The Canadian Tulip Festival may go on without the guest of honour. Tulips along the Queen Elizabeth Drive and Dow’s Lake are already in bloom due to Ottawa’s recent warm weather spell. The festival, which runs May 7th to the 24th, may have to focus its attention on speakers and music because the flowers may be dead by then… Get your bike/rollerblades/running shoes/camera out to see them before they die… and show the tourists what they missed.

Happy Earth Day! If you want your weekend to be as eco-friendly as possible, be sure to check out our Earth Day event listings. Continuing with a bit of a green theme, Plants and Animals will be down at Babylon, and Springfest continues in all of its glory. And if you’re the starry-eyed sort, there are two events up your alley: International Astronomy Day and a free star party on Saturday. There’s a pretty interesting mash-up of events occuring over this last April weekend. We’ve got a German film festival,... | Continue reading article

Pizza? In a cone? Am I dreaming? Help wanted ads have been spotted in Used Ottawa and Kijiji for a new pizza joint to be called Ombrellina’s Pizza. They also have a very unhelpful and slightly odd website. The store is allegedly going up at 527 Bronson and will specialize in the pizza cone, a delicacy recently featured in the ‘this is why you’re fat’ website. The Pizzacone joins House of Georgie’s Gravy pizzas in the list of locally available variations on the classic pie. The origins of this stroke... | Continue reading article

Last Wednesday, CTV reported that the City of Ottawa ended its fiscal year with a $17.4 million deficit. The difficult economic times meant that investments were down by almost $8 million while planning fee revenues dropped by more than $3 million. What should be done with the boarded up houses along King Edward St.? This is the difficult question that the Ottawa Citizen’s Hugh Adami tackles. With a $50 million reconstruction of King Edward completed, you’d think that the area deserves better. However the landlord for the buildings is unwilling... | Continue reading article

I am feeling terribly guilty about not having posted about this sooner, but better late than never! Evan Thornton, good friend of Apartment613 and editor of Spacing Ottawa, is hosting this season’s final Salon Evening at Cube tonight. Tickets are $20 and the doors open at 7:30. This is an opportunity to see the talents of Jonathan Koensgen, John Carroll and Kel Parsons. I have yet to visit the new cube location, but I’ve heard good things. If the rain is keeping you inside, sit back with your laptop and... | Continue reading article

Last week, the CBC posted this short article on Chinatown’s new gate along with this picture of what the structure will look like. Construction on the monument will begin this Monday. According to the article, Ottawa’s arch will be especially kick ass since, due to our status as a capital city, we get an extra fancy royal arch (take that Vancouver). Known as Paifang in mandarin, these wood or stone arches are said to have originated from the torana temple-gate in ancient India. They were originally used during the Tang... | Continue reading article

By long-time Ottawan Samantha Everts, who ended up out west for love but quickly came back to the city she truly adores. It’s that time of year again!  Yes, friends, April 22-27 is the time when dozens of brilliant writers crawl out of their offices and studies into the spotlight to answer their dear readers’ questions and offer insight into the writing life. The 13th annual Ottawa International Writers Festival promises to offer up a wide range of subjects, including fiction, non-fiction, film screenings (Naked Lunch, anyone?) and poetry, from... | Continue reading article

Good food, ruthless competition, prizes…is there anything The Cook Off doesn’t have? If you said sexy people taking off their clothes, you’d be wrong: they’ve got that too. Next Tuesday, April 20th, Babylon will be the scene of a not-to-be-missed fundraiser for the Ottawa Food Bank. Eight hardened foodies will face off in a fight to the death (or at least indigestion), competing against each other in four culinary categories. While admission is free $4, a tasting plate with two servings – one from both of the competitors in any... | Continue reading article

UPDATE: Sparks St. Trailblazer! Official store hours newly posted are 6:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.! And it’s open weekends from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Wow. PMO staffers are now able to get a cup of organic coffee instead of Conservative staple Tim Hortons in their own backyard. Bridgehead opened a new location on Monday on Sparks and Metcalfe. The new store is open from 6:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. 9 p.m.! For those looking for the populist brew, Tim Hortons will re-open at the former Shoppers Drug Mart a... | Continue reading article