Outdoor Christmas markets, an online show for cottagers, a tasty puzzle-solving walk in Chinatown, virtual craft sales, and lots of streaming concerts—those are just a few of your options for fun in and around Ottawa over the next week. I’ve even found a knitting exhibition in an underground vault! If you’re hitting the actual road, remember to keep close to home, wear a mask and stay safe.
Enjoy a Christmas farmers’ market
The Barrhaven Farmers’ Market is holding its Christmas Market this Saturday and next at The Log Farm at 670 Cedarview Road. Each market runs from 10am to 2pm, features roughly 45 vendors, and takes place outdoors, under the trees.
The Metcalfe Farmers’ Market will be holding its Christmas Farmers’ Market at the Greeley Community Centre at 1448 Meadow Drive on Saturday, November 21 (9am to 4pm). Baked goods, hot sauces, soap and much more will be for sale, indoors and out. If you miss this market, a second one is taking place on Saturday, December 19.
Also indoors and outdoors is the Christmas Farmers’ Market run by the Perth Farmers’ Market at the Crystal Palace in Perth on Sunday, November 22, from 10am to 3pm.
See a knitting installation at the Diefenbunker
I could be wrong, but I’m betting that Containment: Knit Your Art is the world’s only exhibition of contemporary knitting in an underground Cold War bank vault. The show, currently on display at The Diefenbunker: Canada’s Cold War Museum in Carp, showcases pieces created by Greta Grip during her time as the museum’s 2020 artist-in-residence. Inspired to warm up the museum’s cold concrete walls, Grip riffed on themes of coding and secrecy to make items such as knitted QR codes. Check out the video above—it’s really intriguing.
Take in an online performance
This week, the Ottawa Symphony launches its new series of Friday-night concerts at the Carleton Dominion-Chalmers Centre. You can watch them for free online or on Rogers Cable TV. This week’s program includes works featuring piano, oboe, flute and bassoon.
Performances in the National Arts Centre’s #CanadaPerforms series this week include a “docudance” work by DanceForth & Neighbourhood Dance Works, called Long’s Hill Walk: I live(d) Here, about a historic neighbourhood in St. John’s, Newfoundland (Thursday, November 19, 5:30pm). There’s also a concert streamed from Montreal by JUNO-winning world music artist Djely Tapa on Friday, November 20, at 8pm. To get a taste of her blend of Malian, blues and electronic music influences, see the video above.
GCTC is offering its audiences access to Tarragon Acoustic, a series of audio recordings of landmark Canadian plays. Until November 26, you can stream an acoustic version of 7 Stories by Morris Panych, which tells the story of a suicidal man prepared to jump off a building and tales of the residents in the apartments near his ledge.
Marvest, the locally focused stream of the CityFolk music festival, is presenting a big series of online shows this year. It wraps up over the next week or so with concerts by Jumpin’ Joel Flash (Friday, November 20), Tara Shannon (Monday, November 23), Dan Kelly (Wednesday, November 25) and the North Woods (Friday, November 27). Looking ahead, the rest of the CityFolk festival will be coming to a screen near you on November 27 and 28.
Explore Chinatown on foot
Chinatown Unlocked is a cool blend of a foodie walking tour and an escape room. Bubbled groups of up to four people take a route through Ottawa’s Chinatown, discovering tasty dishes and solving clues along the way. The one-hour experience is offered on multiple dates by A la Carte Shuttle & Tours.
Bid on goodies in an online auction
St. Matthew’s Church in the Glebe is running its first-ever online auction. Proceeds support various church charities. Tropical vacations, antiques, first-edition books, paintings and more are up for grabs. Bidding closes at 4pm on Saturday, November 21.
Enjoy an online celebration of Indian culture
ArohaFest is a three-day, Ottawa-based celebration of Indian dance, music and more. This year, it’s all happening online, on November 20 and 21. Highlights include concerts by classical and contemporary musicians, an online exhibition of works by Ottawa visual artists, classical and Bollywood dance, and a yoga dance project.
Go for a late-fall hike
It’s not too late to get some fresh air in the forest before the snow flies. Just make sure to wear your woollies! Crowds will likely be smaller than they were at the height of summer, and it will be easier to see some of those sweeping views now that the leaves are gone. (Yeah, I know I’m being a bit of a Pollyanna—I miss all of those fall colours, too.) Looking for inspiration? Check out my big list of local walking and hiking spots, which includes Petrie Island in Orleans, the Ferguson Forest Centre in Kemptville and Chutes Coulonge in the Pontiac.
Plan a takeout afternoon tea in Ottawa
Both the Billings Estate National Historic Site and the Fairmont Chateau Laurier Hotel are offering options for an elegant afternoon meal to go. The afternoon tea at Zoe’s at the Chateau Laurier is available now; you can eat in, pick it up or get it delivered via Uber Eats. It features goodies such as seared ahi tuna sandwiches, macaroons and rum-soaked butter cake. The Billings Takeaway Christmas Tea will be available on the first two weekends in December (December 5 and 6, and December 12 and 13), but you can place your order starting Tuesday, November 24. Packages include your choices of scones, finger sandwiches, dessert and hot beverages.
Take a virtual brewery tour
Perhaps you took one of Brew Donkey’s bus trips to local craft breweries back in the “Before Time” and wish you could do one now. If so, here’s good news: The tours have moved online! Brew Donkey is offering a real-time “virtual beer hall” at a different local brewery each week, on Sunday afternoons. Participants log onto the Remo video-chat platform to remotely visit the brewery, chat with the brewers, gather around a private virtual table with friends and taste the brewery’s beers (which, conveniently, have been delivered to participants’ homes in advance). Because of the delivery aspect, you need to sign up a few days in advance. This weekend, the event highlights Broadhead Brewing; here’s the list of all the virtual beer halls coming up between now and Christmas.
Get some cottage inspiration
Already dreaming of cottage season 2021? Then you may be interested in the 2020 Virtual Fall Cottage Life Show (November 20 to 22), where you can attend online workshops, meet with vendors (and perhaps snag an end-of-season deal or two), and get advice on real estate, DIY projects, cooking and more.
Browse for crafts online
There are lots of online craft sales to check out this weekend, including the following:
- Virtual Christmas Bazaar, Southminster United Church, Ottawa, November 20 to 29
- Marché virtuel de Nöel (Etsy Laurentides), November 21 and 22
- Cheerfully Made’s first Virtual Etsy Market, November 20 to 22
Check out my big list of virtual craft fairs and bazaars for more sales to check out between now and Christmas.
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