It seems as though everyone in our region is involved in a concerted joint effort to drive the late-fall darkness away this week. There are illuminated light displays in Ottawa and Brockville, glowing trees in Perth, a lit-up Candy Cane Lane in Beckwith, and nighttime drive-through Santa parades in several communities. Indoors, you can curl up with a radio play from the Pontiac, or stream music from CityFolk or Thirteen Strings. And, of course, there are holiday auctions, craft fairs and art shows of all descriptions, both live and online!
Drive past a Santa Claus parade in Brockville or Cornwall
This year, some communities are holding their traditional Christmas parades with a 2020 twist: Instead of waiting on the sidewalk for the parade to drive by you, you sit in your nice warm car and drive past the parade! The floats remain in place, while the spectators admire them from a nice safe distance. I’ve found three happening this Saturday, November 28.
Brockville’s Rotary Santa Claus Parade will feature decorated floats parked in the Water Street parking lot for visitors to drive past, from 5pm to 9pm. The organizers are suggesting that visitors decorate their vehicles, too!
In Cornwall, the drive-through Santa Claus Parade will be taking over the parking lot of the Cornwall Civic Complex. The fun starts at 4:30pm. Families with young children are encouraged to visit between 4:30pm and 7pm, while older children and adults may find it less crowded after 7pm.
Please note: A drive-through parade that was previously planned for Pembroke on November 28 has been cancelled. My sincere apologies for posting inaccurate information in a previous version of this post, and my thanks to readers for bringing the error to my attention. You can read more about the situation of the Pembroke parade in this article from the Pembroke Observer.
Listen to Thirteen Strings from home
Good news for chamber music fans: Ottawa’s Thirteen Strings ensemble is back—this time, online! The chamber orchestra has launched a dedicated YouTube channel, and you can stream its shows for free. (If you are able, the ensemble would also greatly appreciate an online donation toward the production and artists’ fees required to make the videos.) First up is an hour-long concert featuring Vaughan Williams’ The Lark Ascending. Also available on the YouTube channel is a performance of Bergamasca by Bernardo Gianancelli, in an arrangement for strings by Julian Armour.
See the light at Lansdowne Park or in Brockville
Ottawa’s largest Christmas tree is one of the highlights of Lights at Lansdowne, a new, free light installation that opens on Friday, November 27, at TD Place at Lansdowne Park. Festive strings of holiday lights will illuminate the Casino Lac-Leamy Plaza near the Aberdeen Pavilion. Rev up those smartphones for some holiday selfies, folks!
Meanwhile, on Blockhouse Island in Brockville, this year’s River of Lights installation opens on Saturday, November 28, and runs nightly from roughly 5pm to 11pm until January 2. The festive attraction features illuminations incorporating some 70,000 Christmas lights, set to music. Usually, it will be open to pedestrians, but on the first night only, access will be for vehicles only during the city’s drive-through Santa Claus Parade (see more information on that elsewhere in this post). Also, despite the name, Blockhouse Island is easy to get to via a parkway—no boat required.
Buy a tree and visit Santa in Beckwith
Ian’s Christmas Adventure Park in Beckwith, just south of Carleton Place, sells all sorts of fresh Christmas trees. Along with buying a tree, though, you and the kids can also visit Santa’s workshop, go skating or tobogganing (weather permitting), see thousands of Christmas lights on Candy Cane Lane, and more. You an even bring your (leashed) dog! COVID-19 distancing restrictions are in place. Admission to the adventure park is $10 per person over age 3, but it’s free if you buy a tree.
Shop at a Christmas market, in person or online
Christmas markets are in full swing this weekend, for those who take pride in getting their holiday shopping done early. (As someone who has been known to run to the shops in a panic at noon on Christmas Eve, I salute you.)
