From concerts and art shows to the Canadian Tulip Festival, there’s lots of online fun to be had this weekend. Rev up your mouse and get ready to hit the virtual road!
Celebrate World Migratory Bird Day
Saturday, May 9, is World Migratory Bird Day. This year, instead of birdwatching hikes in parks and bird observatories, birders are taking the fun online that day. The Kawartha Land Trust in Peterborough is livestreaming a webinar with local bird experts on Facebook at 2:30pm. Safe Wings Ottawa is offering an all-day series of online events, including a scavenger hunt and a workshop on making bird-friendly window treatments.
And on Sunday, May 10, the Ottawa Valley Wild Bird Care Centre is holding a one-hour Facebook Live streaming event starting at 2pm, featuring videos, quizzes and an appearance by the centre’s education ambassador, Indigo the American kestrel.
To find more events across Canada, check out Nature Canada’s Bird Day website.
P.S.: I just discovered the most restful “radio station” on the Internet. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds in the U.K. has a site called Birdsong Radio that is exactly what it sounds like: recordings of chirping birds you can listen to anywhere, anytime.
See the tulips—from home
The Canadian Tulip Festival (May 8 to 18) has gone completely virtual this year. That means do not go to Dows Lake and Commissioners’ Park! Instead, you can head to the festival’s website to watch videos by the scheduled musical acts, enter contests, take a virtual tour, learn about tulip gardening and history, and more.
Livestream a concert
Dean Batstone, the talented folk musician behind the Batstone’s Northern Ramble music venue in Renfrew, is offering a livestreamed concert of his latest tunes, all written in the last three years since the release of his albums Broken and Unbroken—along with a few requests. The show on Friday, May 9, runs from 8pm to 9:30pm.
Also on Friday night, the Cove Country Inn in Westport is promoting a virtual concert by David Vest, the B.C.-based jazz artist who was scheduled to be on stage in Westport before COVID-19. The show runs from 8pm to 9pm.
And Whitewater Brewing in Cobden is streaming a show by Liam Lloyd on Friday from 7pm to 8pm.
Enjoy dinner and a show
Confined Dining is a project that allows you to support local restaurants and musicians from the comfort of home. Here’s how it works: Go to the Confined Dining website and choose the restaurant you’ll be getting your takeout or delivery meal from (there are more than 300 choices, from Orleans to Stittsville). Once you register, you’ll get a link to the Zoom concert of your choice. The next event is taking place on Saturday, May 9.
Dance the night away
Distortion Ottawa is producing an online ‘90s and 2000s dance party on Twitch on Friday, May 8, in support of Live! on Elgin. Tune in from 10pm to 2am for tracks by the White Stripes, Foo Fighters, Alanis Morrissette and many more.
Shop for local art and handmade products
Art in the Attic, the popular spring art sale in Almonte, has gone online for its 30th edition this year. For an entire month, starting on Friday, May 8, you can buy artworks by members of the Almonte and Area Artists Association on the Art in the Attic website. Just click on the name of each artist to open their profile page with photos of their art and details on how to buy it.
Merrickville’s On-line Makers’ Market is happening again this Saturday, May 9, from 10am to 4pm. Shop for unique products handmade by creators who live in and around the Rideau Canal village.
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