Welcome back to another weekend in our glorious, colourful city! After a short work week, I hope you’ve all come out of your turkey comas, ready to enjoy what the 613 has to offer. It’s the perfect time of year for cozy layers, sunny walks, fall-flavoured goodies and some spookiness! You know it’s really and truly fall when the hockey seasons start back up and we consider bringing mitts to the haunted wagon rides!
All Weekend
The Fresh Meat Theatre Festival is back in person for its 11th season, opening this Thursday and running until October 22 at Arts Court Studio. There are four shows playing this weekend by some of the region’s most interesting and compelling new theatre voices. Tickets are $25 in person at the door, but Thursday evenings are Pay What You Can. Stick around Saturday night for the karaoke afterparty. They are asking for proof of vaccination and masks.
Thanksgiving is still happening at the Ottawa Public Library. For the month of October (just in time to stock up on cozy reads) if you have a library card, and bring in a friend (parent, sibling, coworker, neighbour) to sign up for one themselves, you can get a free gift from the OPL! They have also recently extended their hours to include Sundays at most branches, so there is no time better than this weekend to try out your new card! The library is a great resource of e-books, periodicals, free streaming services, and so many great audio and video collections!
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It is spooky season after all, so you know we’re going to share the best and most exciting spooky activities! Saunders Farm is celebrating 31 years of haunting, with family-friendly pumpkin days and evening FrightFest at the farm in Munster. The Drive-In Experience at Wesley Clover is bringing back drive-through terror as well, with Deadwood opening this weekend. You don’t have to drive out of town to be scared, though, since the Sawmill Haunt is at Lansdowne.
This is the second weekend of the Festival of Small Halls, taking place in cozy venues across Eastern Ontario. You can check out the likes of Ashley MacIsaac, the Barra MacNeils, and Kellie Loder in person for $40. Showtimes vary, but this is the perfect excuse to take a drive around the country, admire the leaves, and take in some culture.
The NCC’s Fall Rhapsody continues this weekend with a free shuttle between downtown Ottawa and the leaves in Gatineau Park. Catch it, or make your own way there via active transportation, taking advantage of the closed parkways throughout the Park.
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Thursday
The National Gallery of Canada and the Canada Council for the Arts are opening the Governor General’s Awards in Visual and Media Arts exhibition on Thursday, featuring works from this year’s GGArts winners. Be among the first to discover the works of the nine Canadian winners being recognized this year for their remarkable careers in the visual and media arts. The festivities will be in English with French interpretation, and it is free to attend. This is a hybrid event, so you can attend at the Gallery or watch the live broadcast from the comfort of home via Zoom, starting at 5:30pm. In-person attendance is limited, so be sure to register ahead of time.
Friday
Friday is your second chance to vote early in the upcoming municipal election! Advance polls are open from 10am to 8pm at various polling stations across the city. Check the City of Ottawa website for information on polling, voter registration, and candidates. With recent issues like the convoy occupation, ongoing LRT headaches, rent increases, and the great Bike Lane Debates, municipal politics have become a growing concern for so many of us. Take your time to research the candidates, and vote wisely!
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The Ottawa Redblacks are in town this Friday, taking on the Montreal Alouettes in their Oktoberfest game. Kickoff is at 7pm, but get there early to enjoy the live music and small-batch brews from Mill Street Brewery. Tickets start at $25, and there are still plenty available. There are only two games left in the season, so if you have been putting off watching our boys in red and black plaid, take advantage of the decent weather this weekend to see them!
Every Friday and Saturday in October and November you can experience the Stittsville Haunted Heritage Tours. Tickets for the 90-minute walking tour are $22.04 online, and are selling quickly! There are two tours each evening, and this weekend there is also the option for a tarot card reading in one of the haunted houses the after the tour circuit! See Stittsville like you have never seen it before!
Self-described “heavy psych” band King Buffalo takes the stage on Friday at 8pm at SAW Gallery in support of their new album Regenerator. Atsuko Chiba will open for the New York based band, and tickets are still available online for $22. You can expect “modern psychedelic songcraft, melding progressive rhythms, drifting atmospheres and accompanying surges of electricity”, if that tickles your fancy!
Saturday
The Billings Estate National Historic Site is offering their spooky Historic Cemetery Tour again this fall! Every Friday and Saturday at dusk, experience a unique guided tour of the grounds and the Settler’s Cemetery. Hear true tales of death, burial, and disease from 19th-century Bytown and Gloucester Township. This one-hour tour will take you beyond the walls of a typical visit to the museum to explore one of the region’s oldest community cemeteries as night approaches. Not to mention the Tombstone Garage and the Ice House basement (yikes!). Tickets are $15.25 per person, available online.
Iron Maiden is playing at the Canadian Tire Centre Saturday night, and you could be there! Tickets are still available for the show, beginning at around $70 for the upper bowl! Take advantage of this opportunity to see one of the biggest rock bands of all time on their Legacy of the Beast World Tour.
Hot Brown Honey, opening this week at the NAC, seems to defy definition. It is both a cabaret and a theatrical piece, while also bringing together World First Nations women to tell a sharp story. Part of the Indigenous Arts programming at the NAC, this highly anticipated show runs from Wednesday to Saturday in the Babs Asper Theatre. Tickets are still available online starting at $29 for this re-imagining of the classic show.
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Sunday
Already missing your garden space? This Sunday, find out how you can start composting to build up beautiful soil for next spring’s planting! The Ottawa Tool Library (OTL) is hosting an event where you can Build a Worm Studio & Learn All About Vermicomposting from 10am–2pm. During the workshop, you will learn the basics of vermicomposting and will build your own worm studio using cedar wood, with assistance from the experts at The Box of Life. Tickets include all materials and instructions, and begin at $184 for OTL members. Proof of vaccination and masks are required.
The Ottawa 67s season has started, and the boys are home this weekend, playing the Guelph Storm on Sunday afternoon at 2pm. General admission tickets begin at $20, and good seats can cost up to $35, but the game is selling out fast! Take in a good Lansdowne Park brunch, followed by the hockey game and an early Sunday night in!
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