29 road trips for this week: Country tunes in Carleton Place, antiques in Kingston and movies in Wakefield

Whether you’d rather be outside playing in the snow or inside trying to forget the chilly temperatures, I have something for you to check out this week. How about a winter festival in Orleans or Pembroke, an open house at the RCMP Musical Ride Centre in Ottawa, LGBTQ events in Kingston and Tremblant, beer festivals in Gatineau and Vankleek Hill, or a winter sports competition in the Adirondacks? Just make sure to bundle up!

Browse for antiques in Kingston

The Kingston Winter Antique Show (AKA the Cabin Fever Show) is happening this weekend at the Portsmouth Olympic Harbour Centre (February 2 and 3). Dealers from across Ontario and Quebec will be selling jewellery, vintage advertising materials, mid-century modern furniture, folk art and much more. Many dealers come back every year to this hit show, which has been running for almost four decades.

Learn about 19th-century life in Ottawa

Learn what life was like for pioneer residents of Gloucester Township in the Mid-Winter Challenge, a self-guided, indoor-outdoor challenge at the Billings Estate National Historic Site in Alta Vista on Saturday, February 2. Visitors will work in teams with their friends and family to test their mental and physical skills as they take on a series of challenges inspired by 19th-century winter life on the Billings farm. If you can’t make it this weekend, the challenge will also be running on February 9 and 16.

Get your country music fix in Carleton Place

The Ron and Jeff McMunn Country Music Heart Jam is taking place at the Carleton Place Arena on Sunday, February 3, and the roster is packed with more than a dozen acts. The event raises money for the Ottawa Heart Institute, and don’t plan on sitting in your chair; dancing is encouraged. Note that tickets are not available at the door. You can buy them in advance at several businesses in Carleton Place, Kemptville, Almonte, Perth and Pakenham. (Scroll down the page in the attached link to see the poster for this event.)

Get some new ideas in Kingston

Ever seen a TED Talk video and wished you could get involved in the action? Here’s your chance. TedXQueensU 2019: Fast Forward is a full-day event showcasing speakers from Queen’s University and elsewhere in Kingston, who will share unique ideas and stories. Get ready for lots of discussion and questions!

Enjoy a winter festival in Ontario, Quebec or New York state

Flickr/Creative Commons photo of Winterlude by John Vetterli.

It’s another busy week for winter festivals. Along with a little event you might have heard of called Winterlude (February 1 to 18), carnivals on the calendar include Fête Frissons in Orleans (February 2); Feb Fest in Kingston (February 1 to 28); SnoSpree in Pembroke (January 30 to February 3); the Marionville Winter Carnival (February 1 to 3); the Carnaval St-Bernardin (February 2); the Glen Robertson Winter Carnival (February 2); the White Weekend in Lefaivre (February 1 and 2); the Saranac Lake Winter Carnival in the Adirondacks (February 1 to 10); and the Fête des neiges de Magog in Quebec’s Eastern Townships (February 2 to 10, weekends only). Looking for more ideas? Check out my big winter festivals roundup.

See a play in Kingston or Montreal

This is the last weekend to catch the King’s Town Players’ production of Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet) at the Kingston Yacht Club (January 30 to February 2). The Ann-Marie MacDonald comedy is a lively feminist re-imagining of two Shakespeare plays: Othello and Romeo and Juliet, and it begins in a dusty office at Queen’s University.

In Montreal, you can see the Dawson College Professional Theatre Program’s production of Attempts on Her Life by Martin Crimp (January 30 to February 9). In this post-modernist play, actors present 17 scenarios that give the audience different perspectives on one character. She might be a fugitive, a physicist, a philanthropist…or dead.

Go to an LGBTQ ski festival at Tremblant

Elevation Tremblant (January 31 to February 3) is a new-to-Tremblant event aimed at LGBTQ skiers (other Elevation festivals are already established in Mammoth and Park City). It will feature apres-ski and evening events over four days, with go-go dancers and DJs from L.A., London and Montreal, and themed events, including the Onesie Apres-Ski, the Neon Party and the naughty GEAR party. Major LGBTQ travel influencers will be joining in the fun, including Amazing Race Canada’s Kristen McKenzie and Steph LeClair.

See the RCMP Musical Ride horses in Ottawa

Photo credit: Serge Gouin, RCMP © Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada, 2016.

