It finally feels like we’ve turned a corner on all that April rain and will see the May flowers now! Enjoy this beautiful spring in our fab capital with some of our suggestions below!
All weekend
Check out what’s playing at Ottawa’s independent cinemas this weekend.
The Ottawa Children’s Festival is on May 10 through 14 at Lebreton Flats.
Get your gardening on (or a gift for mom?) at one of these plant sales: Orleans Fruit Farm, Ferme BeetBox Farm, Friends of the Farm Annual Sale, Petals and Paws with the Ottawa Humane Society, or the KCCRC plant sale.
It’s opening weekend for the outdoor market season in the ByWard Market.
The Tulip Festival kicks off this weekend! There’s plenty to see and do for all ages.
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Thursday
Christine Fitzgerald‘s Requiem will be opening Thursday, May 9 at City Hall’s Karsh-Masson Gallery, and running until July 21. Christine is the 2023 Karsh Award Laureate. Requiem features fascinating photographs of natural history specimens by Christine Fitzgerald through which the pleasures of looking and the experience of wonder are again present. Note that access is limited to the Laurier Avenue entrance.
Join Octopus Books for a double-barrel Ottawa-themed crime-thriller book release event! Acclaimed mystery writer Brenda Chapman presents the third instalment of her Hunter and Tate mystery series, Fatal Harvest, while John Delacourt launches his fourth novel, the political thriller The Black State. Meet the writers in conversation and discover exciting new fiction by local authors.
The Ottawa Tool Library is holding a bike maintenance workshop where you can learn the basics of tuning up your bike and maintaining it for fun riding.
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Friday
Creative Continuum conference, hosted by Arts Network Ottawa, takes place on May 10 and will explore topics like climate action, place-making, and creative entrepreneurship that bring together community, artists, and change-makers in Ottawa to participate in vital discussions. The event will be hosted at the Rideau Rockcliffe Community Resource Centre. A portion of conference ticket sales will go to the Rideau Rockcliffe Food Bank.
Art Battle Ottawa is an international organization hosting art battles worldwide and they will be in Ottawa at Overflow Brewing. The event features Ottawa-based artists and bills itself as “Good music, great company, and teams of artists stepping up to the easel and putting their skills to the test in three fast-paced rounds. Watch the creative process unfold before your eyes and help vote for the winner; it’s a sizzling experience of creation and community!”
Catch the opening of Oh Crap! at the Canada Science and Technology Museum. It’s a surprising exhibition that will take visitors on an unexpected journey into the environmental and social issues surrounding human waste.
Seventeen Voyces Chamber Choir, Ottawa’s premier chamber choir, will be performing a concert at St. Francis of Assisi Church that will feature works by Hungarian composers.
Join the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada for their May Star Party—where astronomers set up telescopes of all sizes for you to gaze out into the unknown. With the rain date Saturday, stay tuned to the Facebook event for updates.
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Saturday
613flea is on in Aberdeen Pavilion at Lansdowne Park from 10 am to 4 pm with 150 vendors.
What do you get when you take a group of creative artists, a community association coordinator, and a city facilities coordinator? It’s the Art in the Neighbourhood Artist Collective—a fun community-based art festival that brings affordable art to everyone.
Celebrate the centennial season opening of the Parkdale Market!
The Vintage Cookie Jar is hosting a spring cookie decorating class for ages 15 and up.
Barrhaven’s Commuity Wide Garage Sale is on if you’re looking for some great deals!
The Ottawa Tool Library is hosting a repair cafe at the Jim Durrell Recreation Centre—a great opportunity to give objects new life with repairs rather than trashing them!
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Sunday
Take your mom, or not, to the Mother’s Day Market on York Street.
Or, head to the Mother’s Day Craft Market in the Glebe.
Get your free zumba party on at Zumba on the Hill.
Bonus Monday
The University of Ottawa will host the 91st Annual ACFAS Congress from May 13 to 17, 2024, under the theme Mobiliser les savoirs en français. On this occasion, a series of events entitled Science-moi will take place in the Ottawa-Gatineau region. These events are open to the public and free. One particularly interesting science activity is the Musique et mieux-être event.
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