If you’d like to do your shopping in the real world, options include the following:
- the outdoor Marché de Noël du Domaine Cléroux in Casselman, where 18 local vendors will be selling soaps, photographs, wooden items and more (Saturday, November 28, 10am to 4pm)
- the outdoor Christmas Market at Memorial Park in Aylmer (November 27 to 29, and December 4 to 6)
- the Christmas Artisans’ Market at Little Red Winery in Shawville (November 28 and 29, and December 4 to 6), which you can read about in Katharine Fletcher’s new guest post about the Pontiac region
- a sale called Petits Formats, Gros Cadeaux, featuring items made by local artisans and artists, at the Centre d’action culturelle de la MRC Papineau in Montebello (it opens on Saturday, November 28, and runs on various dates until Christmas Eve)
- the Kingston Potters’ Guild Christmas Sale at the Tett Centre (November 28 and 29; you must reserve a free timed ticket online in advance)
- the MacKinnon Brothers Outdoor Holiday Market in Bath (November 27 to 29, and December 4 to 6; 3pm to 8pm on Fridays, and 11am to 4pm on Saturdays and Sundays)
If you’d prefer to shop for gifts online, here are some cyber sales to check out:
- Adàwàning: Indigenous Women’s Virtual Art Market, featuring sculptures, jewellery, coffee and more, hosted by the National Arts Centre (November 27 to 29)
- a Virtual Holiday Pop-Up Shop, supporting Hospice Care Ottawa (November 27 to 29)
- the Penny Lane Farm Sanctuary Holiday Auction on Facebook, where you can bid on all sorts of items until November 30 to support this animal rescue operation in St. Pascal Baylon
For more craft show ideas, see my big roundup of virtual holiday sales.
Admire an illuminated village in Cumberland or Morrisburg
The drive-through version of this year’s Vintage Village of Lights at the Cumberland Heritage Village Museum opened on Wednesday, November 25, and will run from Wednesdays through Sundays from 5pm to 9pm until Wednesday, December 23. This pretty collection of heritage buildings from the 1920s and 1930s is just east of Orleans and well worth a visit. Note that to visit the drive-through event, you need to buy a ticket for a specific time slot in advance.
As mentioned in this week’s Ottawa Road Trips newsletter, general admission tickets are already sold out for the first three weeks to Alight at Night. The popular annual event at Upper Canada Village in Morrisburg sees the village’s heritage buildings illuminated with tens of thousands of Christmas lights. However, there ARE still tickets available for horse-drawn carriage rides for two through the village this weekend! And if you’d like general admission tickets, don’t despair; keep checking Upper Canada Village’s Facebook page to find out when the next batch of tickets will be released. Alight at Night runs until January 2. Note that, with some exceptions (such as the carriage rides and certain evenings for visitors with disabilities), this is a walk-through event.
Go to the CityFolk Festival online
The two-day, virtual version of this year’s CityFolk music festival (November 27 and 28) features exclusive performances by Steve Earle, Devin Cuddy, Great Lake Swimmers, Hawksley Workman (see video above) and many more.
Spend a day in Perth
The Lanark County town of Perth is fun to visit anytime (if you doubt it, check out my post listing the reasons that Perth is a great day trip destination). However, this weekend is an especially good time to drop in, as there are three things happening simultaneously.
The Festival of Good Cheer (Saturday, November 28) is a one-day shopping promotion that includes free goodie bags, deals at downtown stores and live music. Any purchases made that day will give you double points in the town’s ongoing Shop, Stamp and Win promotion (running until December 21), in which shoppers collect points at local stores to be eligible for a gift certificate draw. Finally, the town’s Festival of Lights display of illuminated Christmas trees continues nightly until January 3. As always, they are set up inside the Crystal Palace, but this year, you can only view them from outside.
Listen to a radio play from the Pontiac
Over the last few weeks, Valley Heritage Radio has been airing episodes of a radio comedy called Fresh Eggs, performed by the Pontiac Community Players. If you’ve missed any or all of them, you’re in luck: Valley Heritage Radio will rebroadcast the entire play on Sunday night, starting at 8pm.
And if you’re planning ahead, the theatre company is selling tickets now to its live, socially distanced performances of The Secret Garden, which will take place on Saturday, December 5, at St. Andrew’s Knox United Church in Bristol, Quebec, and on Sunday, December 6, at New Hope Christian Fellowship Church in Shawville. That show will also be broadcast on the radio, at a later date.
Take a virtual trip to New Brunswick
I know that Canada’s Atlantic provinces are a popular summer road trip destination for many Ottawa Road Trips readers. Those trips weren’t possible for most this year, so here’s the next best thing: an absolutely gorgeous video (see above) of the Saint John String Quartet playing their version of Stan Rogers’ folk classic “Northwest Passage” in various jaw-dropping locations, including rocky coastlines and sun-dappled forests. It may just be the most peaceful thing you see all week. You’re welcome. ????
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