We run down the Best of the off-Hill happenings
If fighting through crowds on Parliament Hill isn’t your ideal July 1 activity, you’re in luck. This newspaper has prepared a dawn-to-dusk guide to Canada Day in the capital, featuring classic events and quirky finds off the thoroughly beaten Wellington Street path.
No matter where you’re spending the day, it’s always a good idea to bring plenty of water, plan to walk, bike or take public transit, and carry a modest amount of cash for those venues where debit or credit aren’t accepted.
7:30 A.M.
Shuttle and Hike: Start the day enjoying the great Canadian outdoors, if you’re into that. OutdoorNow has organized roundtrip transportation and Gatineau Park hikes (one at 7:30 a.m. and one at 12:30 p.m.). Tickets are available on the OutdoorNow website (outdoornow.ca). You can also visit and explore the park on your own, of course.
9 A.M.
Free admission at Ottawa museums: The Canadian Aviation and Space Museum, Science and Technology Museum, Agriculture and Food Museum and the Diefenbunker, to name a few, are hosting special activities as well as regular programming, free of charge (there may be some exceptions) throughout Canada Day. Times vary, so check the museum websites for details.
10 A.M.
Ottawa Welcomes the World: Other nations are taking part in the Canada Day action by way of a cultural festival at the Horticultural Building at Lansdowne Park. The event runs from Sunday to Tuesday, 10 a.m.-8 p.m., and the countries sharing their cuisine, music and dance on July 1 include Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia and Peru. Tickets available online or at the door.
FREE ICE CREAM: Galen Weston is making it rain ice cream and yogurt. Grab one for free, thanks to President’s Choice, on the Plaza Bridge over the Rideau Canal from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
11 A.M.
Family Free-Play Arcade: House of Targ is welcoming kids of all ages to play its 25 classic arcade video games for free from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Bring quarters and loonies if you want to use the pinball machines. You can also enjoy brunch, perogies and craft beer.
Dominion Day: Dominion City Brewing Co. is hosting what they oh-so-enticingly bill as a “very good party” with “very good beer” at the Agriculture and Food Museum from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Expect live music, food from local favourites like Seed to Sausage and Moo Shu Ice Cream, “Great Canadian Trivia,” a keg garden, and four new Dominion City releases brewed just for this event, including Ciudad Paloma Sour and Consensus IPA. Tickets available at the door or online at dominioncity.ca.
NOON
SPAO Canadiana Exhibition: It’s your last chance to take in the School of the Photographic Arts Centre’s “Canadiana” exhibition. Guest curator Johanna Mizgala explains: “The photographers in this exhibition have each turned their attention to the land as a site of interaction, of conflict or of contemplation.” Open from noon to 5 p.m. at 77 Pamilla St., the exhibition ends Sunday.
1P.M.
Cirque du Soleil’s Corteo: If you don’t suffer from coulrophobia (a fear of clowns), you can beat the downtown crowds and drive out to the Canadian Tire Centre for a Cirque show based on a clown’s funeral-carnival. Rather than frightening, it’s supposed to be whimsical. Tickets available for 1 p.m.and 5 p.m. showtimes.
Canada Day at the OAG: Take a tour through the new Ottawa Art Gallery, in English or French, at 1 p.m., 2 p.m., and 3 p.m. It’ll include highlights from the Àdisòkàmagan / Nous connaître un peu nous-mêmes / We’ll all become stories exhibition, which showcases 6,500 years of art in the Ottawa- Gatineau region. The OAG is hosting more free activities throughout the day.
4P.M.
Great Canadian Beard and Moustache Championship: The Ottawa Facial Hair Club is hosting its fourth-annual beard and moustache competition at Rainbow Bistro. Registration starts at 4 p.m. and costs $15, and the competition runs from 6 p.m. until 10 p.m. Categories include beards over and under eight inches, best moustache and best fake beard.
9P.M.
Le grand cru outdoor cinema
and wine festival: Oenophiles and cinephiles, rejoice. Take in Oscar-winning animated film The Red Turtle while sipping on wine selected by worldrenowned sommelier Véronique Rivest of Soif wine bar. Bring your own chair to 80 Rue Hanson in Gatineau. Admission is free, but have cash for the bar.
10 P.M.
Fireworks: If you’re in the mood for one Canada Day mainstay, this is it. Take in the official 15-minute fireworks show launched from Nepean Point, behind the National Gallery. The soundtrack, if you’re close enough to hear it, is all Canadian.
10:30 P.M.
Jazz after dark: Cory Henry & the Funk Apostles are closing out Ottawa Jazzfest 2018 at Confederation Park. According to Henry’s Jazzfest bio, “He and the band whip up an intoxicating blend of blues, soul, R&B, Afrobeat, gospel, and jazz, blurring genres at every turn.”