Do you have a horse lover in the family? Then head to the RCMP Musical Ride’s Ottawa stables on Saturday, February 2 (10am to 3pm) for the RCMP Musical Ride Open House and Food Drive. You can meet the riders and horses, tour the stables, and see demonstrations and displays. There will be fun activities for kids, too! Parking and admission are free, but the Mounties would be delighted if you brought a donation for the Ottawa Food Bank (cash or non-perishable food items).

Cheer for athletes in the Adirondacks

The Empire State Winter Games (January 31 to February 3) bring together athletes from across New York state to compete in more than 30 winter sports in venues across the Adirondacks, including Olympic training sites. You can cheer on the athletes in multiple communities, including Lake Placid, Saranac Lake and Malone.

Jump in the lake in Kingston

Okay, Lake Ontario is going to be really, really cold by now. If that doesn’t faze you, then by all means sign up for the Kingston Polar Plunge on Sunday, February 3. Lots of public-spirited souls will be flinging themselves into the lake to raise money for a great cause: Special Olympics Ontario athletes. Good for them….but BRRRR!

Sip some beers in Gatineau, Vankleek Hill or Montreal

There’s lots of sudsy fun on the calendar this weekend. Take transit or pick a designated driver!

Feeling thirsty? Beau’s Brewing Company in Vankleek Hill has declared the coming month to be FeBREWary, with special events every weekend between February 1 and March 3. The brewery will release a new beer every week of the celebration, and there will be tours, samples, games, prizes, a DJ and other fun. Round-trip bus transportation between Ottawa and Beau’s is available, too.

You can also check out the Festibière d’Hiver at the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau (February 1 and 2, 5pm to 1am). As well as sampling some of the 100 beers (as well as wine and spirits), you can take in a concert, nosh on beer-friendly munchies, or learn more about your brews at a workshop. Bonus: The STO is offering free transit to the event with proof of ticket purchase.

Meanwhile, in Montreal, you can rock on to 52 bands and DJs during the fourth annual Taverne Tour in the Plateau Mont-Royal neighbourhood (January 31 to February 2). Seventeen bars along Mont-Royal and St-Laurent have booked live music to entertain you as you drink.

Catch a movie in Wakefield or Kingston

On weekends from February 2 until February 24, the Wakefield Doc Fest will be showing an intriguing range of documentary films from around the world. Choices include The Ancient Woods, about an old-growth forest in Lithuania; Island of the Hungry Ghosts, about an Australian island that is home to both a hidden refugee camp and millions of migrating crabs; Among Wolves, profiling a multi-ethnic motorcycle club in Bosnia-Herzegovina; and A Delicate Balance, featuring four young ballet students in Quebec.

In Kingston, the Reelout Queer Film Festival (January 31 to February 14) will screen 116 films over 15 days from 14 countries in 39 different streams, all with LGBTQ themes. Genres include drama, comedy, horror, documentary and shorts, and there will be workshops and dance performances, too. Most showings are happening at the Screening Room at 120 Princess Street. The stories hinge on plots as diverse as a woman who inherits an apartment from the father she has never met; a romance between two women in small-town postwar Scotland; and the life of Tony-winning playwright Terrence McNally.

Enjoy a family day in Chelsea

The Heart of Chelsea (Saturday, February 2) is a day of family fun in support of heart and stroke research. Come enjoy curling, synchronized skating and more.

Browse for boats in Montreal

Photo by Sander Crombach on Unsplash.

Dreaming of summer days? Then head down Highway 417 to browse to your heart’s delight at the Montreal Boat and Water Sports Show at Place Bonaventure (January 31 to February 3). Ogle sailboats, trawlers, remote-controlled boats and more.

Hit the snowmobile trails in Morrisburg

The Snowarama snowmobile rally is happening in Morrisburg on Saturday, February 2. Even if you wouldn’t know a snowmobile from a snowman, you can still come out and enjoy a fundraising breakfast. Proceeds go to the Easter Seals Society.

Catch a concert in Kingston

In her Miss Emily and Friends show at the Isabel Bader Centre for the Performing Arts on Saturday, February 2, Kingston’s Emily Fennell will be singing everything from cool jazz to raucous downtown funk. I heard her interviewed on the radio a few months ago and was blown away by her voice; I’d love to see her in concert sometime.

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