video dance party with your favorite tunes from the 80s and 90s. Prizes for best dressed and best dancer. Saturday Feb 25 at 9pm. At Lago, 1001 Queen Elizabeth Drive. Tickets: $10.

9. Sin City Illusions: An evening of Magic and Mystery

Enjoy an evening of magic for all ages and collaborate with raising funds for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and Diabetes Canada. Tickets: $24, $29, $40. Friday Feb 24 at 8pm. At Shenkman Arts Centre, 245 Centrum Boulevard, Orleans.

10. East African Rhythms

Celebrate Black History Month with a DJ dance party. Proceedings will be donated to the Mathare River Rehabilitation Project in Nairobi, Kenya. Tickets: $15, $20. Saturday Feb 25 from 9pm to 2am. At Queen St Fare, 170 Queen St. Details: @matharecommunity on Instagram

11. Latin Sound Machine Live

Dinner and show by the hottest musicians around. Saturday Feb 25 at 9pm. Dinner & show: $48; show only: $20. At ristorante Marzitelli, 360 Elgin St.

12. Beyoutiful Women Expo

Beauty, health, shopping, paint night style sessions and more. Tickets: $5, $10. Sunday Feb 26 from 10am to 4pm at Shenkman Arts Centre, 245 Centrum Boulevard, Orleans.

13. The Big Heart Challenge Activity Day

Lining 2km of Wellington St. West are games, activities, obstacles, and challenge stations. All ages. Have fun while raising money for Ottawa Heart Institute. Saturday 25 from 11am to 2pm. FREE. Donations are encouraged. Details: @wellington_west on Instagram.

14. Savage Streets

Wrestling Show this Friday Feb 24 at the Preston Event Centre. Tickets $30-$40. Address: 523 St Anthony St. Details: C*4 Capital City Championship Combat on Facebook.

15. Arboretum Hill Club Snowshoeing Workout

Join the AHC for a snowshoeing workout at the Arboretum. All ages, all levels. Friday Feb 24 at 6:29 am. FREE. Dogs welcome. Lots of free parking. Meet them at Fletcher Wildlife Garden parking lot (entrance is 100m south of Prince of Wales roundabout).

16. Farmers’ Winter Market

The Farmers’ market is back for the winter season every Sunday until April 30. Fresh vegetables and fruit, meat, baked goods, spirits, crafts and more. FREE.
When: Sundays from 10am to 3pm.
Where: Aberdeen Pavilion, Lansdowne Park. 1000 Exhibition Way.

17. Ice skating at the Rink of Dreams

Grab your skates and head to the most popular ice-skating rink in Ottawa for some winter fun! FREE. You can rent skates there!
When: Everyday from 9am to 11pm
Where: 110 Laurier Ave West.

18. Public Skating at Rideau Hall

The historic skating rink at Rideau Hall, which dates back 1872, will be open to the public every weekend until March 5. FREE. No reservation required. No parking. Parking allowed on adjacent streets.
When: Saturdays and Sundays from noon to 5pm. (weather permitting). Details: gg.ca

19. Owl Rendez-Vous

Watch live owls in a special outdoor exhibition. At the Canadian Museum of Nature, 240 McLeod St, from Dec 14 to April 3, 2024.

20. Exhibition: Uramado AR, the awakening of the Tanukis

Uramado is a treasure hunt route in augmented reality. It tells the story of Tanukis which are spirits of the forest from Japanese mythology. The participants are invited to download the free app Uramado AR, Tanukis awake ( on IOS and Android ) to start this treasure hunt. FREE.
When: Mon to Fri from 9am to 12pm; and 2pm-4pm until April 30.
Where: Alliance Française Ottawa, 352 MacLaren St.

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?

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